Horror Book Review: Shaded Grove by Oliver C. Seneca

Author Oliver C. Seneca delivers plenty of creepiness with his new novel, Shaded Grove – a ghost story set in a derelict mental hospital.

Oliver C. Seneca is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. His novels, When the Sky Goes Dark and Faces in a Window, were published by Sunbury Press. You can find his poetry and short fiction included in The Dillydoun Review, Bluing the Blade, and The Festival Review. With influence from the likes of Stephen King, Michael Koryta, Dathan Auerbach and Cormac McCarthy, to name a few, Oliver C. Seneca is an author with a growing reputation and Shaded Grove, released on the 2nd of September this year will certainly help enhance that.

Someone’s calling from the other side.

Shaded Grove follows the stories of sisters Megan and Dianne Willis who, on their way home in torrential rain from a “haunted house” tour, are involved in an accident. That accident, caused by them swerving to avoid hitting a lost and confused old woman, sees them shaken up. They try to help the slightly creepy old lady, ushering her into their vehicle and they head off to take her to the nearest hospital when suddenly, the old lady switches and her aggressive behaviour sees them crash their car. With both the car and the sisters injured, and the old lady having disappeared into the woods. They head off into the woods themselves, looking for civilisation and assistance and following a light in the distance, where they find themselves at Shaded Grove Mental Hospital.

An abandoned hospital, it seems, but upon arrival, they happen across a security guard. Much to their relief, the security guard named Todd looks to help them, firstly by leading them to get a first aid kit, and then to get a phone. Unfortunately though, the phone doesn’t work as the power is out. Todd explains that the generator can be a bit iffy so heads off to sort that. When Todd doesn’t return after a while, the sisters take it upon themselves to enter the main buildings to look for either him, or the generator themselves.

Once inside, the story really kicks into gear because, as you would expect, they are not alone but they are isolated. Stuck within the abandoned building, where spirits roam, trapped and unable to move on. The derelict building is dangerous enough on it’s own, falling down and also seemingly ever changing and adapting to the movements of the girls. Throw in the spirits of morally questionable doctors and their complex patients and you have all the scenery you need for an eerie and scary read.

All is not what it seems though. The story started really with an old lady on the road, someone the girls soon start to believe may have come from the hospital, explaining perhaps some of her behaviours that caused the accident. If so, who is she? Did she lead the girls here? And if she did, why?

Lets get a few things out of the way really quickly first. I am not a big lover of haunted house style horror. I find it often too formulaic with very little shock or surprise. That isn’t to say there aren’t some great ghost stories out there and that I don’t find enjoyment in many of them – it’s just not my preferred style. Is Shaded Grove different or genre changing in anyway? No, not really. The wheel is still a wheel here.

But, it is a well written story and an enjoyable read, falling comfortably in the camp of “this is a good ghost story”. I think a few different things stand out for me that helped me find enjoyment here. One is the setting. Now a haunted asylum is hardly unique but what works well here is the very descriptive way it is described within each scene. It gives you the ability to see it in your mind’s eye. To feel the darkness, and sadness of the actions undertaken there. It makes it creepy.

Another plus is the relationship between the sisters. Again it isn’t unique, the idea that one is a believer in spirits and seances and the like while the other scoffs and teases about such nonsense. But again their jibes and jabs at each other and the slow conversion to a believer of Megan is believable. If you believe the characters, you start to care about them and then the story has substance.

Another huge plus for this book is the back story. I like how in chapters, Oliver C. Seneca flips back to a few days beforehand, to the actual Haunted House tour the girls had left before the accident. That, and the way it all ties in to the overall story is a strong move. I like the internal monologues and narration that explains a bit about the sisters, their family and their relationships but, the bits I admired the most were the conversations overheard between ghosts. In particular a conversation between a doctor and a nurse.

As they discuss treatments, they question their own methods. They wonder if, in generations to come, modern people with modern medicine will look back on them as monsters. I mean, that is an intense thought to listen in to and really makes you think.

So a ghost story, Shaded Grove is, but it has class and while it never strays too far away from what would be deemed as typical of the genre, it delivers a touch of emotion and depth to go along with it’s creepy and tense scenes.

Oliver C. Seneca Links