Title: The Book of Schull: Book 1: Volume 1: The Introduction: Story No. 1

Author: Killian Schull

Genre: Horror / Science Fiction

 

Following an uncomfortable exchange with Eamon Glenrose, the ruthless man for whom he works, builder William Donovan can’t help but wonder if his wife’s subsequent fatal car accident is connected to the shadowy businessman.

Julie Donovan’s death has raised more questions than answers, and when, in the throes of grief, William is visited by The Book of Schull, it opens a powerful portal of judgment, damnation, and retribution.

The Introduction is set in Ireland in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The opening is unexpected, an intriguing linear narrative involving William Donovan, his wife’s accident, and the monstrous Glenrose.

However, a sense of the unnatural simmers beneath the prose. Not just Glenrose, but Donovan and his surroundings seem detached and otherworldly. There is a slight dystopian gloss to the setting and Donovan’s thought processes appear curiously mechanical, which is interesting given later apparitions.

Although Donovan has suspicions concerning Glenrose’s involvement in his wife’s passing, the reader is also given hints to doubt Donovan’s constant assertions that Julie was a wonderful wife and their marriage was perfect.

On the surface, the prose is blunt, straightforward, and complements the context. There are some clever word subversions and an air of droll humor flickers through the writing, which moves at a well-judged pace.

Nonetheless, the syntax is periodically too deconstructed. This causes a loss of focus, as it’s unclear whether it’s intentional. Further, the complex layout of the Books, Volumes, and Chapters disrupts the novel’s flow.

Notwithstanding, it’s a provocative read. There are relatively few signposts about the narrative’s direction, especially when Donovan becomes obsessed with the story he overhears in hospital regarding a two-year-old boy, Killian Styles Thomas Schull.

Reader curiosity is further compounded when Donovan’s two rival builders, Jack Carter and Philip Hogan, enter the narrative with their toxic dynamic and theories concerning Glenrose. Both men are quite unpleasant characters, especially Carter, and the reader is unsure whether either man is credible or genuine.

Understandably, much is made of Donovan’s all-encompassing grief, so when the “time-traveling Schull crew” comprising of The Schull and his “mechanical attendants” arrive while Donovan is contemplating self-harm, the reader can be forgiven for considering them the imaginings of a tortured mind.

The entrance of The Schull does cause the book to become abstruse in places, albeit with flashes of ingenuity that showcase an extraordinarily detailed and deeply imagined premise. It’s science fiction with quasi-religious rhetoric, labyrinthine metaphysical concepts, and a hefty overlay of malign agency.

While Donovan is coming to terms with this visitation, a second narrative opens up where he, Carter, and Hogan decide to break into Glenrose’s compound to discover who the man is.

As the men creep about the futuristic superstructure, this secondary narrative becomes increasingly disconcerting. When all interests converge, they do so with chaotic momentum, visceral levels of violent supernatural horror, and grotesque incidents with strong graphic elements.

It’s intense and disturbing, and parts of The Introduction read like an extreme horror-thriller, whereas others take the reader into intricate philosophical tenets that dismantle and play with the role of the author, among other perceptions.

It would have benefitted the reading experience were these philosophies disseminated with additional clarity and integrated more seamlessly. Areas of the novel do occasionally approach impenetrable. A glossary explaining the Schull’s key ideologies might have been helpful, especially given the episodic nature of these books.

The Introduction is a highly unusual, ambitious, and unorthodox novel that hurtles the reader into the mind-boggling vortex that is The Book of Schull. Fascinating and creative with a sprinkling of the experimental, it’s a unique read.

 

 

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