Peripheral: A Psychological Horror Novella by Spring Leighman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A chilling account of a haunting, claustrophobic nightmare.

Following the death of her mother, Lena finds herself returning to her childhood home.

Memories she believed long since forgotten await her in the shadows, reflected in the mirrors and surfaces she can see out of the corner of her eye.

Something has waited a long time for her to return. Now, its patience is about to be rewarded, Lena ensnared in its grasp of madness.

'Peripheral' is the debut novella by Spring Leighman, a tale of psychological horror that hooks its claws under your skin and burrows into your mind, refusing to loosen its grip from the opening line to the very last. Vividly written and deliciously atmospheric, its visual, percussive, and visceral language perfectly evokes an untethering, the intense sensation of being observed and persecuted, a descent into insanity and oblivion.

We follow Magdalene “Lena” Black back to her old home following her mother’s death, a place which brings many disturbing memories back to the surface – the abuse she endured, the trauma she suffered, the haunting she has tried hard to repress in the intervening years. But back home, it takes little time to unmoor her life once again and leave her questioning her reality. Epistolary elements, through fragments of childhood journal entries and drawings, embellish the narrative, taking us back with Lena into her childhood experiences. Isolated and paranoid, she is slowly losing herself, memory and time becoming untethered and untrustworthy.

Leighman has crafted a sublime narrative, woven in an ambiguous beauty – never are we quite sure if the horror is due to supernatural influence or the character’s own state of mind. There are shades of a variety of mental health conditions, amongst them schizophrenia, PTSD, anxiety disorders, parasomnia – yet beneath potential delusion and hallucination is something seeping with malign intent, a potent, and yet amoral, evil. Within Lena’s story is a warning for all who encounter it – beware the shadows that lurk in your peripheral vision, or just out of reach in your reflection, for they may be more than they seem.

Creepy and immersive, ‘Peripheral’ is a sharp slice of terror to haunt your vision, waking and dreaming alike.



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