Book Review: 'She Rises at Night' is Frighteningly Fantastic!

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Hey there, Gal Pals (and Guy Pals too),

I feel like I've been in a bubble of terror for the last couple of weeks, when it comes to my viewing and reading choices. Mostly, I've been on a zombie kick, one that has managed to infiltrate my dreams and disturb my beauty rest.

This onslaught of zombie entertainment first began for me with the viewing of the independent film 'Zombie with a Shotgun' (check out my review here). Afterward, I was sent an excerpt of Jae El Foster's upcoming novel 'She Rises at Night.' For the excerpt, I was given the prologue. It was one of the scariest and most disturbing things I've read in years. Some back and forth banter about it on Twitter garnered me an advanced review copy of the book, which hit presale last week. I knew the second I opened it that I was in for a terrifying ride.

*Warning: this review contains spoilers about the novel 'She Rises at Night,' but the spoilers do not give away pertinent plot details and should not ruin your enjoyment of the book in any way.*

'She Rises at Night' follows a married couple named Bob and Karen Granger who have seen their fair share of good times and bad times. The bad times have seriously outweighed the good, and in an effort to save their marriage, they buy an old farmhouse in Europe that they've only seen a picture of online. Frankly, it's all they could afford, and if they didn't act fast, they risked losing literally everything, including their home in the US.

The first part of the book follows Karen's point of view. She's bitter with her husband, and even though she's willing to try this last chance at saving their marriage, she has serious doubts about its success. The house is located near the sea and it is not very structurally sound. When the water levels rise, anyone in the house is stranded there until the water recedes again, as the roads become flooded and unpassable.

Karen has no living family left, and her only close friend betrayed her in a most unforgiving way. Bob knows this as well, and after a small amount of time in the house, she begins to wonder if her husband has brought her there to do away with her so that he can begin a new life. She tries to distract herself from these horrible thoughts by exploring their new home. A trip to the cellar introduces a new mystery when she discovers it is filled with items used in Satanic rituals long ago. Karen doesn't believe in witchcraft or magic, but that is subject to change.

In this first part, we also meet the house's former caretaker, an old man named Mr. McDougal. Karen overhears the man speaking with her husband and informing him that the house is on its last leg and it will take a large amount of money to repair - money that the Grangers do not have. Bob is not aware of Karen's eavesdropping, and Karen doesn't let on to what she's heard. She hopes her husband will confide in her, which he does not. This furthers her suspicion that Bob plans to sabotage her life within this rickety house.

A final straw for Karen is when Bob finally - and nervously - informs her that he has invited his mother Ethel to fly in from the States and share the house with them. His reasoning for this seems honest enough. Bob is Ethel's only child, and Ethel is a widow - old and now alone without her son nearby. The problem with this is that Ethel is not only a nightmare of a mother, but she's also a nightmare of a mother-in-law, and for Karen, this news is the final notch in the tree of their marriage... the notch that finally makes it fall.

During the end of Part 1, Karen begins to experience a painful migraine that overtakes her entire body. While she blames it on the stress of the move, the house, her husband, and the upcoming arrival of his mother, it seems to be something more than that. The fact that Bob is hammering away on repairs doesn't help to lessen the pain, and it brings about a final confrontation between the couple - one that lands Karen at the bottom of the stairs and ends Part 1.

Part 2 follows Bob as he is forced to face what has happened. Not knowing what to do, he gives his wife a burial at sea and works to remove any evidence of what has happened to her. Even so, McDougal's reappearance brings about suspicions in Bob that the old man knows something's happened to Karen, especially when the rowboat reappears on the property tied to a post after Bob left it in the sea. McDougal's intentions with the house and Bob have also changed, and the former caretaker offers to buy the place as his own - even though it is pretty beyond repairs. Bob thwarts the effort and kicks McDougal off his property, hoping it will be the last time he has to deal with the man.

In this second part, Bob also discovers a series of journals in the house's library dating back to the mid-eighteen hundreds. The journals are written by the original owner of the house, Doctor Wilfred Longfellow. The more Bob reads in the journals, the more he learns more about what has happened in his house - tales of murder, Satanic rituals, and shocking cannibalism. He decides the old doctor was a quack, until a late night swim in the water proves differently.

This part also brings the arrival of Ethel, who is one of the most vile women I've ever read about. When McDougal returns - without permission - he and Ethel hit it off, and Ethel makes it known to Bob what she sold her house in Connecticut for. Bob begins to see dollar signs in his head, and as he is the woman's only child, he knows that he will inherit everything if she should die. From then on, he begins to plot his mother's death.

The end of part 2 brings about one of the most shocking scenes in the book - the return of Karen, who has somehow survived her watery grave. Or has she?

From there, we begin to learn more about Bob and Karen with a flashback called 'Then.' This section of the book proves important to explain their early relationship and the tragic things that happened to them and made them the bitter and unhappy couple that they became. It is a love story that ends in heartache, opening us up for the full second half of the book.

In the second half, we learn more about what happened to Karen down in that cellar, including a backstory about a spellbook she discovered - the very book used by Doctor Longfellow that he wrote about in his journals. It is called The Book of Lucifer, and its history adds to the overall terror of the novel. In a flashback called 'The Book,' we learn how the doctor got his hands on it, and how the ancient book willed him to do its bidding. Some of the spells seem lighthearted; one causes a liquor bottle to magically refill when emptied. Others are not so kind and involve the act of murder in order to resurrect the dead. Doctor Longfellow's experiments with the book bring him great success, but they also come with severe costs that he is not prepared for - costs that change him forever.

This backstory sets the stage for the final parts of the book and delivers it into a satisfying, terrifying, and unexpected ending. While 'She Rises at Night' is filled with zombie carnage, ancient rituals, embattled lovers, and uncanny moments of not knowing who to trust, who is the villain, or who is the protagonist, it is best described as one of the darkest and most perfect works of art in literature. From start to finish, it is unnerving and builds a mysterious veil of horror around a house and its inhabitants unlike anything I've read before. Bob and Karen's saga in the house spans only seven days, but the book itself is told in much greater length - including frightening aspects of Lucifer's plunge from Heaven, a brilliant and horrifying retelling of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and a voyage from Greece to Southampton in an effort to keep the book from the hands of a group of hooded men known as the Collectors - a clan who will stop at nothing to get the Book of Lucifer and deliver it to the Vatican.

As long as this review might seem, I've not nearly gone into full detail about what all is included and involved in this book. There are elements that are reminiscent of 'ReAnimator,' twists and turns that keep the suspense from start to finish, and even a baby being eaten directly from the mother's womb. From the most frightening prologue I've ever read to an epilogue that delivers a solid conclusion to the book while making you wonder 'is this truly the end,' 'She Rises at Night' is superb in so many ways. It completely rewrites the zombie horror genre in fresh and previously unexplored fashions. It tugs at the heartstrings as much as it frightens the mind. It leaves no stone unturned, creating what I consider an absolutely perfect horror novel. It also induces nightmares after reading it, so be warned.

With 'She Rises at Night,' Jae El Foster has proven that he is not only a master of horror, but that he is one of THE masters of horror.

'She Rises at Night' is currently available on presale at Amazon and will be officially released on April 23, 2021. Prepare to be scared and fully entertained. FIND IT HERE.

Read Jae El Foster's literary essay about the creation of 'She Rises at Night' HERE.

Much love, Jenn 💋