Cinematic, Realistic, and of Course, Gothic https://ift.tt/79KmxXR
Emily Carpenter’s new novel Gothictown is about as buzzworthy as they come. With a television series already in early development at AMC, Carpenter’s novel is poised to become a hit, and rightfully so. With a title like Gothictown, readers come in with a variety of expectations, and Carpenter is more than prepared to offer up classic Southern Gothic tropes, characters, and settings with enough twists to keep us turning the pages. Giant, spooky old house. Check. Dark secrets in a small town? Locals who are a little too friendly? Promises too good to be true? Check, check, and check.
When Billie Hope gets an email from the town of Juliana, Georgia, she and her husband suspect that it may be a scam. The email offers a house of their choice for just $100 and an opportunity for Billie to open a new restaurant. The Initiative, Juliana’s name for this program, is designed to bring new people to the small town, and Billie, who was forced to close her New York City restaurant due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a perfect candidate.
After some deliberation, Billie’s husband, Peter, agrees to make the move, and the couple take their daughter, Meredith, and their cat to Georgia. The setting is idyllic. Meredith loves the outdoors, and Billie’s new restaurant venture gets off to a great start. But for Peter, things are not going so well. He worries constantly about a potentially uncapped well somewhere on their property, and his concerns interfere with his sleep. He cannot locate the well or any record of it. As the months go on, Peter’s behavior begins to change, and his relationship with Billie suffers.
At the same time, Billie begins to learn more about her new town and becomes close with the restaurant’s neighbor, Jamie Cleburne. The Cleburne family are members of “the old guard” — the three founding families of Juliana: Minette, Cleburne, and Dalzell. The opening chapter and a few other asides establish the dark history of these families, so readers know what Billie doesn’t, heightening the tension throughout the novel.
After a fight with Peter, Billie’s relationship with Jamie crosses a line, and Peter decides that he needs a break from the town, from Billie, from everything. With her husband away, Billie begins to wonder about Peter’s fidelity, and she ends up watching recorded sessions with one of his therapy clients: a local named Alice. These videos offer more than Billie ever bargained for, but not in the way she feared. Instead, Alice provides insight into Juliana’s history, both long past and more recent, sending Billie on a collision course with the old guard as she works to solve the mysteries of Peter’s disappearance, the seemingly toxic atmosphere of her house, and numerous unprosecuted crimes.
Carpenter provides background on the old guard in the very first chapter, and readers may worry that she has telegraphed too much. That’s not the case. There are some plot points that readers may see coming, but in some ways, those moments function as diversions. While readers expect one thing that does happen, a surprising detail or element appears or returns to our attention, creating momentum and intrigue, especially in the second half of the novel. After the first few chapters slowly established a sense of foreboding, the second half had me staying up late to find out what would happen next.
The novel is also highly cinematic, which is probably why it has been optioned and gone into early development so quickly. The descriptions of place are incredibly effective, conjuring the iconic Southern gothic settings one would expect from a novel called Gothictown, but they are realistic, too, likely because Carpenter is a long-time resident of Georgia. Billie is also a particularly fun narrator, and her distinctive voice sets her apart from other residents of Juliana.
Furthermore, though the novel has a clear ending, there are still mysteries left to uncover. Do the sacrifices work? Has Gentle Juliana really been protecting the town all this time? Was it actually a gas leak from the old mine that caused such trouble in Billie’s house or was something more supernatural at work? Does Billie’s attempt at finding justice truly help those harmed by the old guard of Juliana?
I guess we have to just hope for a sequel…or maybe a season 2.
FICTION Gothictown
Emily Carpenter
Kensington
Published March 25, 2025
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