Jonathan Janz has recently shot onto my radar and I really enjoyed his short splatterpunk story “Witching Hour Theatre“, with its nods to the horror genre and its fans (my review here). I then picked up “The Siren and the Spectre“, which, although I don’t like as much as “Witching Hour Theatre“, is still a solid horror that is more gothic than splatter.
Although I love the gothic genre, my knowledge on the southern gothic is limited but I could see it creeping from every corner of Janz’s novel.
From the Back Cover…
‘When David Caine, a celebrated sceptic of the supernatural, is invited by an old friend to spend a month in “the most haunted house in Virginia,” he believes the case will be like any other. But the Alexander House is different.
Built by a 1700s land baron to contain the madness and depravity of his eldest son, the house is plagued by shadows of the past and the lingering taint of bloodshed. David is haunted, as well. For twenty-two years ago, he turned away the woman he loved, and she took her life in sorrow. And David suspects she’s followed him to the Alexander House.’
What I Liked…
In the gothic genre the supernatural elements tend to be symbolic of past or present horrors that often concern the protagonist, but the southern gothic tends to focus more on the grotesque under layer of broken towns and unstable characters that protect deep secrets.
History and setting is important in this subgenre and there is a strong sense of place in “The Siren and the Spectre” with the violence from Alexander House’s past seeping from its very structure. It may appear isolated but its connections to the town and the eccentric characters are quickly established adding to the story and the unsettling atmosphere.
Janz sets up his horror novel well through the eyes of the sceptic protagonist, David, who is ready to debunk another haunted house legend and rather than the supernatural being symbolic, the house is haunted by its actual history. David is sucked into the horrors that Alexander House has to offer and soon he realises he hasn’t been able to escape his own past.
To further add to the novel’s southern gothic flavour, there are some unsavoury characters with their own secrets and aims that are a help and a hindrance to David. And with them comes another set of real-world domestic horrors to add to his ever growing meal of supernatural terror that he has to digest.
The scares are varied, from uneasy atmosphere and gentle singing, to full on physical confrontations, I think there’s something for the majority of horror fans within.
What I Didn’t Like…
My biggest issue with this novel is not the characters themselves – I found each one interesting, fleshed out, and with their own quirks and personalities – but with how they interacted with each other.
At times it felt like characters were reading from their own scripts and it didn’t always mesh or match-up with what another character was saying. This was most apparent with David and how the townsfolk treated him. It wasn’t with your typical “outsider” suspicious nature, but more the assumption from others that he was a misogynist sleaze, with no proof of this within his character other than being a straight male who works out. This was jarring and sometimes took me out of the story.
Although the secondary storyline of David’s ex-girlfriend did add to the past mistakes feel of a southern gothic, I actually found these sections to be the weakest; adding a messy element to an already jam-packed plot.
TL;DR
A violent past that won’t stay dead and Jonathan Janz is a winning combination, with “The Siren and the Spectre” dancing with delicious southern gothic themes and having enough scares for most fans. Strong characters are weakened with some unbelievable interactions and side plots can feel messy at times.
3.5 stars
AbmostFiction 
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