My favorite gruesome family on this Halloween

I bet you're expecting me to name something familiar and kitschy like the Addams family or the Munsters or even the cannibalistic family from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Nope. The family I'm going to celebrate on this Halloween eve is the devilish quartet from the Holiday House from Clive Barker's The Thief of Always. Not made from flesh and bone but from dust and ash these four characters help lure children to Mr. Hood's Holiday House and keep them there. That is, until they meet Harvey Swick, a ten year old boy who may have allowed himself to be lured but would not be kept. I won't say any more - you will have to read the book. It's the only way to truly appreciate this wonderfully dark fable by Barker.

The first of the siblings our hero Harvey meets is Rictus. He miraculously flies through Harvey's bedroom window during a stormy day after hearing that Harvey is down because the "great gray beast February" has taken residence outside and because his mother is making him clean his room. It's always moms fault isn't it? Shaking off the rain Harvey notices that this man is slightly taller than he, is trim and wearing a very fancy getup, has a distinct yellow hue to his skin and (you probably got this by his name) has a grin "wide enough to shame a shark." He is strange, oddly captivating yet untrustworthy and, to put it bluntly, smells like a fart. As off-putting as he sounds he comes bearing a great promise, a utopia for children where they can relax and play and never have to deal with rainy days or school. Like all the other kids, Harvey succumbs and follows Rictus to the Holiday House.

The next sibling we meet is Jive. He is an enigmatic wiry man who is so thin he barely casts a shadow. It seems as though every part of him is in motion all the time, including his oily, curled hair. "It writhed on his scalp in a knotted frenzy." He appears out of nowhere to Harvey and talks to him in a succulent voice trying to pull him into the shadows of an already dark house. Jive promises to help Harvey scare another boy who had tricked him on the previous Halloween night. I can imagine that if Jive were in the real world he would be one of those strangers you see in film noir all dressed in black with a trench coat swallowing him whole and as he oozes from the darkness of some alleyway he opens his jacket to reveal drugs or stolen items for purchase. But maybe he isn't interested in your wallet. Maybe he's interested in your soul. But when he promises revenge and a great trick what ornery little boy could refuse such an offer?

In order to pull off their great scare Jive says that they are going to need his sister Marr. Where Harvey marveled at Jive's sleekness and nimble abilities he was floored by how much Marr resembled a slug. She was grossly obese and he "expected to see her fingers leave silver trails on the brick she touched, or see soft horns appear from her balding head." To cap it all of she had no teeth. When Harvey noticed Marr complained about how Carna had stolen her once beautiful teeth. We'll get to Carna later. As for the great trick, this slug of a woman literally has a magic touch and can turn Harvey into a monster with just the tips of her fingers. After her work is done we only see her again at the end of the novel. Mostly, I think, because she lives on the roof to be away from everyone else.

Carna is almost more the family pet than he is sibling. He is the guard of the Holiday House keeping the children from venturing to close to the boundary between the house and the real world. He is a flying beast with great wings, tiny black eyes and endless teeth. Needless to say he is a monster on the outside where his other siblings try to hide behind human masks and silver tongues. Have you noticed a theme? All of these brothers and sisters wants Harvey. They want to make him into something resembling themselves. They want to take his purity and they want to keep him. Not for themselves but for their creator.

Last but not least is Mr. Hood, father to the vile creatures lurking around the Holiday House. But as I said before I will not ruin the story for you. To meet Mr. Hood you will have to venture into the Holiday House yourself where it's spring every morning, summer in the afternoon, Halloween every evening followed by Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas every night complete with presents and snow and where his sons and daughters are waiting in the shadows with a smile and a promise. But beware, there is a price to be paid and the pitiful creatures of the dark will always expect their pound of flesh.

What is that saying? Never invite a vampire in? Remember that when you hear a knocking on your window and a man in a nice suit offers you something too good to be true. Especially tonight when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the unknown is thin and flexible. Keep to the light and lock your doors and you may be able to keep the monsters out. Maybe.

Happy Halloween! 


      

Comments

Popular Posts