User blog comment:Creepy Thomas O./Book Review - Kind Nepenthe by Matthew Brockmeyer/@comment-24101790-20170809174812

“Kind Nepenthe” by Matthew Brockmeyer, known to most of us as HumboldtLycanthrope is an engaging and provocative piece. The novel examines the lives of Rebecca and Megan, a mother and daughter, looking to commune with nature and learn to live off the land, Coyote, a sedentary pot-producer, who’s out-sourcing his work to the local hippies and tweakers while trying to keep afloat with the changing cannabis climate, and Diesel Dan, an ex-addict looking to repair burnt bridges with his son, DJ, and take control of his life again. These paths all intersect and form a spiderweb that entraps all the characters in this dark horror story.

'''“‘Liar. You’ll never let us leave.’ Her ragged mess of hair gave her a diseased look, like a sick animal losing patches of fur.”'''

Their idealisms slowly start to decompose like rotting ravens in the yard as supernatural elements begin to bleed into the story, infecting the characters and twisting their minds. Megan begins interacting with the spirit of a drowned boy while Coyote and Calendula connect with Spider, a dealer who met his end in a blaze of gunfire, with cards and conversation. This all culminates in cataclysmic carnage that deserves to be read and not spoiled. The story comes off as engaging and the chapters change perspectives to help keep the audience reading long after they meant to put the book down.

Here’s one of the major things I look for in a story; are the characters relatable? Do they feel human? Unfortunately this is something I tend not to see in a lot of horror stories with ‘evil for the point of being evil’ characters and protagonists making stupid decisions that no reasonable person would make or one note character traits that result in them being more caricature than developed. Brockmeyer avoids all of these pitfalls and creates a cast of characters that the audience is able to connect with and understand their motivations, which makes their degradation even more tragic. Scenes like Rebecca, Megan, and Calendula enjoying each other’s company the night before a harvest creates a foreboding atmosphere because you have an inkling that they are about to be swallowed in the darkness of that place like the little girl in the bathtub when the plug has been pulled.

“…he felt a deep and utter emptiness within him: a chasm so deep he could see no end to it, only darkness, eternal and black.”

There are very few errors which is nice to see in a novel which kept me reading through. I myself enjoyed the character study and analysis of these people more than the supernatural elements. At times I wondered if the story would have benefitted from excising those portions as Megan with the drowned boy and Coyote’s interactions with Spider sometimes felt like they didn’t quite fit into the character’s progression (until much later), but that being said, I do feel like Brockmeyer is building up to something with these little segments so they are an essential part of the story.

There are a lot of allusions to be found here to Stephen King’s The Shining, and at times, I felt like I was being rewarded for being familiar with both. Kind Nepenthe references Edgar Allen Poe while The Shining has ties to Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”. Comparisons between Stan Ullman talking to Jack Torrence about the boilers and Coyote giving pointers to Calendula about the hydroponic system and its requirements can be found as well as the shared premise between the two. In the end, the story does feel like its own creation and it is a rewarding read that I would recommend to anyone familiar with Matthew Brockmeyer’s writing or people looking for an interesting perspective on producers in Humboldt county.

Conclusion: “Kind Nepenthe” is an engaging read that does an excellent job of drawing you into the character’s lives, struggles, and demons. There is a lot of insightful commentary about redemption, addiction, and the drive for self-improvement to be found here for those willing to delve deeper. 9/10