I will grant you that it may be perilous but this is why we are here. We impose efficiency and order upon the deep”

James is a newly appointed apprentice at the Ripsaw Reef Lighthouse, located on a rock 20 miles off the coast in the middle of the raging sea often isolated for entire weeks due to the extreme storms. The novel opens with a gruesome sight: the corpse of the previous assistant deceased in mysterious circumstance, tied to the railings in a white shroud and half eaten by gulls. At the lighthouse, haunted by the sinister sounds of the mechanisms, of the howling winds and and of the waves breaking against the wall, we meet a bizarre keeper often absorbed in strange experiments and a morose assistant with a dark past. Soon mysterious writings appear on walls, a fourth person seem to lurk in the shadows and one corpse emerges at the reef … this is only the start of a gripping, atmospheric psychological thriller. As James investigates, the author gradually lets us in on the secrets of the lighthouse and engages us in a chilling, unnerving game of cat and mouse that lasts to the last page.

This fine piece of lighthouse gothic is superbly crafted. In James (the first-person narrator) the author recreates the voice of an educated nineteenth-century young man – at times I felt as if I was reading Poe. James is well versed in letters (the assistant mocks him by calling him poet), and often draws on his vast knowledge of literature – ventriloquizing Homer, Defoe, Shakespeare, Coleridge – to find imagery and metaphors that describe nature, feelings and situations. The result is stunning, rendering James’ reasoning, at times clear and rational at times convoluted, and the paranoia reigning at the lighthouse. The sea is majestic and elemental nature, rendered with painterly precision and memorable strokes. The literary quotes, often very recognizable, are part of an intriguing game of appropriation and intertextuality, and I actually had fun identifying the sources and the echoes.

We learn that the lighthouse, with its strict routine and rules is a pale attempt to bring order onto the primordial chaos of the stormy sea, but in this stunning piece of psychological fiction it holds the mirror to what lurks beneath reason. A hypnotic literary thriller, a subtle piece of postmodern fiction and above all a testament to the affective, transformational power of literature.

My thanks to Legend Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.