Enter, Night

By Michael Rowe

Welcome to Parr's Landing, Population 1,528 . . . and shrinking.

The year is 1972. Widowed Christina Parr, her daughter Morgan, and her brother-in-law Jeremy have returned to the remote northern Ontario mining town of Parr’s Landing, the place from which Christina fled before Morgan was born, seeking refuge. Dr. Billy Lightning has also returned in search of answers to the mystery of his father’s brutal murder. All will find some part of what they seekand more.

Built on the site of a decimated 17th-century Jesuit mission to the Ojibwa, Parr’s Landing is a town with secrets of its own buried in the caves around Bradley Lake. A three-hundred-year-old horror slumbers there, calling out to the insane and the murderous for centuries, begging for releasean invitation that has finally been answered.

One man is following that voice, cutting a swath of violence across the country, bent on a terrible resurrection of the ancient evil, plunging the town and all its people into an endless night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781927469033

Michael Rowe

Michael Rowe was born in Ottawa, and has lived in Beirut, Havana, Geneva, and Paris. He is the author of the novels Enter, Night; Wild Fell; and October; and created and edited the anthologies Queer Fear and Queer Fear 2. An award-winning journalist and essayist, Rowe is also the author of the nonfiction books Writing Below the Belt, Looking for Brothers, and Other Men’s Sons. He has won the Lambda Literary Award, the New Millennium Writing Award, and the Publishing Triangle Award; and was a finalist for the National Magazine Award, the International Horror Guild Award, the Sunburst Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Rowe lives in Toronto and welcomes readers at www.michaelrowe.com.

Reviews for Enter, Night

[tbretc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as a part of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. It reminds me of 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I am a big fan of vampire books in general, but this book qualifies as so much more. The story is so lifelike that I almost believe that something like this can happen. The book supports the idea that this is a real legend with actual supporting documents at the end. It's the story of a woman who loses her husband and is forced to move in with her mother in law to support her family. Her mother in law is a wealthy ice queen who is hellbent on making her family's lives miserable. There are mysterious disappearances in this book, and ultimately the reader finds that everything comes together. There are a lot of characters in this book and in the beginning it seemed like they were unrelated. However, it comes together nicely in the end. It didn't end as I expected and I loved the twists and turns. The characters are so relatable and I grew quite attached to them throughout.If you like creepy books that make you think with an element of horror, then you will like this book. It's a page turner- only took me about a day and a half to read! I will read other books from this author.

[tobinelliott · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've seen several reviews that state some sort of variation of "this is a rollicking vampire novel" and, sorry, I have to say no. I'm not saying it's bad, because it's not. But there's a protracted opening that ultimately pays off, then there's very little in the way of vampires until the last quarter of the book. That section from about 10% of the way in until about the 75% mark is a whole lotta characters talking.

All right, let me back up a bit and first indicate what I didn't like. There were a fair amount of punctuation and spelling errors in the first third (strech for stretch, misplaced quotation marks, etc.), but they evened out as the novel progressed. I also found much of the dialogue a touch stilted, or maybe a better way to put it is, I found it unrealistic. I don't know, I just found I kept getting popped out of the story when I read a lot of the dialogue, especially when the cops or Adeline Parr was involved.

As mentioned above, there was also a lot through the middle that simply was characterization. Jeremy's hand-wringing about meeting his former lover in the town (that never came to anything), Elliot's misplaced hatred of the Indian, Billy Lightning (that never came to anything), the revelation that Adeline had had inappropriate relations with another character (that never came to anything), and so on.

On the other hand, when it came to Finn, the twelve-year-old Tomb of Dracula reading kid with Sadie, his dog, the pages just sang. Finn is a brilliant character and the main reason I enjoyed this book. Any time he shows up, I perked up. The dialogue was great, his entire plot was great, Sadie was great, his mom was great. His father was a little underutilized, but I could live with that. His interactions with Morgan were also a highlight.

I also liked Billy Lightning, even if I could never actually buy into the reason he showed up in Parr's Landing.

And then there's the end of the novel. With no spoilers here, I'll just say I understand what Rowe was doing, I understand why he did it, but for me, it flat out didn't ring true. After the buildup of what the vampires were like, the ending just didn't work for me. And that's all I'll say about that.

So, for me, I could have used less of the existing subplots, I would have like more on the "thing in the mountain" subplots, as well as more of what the vampires were doing in town (it was kind of a this character turned into a vampire, that vampire turned into a vampire, then without warning, it jumped to, holy cow! Almost everyone's a vampire! with no illustration of how that came to be, or how it would be dealt with).

Still for all of that, I enjoyed the narrative voice, and, as I said, Finn. You got me with Finn.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars!

A friend of mine in the Amazon Horror Forum recommended that I read this book. It took me a while, but I finally did. It was amazing!

Parr's Landing. The recently widowed Christina is headed there, with her daughter Morgan and brother-in-law Jeremy. The town from which Christina and her husband Jack fled when Christina realized she was pregnant, 15 some odd years ago. I loved the characters of Christina, Jeremy and Morgan. I loved this passage:

"Christina had been dreaming of Jack almost nightly in the nine months since the accident. The dreams varied in scale and intensity like music, from the highest soprano pitch of remembered fragments of joy, to the deepest, lowest basso profundo of grief and loss. From the latter, she would wake up sobbing, her throat dry and raw as though she had been swallowing graveyard dirt, feeling as if she were buried alive, and the darkness of her bedroom a sealed, airless coffin."

Christina and Jeremy HATE Parr's Landing, mostly due to Jeremy's mother, Adeline Parr. A harsher bitch you could not find. Her lofty airs and her superior attitude made her a character I could hardly stand to read about. The town is named after her and she won't let anyone ever forget it. Unfortunately, between them Jeremy and Christina can barely scrape together a dime, so they have no choice but to go back home to the town and the woman they both hate.

Once they all arrive, the weirdness begins. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will throw out the words Wendigo, Ojibwa, vampires and ancient evil. The story accelerates quickly at this point and it was quite difficult to put this book down. The prose is outstanding as is the character development.

As the story progresses, one can't help but think about other books that are similar. Salem's Lot for instance. However, the ideas in this book are unique and in my opinion, it gives Salem's Lot a run for its money.

Overall, I am jacked about this book! Thanks to my friend J.K, over at Amazon for bringing this book to my attention. I will definitely be reading the next book from this author. I highly recommend Enter, Night. You won't be disappointed.

[reluctantm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story is good but the writing style and the characterization lack subtlety to the point of frustration. The denouement occurs quite abruptly for the amount of time spent leading up to it. By the end, I didn't care about any of the characters or who survived. I just felt like the whole book could have been so much better, but instead felt so rushed.Strangely, the strongest and most compelling part of the novel is the last, historical fiction, section. The writing is stronger and the pacing benefits a horror novel more justly. I would have rather that the last section stretched out into an entire novel rather than just a chapter.

[fiverivers_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is much to be said for Michael Rowe’s novel, Enter, Night. It is a refreshingly traditional vampire story. No eco-friendly, glittering, James Dean vampires here. Rowe harks back to Bram Stoker’s original vampire incarnation, which in turn borrowed heavily from ancient legends. Overall, the novel clips along with aggressively spare and gritty prose. No poetic metaphors here. Every word, every scene, every character is crafted to make you take notice. And therein, for me, lies part of the problem. The novel opens with an introduction to a vampire through the point of view of a bus driver. The vampire is nameless. That first chapter then abruptly shifts point of view to the vampire. Nothing wrong with choosing an omniscient point of view, in general. Our interest in the following chapter is invested in a runaway adolescent male who makes a desperate journey back to an abusive household to save his mother. We are rather heavily invested in his story when three chapters later he’s dead. By chapter five we’re introduced to yet another cast of characters, in this case Christina (grieving wife), Morgan (grieving daughter) and Jeremy (grieving brother). For the most part the novel remains about their journey, and retains a fairly tight and consistent point of view. Their stories are heart-breaking, particularly Jeremy’s, and if for no other reason the novel is worth time because of this clear, incisive narrative. Throughout the following chapters, Rowe deftly tells the story of a vampiric relationship of another sort, that of a soul-sucking matriarch in a Northern Ontario mining town and the three people (Christina, Morgan and Jeremy) who are forced to throw themselves upon her non-existent compassion and agenda-packed charity. What follows, vampires aside, is a truly insightful, raw tale that takes centre stage (part Oedipal, part Brokeback Mountain), a taut counterpoint to the subtext of the secondary story that’s introduced in the town of Parr’s Landing, that of Billy Lightning who is searching for his father’s murderer, none other than the vampire from the introduction, Richard Weal. Lightning’s story is another very human, tragic tale, one that revolves around the horrors of Northern Ontario residential schools, and backwoods bigotry. Together these two tales intertwine to create a psychological thriller that is extremely poignant. However, by the time we reach the denouement, the mayhem, gore and death become somewhat predictable. We know that cop should not go down to the dark, dank basement. We know that boy should not go out and look for his dog. We know all these caveats from hundreds of horror novels and movies that have filled modern minds for decades, so that after several chapters of this character being killed off, and that character smearing all over the landscape, it seems the catastrophe is never going to end. And when it does end, there are of course only two survivors (well at least it wasn’t just one). But the story doesn’t end there. Instead, Rowe introduces us at the very end of his novel to the historical back-story of the evil that dogged the town of Parr’s Landing, that of the doomed Jesuit settlement of St. Bathélemy. By now, we know exactly what this story is and how it’s going to end, because history repeated itself in the first part of the novel. And it is here that I felt Rowe made his most fatal artistic mistake. Instead of tacking the historical back-story on to the ending like an afterthought, I couldn’t help but feel the suspense, the tension and interest of the novel could only have been heightened had Rowe woven this historical narrative throughout the modern story. By doing so, he would have eliminated the feeling of an enormous information dump at the end, and he would have given historical context to the entire narrative. Overall, a good read. But, for me, not a great one.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After the death of her husband, Christine Parr is forced to return to Parr's Landing, the small town she grew up in, with her daughter, Morgan. Her brother-in-law, Jeremy Parr, has chosen to return with them in hopes of protecting them from his domineering mother, Adeline, the matriarch of the town. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones returning to Parr's Landing. Three hundred years ago, something terrible happened there. The Church believed that the native population had killed priests sent to the area The native peoples believed it was a Wendigo, a cannibalistic spirit brought by the Black Robes themselves. They were both wrong and, for centuries, it has lain dormant waiting for a chance to return but now it's back and very, very hungry.Author Michael Rowe has taken the vampire story and, by combining it with the native Wendigo legend, has given new life into a frankly overworked and tired genre. These are definitely not the sparkly emo vampires so popular in fiction today and this is no paranormal romance - Rowe's vampires, if you'll forgive the pun, have teeth and they are not afraid to use them.But, perhaps the most surprising aspect of this book is the characters. Most horror is plot-driven with little thought to the characters who are usually pretty one-dimensional - the bad guys get killed in horrible bloody ways and the good guys eventually kill the monster and sail off into the sunset having save the day. Not so Enter, Night - Rowe has a real knack for creating three-dimensional characters with whom the reader can easily relate. What's more, he is not afraid to kill off these characters if the story demands it making it impossible to predict the eventual outcome.That is not to say that Enter, Night lacks gore and fright - there's plenty of both to keep even the most hardened horror fan in blood-soaked heaven. But the writing and characters put this a huge step up from your average horror novel making it the perfect read to add a few more chills in a long winter's night.

[jannyan-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as part of NetGalley in exchange for a review. Quite different from the kind of books I usually read. But that's all right, reading a book that makes you step out of your comfortzone. Enter, Night by Michael Rowe is that kind of a book to me. Not entirely true, because I've read Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll as one of the books in the Transworld Book Challenge. Yet, this is a completely different, much more creepy novel. A horror-novel with vampire-type creatures. And, believe it or not, I really liked it. It's Michael Rowe's first novel and he can be proud of it. The novel is about Christine Parr, her daughter Morgan and her brother-in-law Jeremy Parr. Christine and Jeremy left Parr's Landing years ago for different reasons but mainly to escape from Adeline, the dominating mother of Jack and Jeremy. After Jack, Christine's husband was killed in an accident, Christine and Jeremy have no other choice then to return to Parr's Landing. They're forced to beg Adeline for help, who is unfortunately still the same the unbearable, hate-filled woman she used to be. Billy Lightning is also returning to Parr's Landing. A professor who seeks answers to the recent killing of his father and believes the killing is connected with the history of murder and madness associated with the land Adeline Parr owns.The novel is creepy, violent and terrifying. It's extremely well written with fabulous characters. My favorite character in the novel is Finn, the 12 year old boy with his dog Sadie. I really enjoyed reading Rowe's description of the relationship between Finn and his dog. Yet, it's also the part of the book that is sometimes so scary that you have to put down the book. What I like about the book is that there are a lot of characters to sympathize with, Finn and his dog, Christine, Morgan Jeremy, Billy, they're all very lovable characters. The prose is outstanding. Consider Rowe's description of the images Finn has: "the gift of a glimpse of the world as experienced from Sadie's perspective - a mosaic of smell no human nose would ever experience; the literature of light on grass and snow; the secret language of birds and squirrels and cats; the true meaning of unconditional love, something no human being would ever truly understandl the perfect ecstasy of Finn's fingers combing through her soft black fur, the utter completion of falling asleep at the foot of his bed. Pure and uncomplicated gratitude for every affection ever shown to her. Vigilance for Finn's safety. Selfsacrifice". A quote to remember "when she was sure she could see the beauty, she allowed herself to feel hope". It's not what I expected to find in a vampire fiction novel.

[laurenbdavis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Frightening, complex and character-driven, this is a horror story for thinking people. What begins as a traditional narrative, albeit one with multiple points of view, some of which dead-end with shocking swiftness takes on a more sinister sheen with every chapter. And those dead-ends (you'll pardon the pun)successfully keep the reader guessing as to what might happen next, since everything is apparently possible, unlike many novels in this genre where it's obvious from the first page who will survive and who won't. Then, too, Rowe's research is enviable -- legend, myth and history combine to lend the novel an unmistakable air of authenticity. His use of the Ojibwe Wendigo myth is handled with enormous respect, as well. (The next time I'm out on a wilderness ramble, I'm not sure I'll be able to wander past a pile of boulders or a cave opening without feeling a chill run up my spine.)And I have to say -- there is one scene with a boy and his dog that scared me so much I had to put the book down for a couple of hours (before I was compelled to go back and read on). Rowe has a way of not only scaring the reader silly, but also of creating tremendous feeling -- the description of that same boy's relationship with his dog tore me apart, as did the descriptions of what was done to a young man when his monstrous spider of a mother sent him off to a "doctor" to be "cured" of his homosexuality. Ghastly and heart-breaking.Then there's the prose. Consider Rowe's description of the scent of autumn: "Fallen leaves, the scent of cooling earth and the flowering of benign rot, the sleepy prelude to winter." He goes on to talk about sunlight streaming down through "a cathedral of orange-leafed trees, turning everything around it the color of caramel apple glaze." Or this passage:“The light leaking through the motel curtains was deep orange, a pellucid autumnal hue unique to northern regions where the snow came fast and early and winter ruled for seemingly endless months. The light spoke of stars in the violet-blue early morning sky, of columns of Canada geese streaking south across the vastness of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, while below them, the forests turned the colour of fire and rust and blood.”You don't generally find prose of that quality in horror fiction. Stephen King . . . watch out!

[zeppelin25_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as a part of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. It reminds me of 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I am a big fan of vampire books in general, but this book qualifies as so much more. The story is so lifelike that I almost believe that something like this can happen. The book supports the idea that this is a real legend with actual supporting documents at the end. It's the story of a woman who loses her husband and is forced to move in with her mother in law to support her family. Her mother in law is a wealthy ice queen who is hellbent on making her family's lives miserable. There are mysterious disappearances in this book, and ultimately the reader finds that everything comes together. There are a lot of characters in this book and in the beginning it seemed like they were unrelated. However, it comes together nicely in the end. It didn't end as I expected and I loved the twists and turns. The characters are so relatable and I grew quite attached to them throughout.If you like creepy books that make you think with an element of horror, then you will like this book. It's a page turner- only took me about a day and a half to read! I will read other books from this author.

[katyas_26 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Christina Parr (née Monroe) fled Parr’s Landing with her fiancé Jack Parr 16 years ago in order to escape Jack’s dominating mother and allow the two lovers to get married and have their baby in peace. Five years later, Jack’s brother Jeremy joined them after the boys’ mother sent Jeremy to an asylum where he was basically tortured for six months in an attempt to “cure” his homosexuality. Now, in 1972, with Jack having been killed in an accident, Christina, Morgan (her daughter) and Jeremy have no choice left but to return to Parr’s Landing. The problem is that something else is already in Parr’s Landing – something has been sleeping in the caves under the town. And it’s about to wake up and fill the streets of Parr’s Landing with blood … Is it the mythical Wendigo of Native legends? Or is it something more recent – perhaps dating back to the destruction of the first Jesuit Mission in 1630?Just after Halloween, this amazing horror novel is being released by ChiZine Publications, the leader in speculative fiction. “Enter, Night” will be available on November 1, 2011, and if you are a fan of horror books, especially those relating to vampire-type creatures, you will definitely want to be on the look-out for this terrific, creepy novel. The characters are fabulous, the plot moves with a brutal efficiency, and the writing is superb. There are a few editing problems – nothing too obtrusive, but there are a few instances of the wrong name/pronoun being used, and a few grammatical mistakes and missing words. But the story, the writing, the plot, the characters – they all make up for it. I was also well pleased with the scholarly nature of the writing – several times I had to look up words, and I have a pretty decent vocabulary. I should mention that about 80% of the book is the actual story – after the end of the story, a copy of a manuscript described in the text is provided that gives the background of the area and the genesis of the monster. I found this particularly interesting and it seems pretty well-researched. Michael Rowe is definitely a name to watch for in the horror/speculative fiction field and I hope to see some more novels by this amazing writer!