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The Seance
- GenresHorror
Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 18, 2020
The Seance is the last of the seasonal slasher books Gibson was likely contractually obligated to carry out after Slay Bells, and she was clearly ready to move on from the by the numbers teen horror whodunits because it's also the most rushed and lazily written. You know it's bad when you start looking back on Slay Bells as sophisticated entertainment by comparison (but I will fight you if you don't at least find it charmingly campy and fun. I mean how many killer Santa books do we have to choose from that also involve an improvised fashion show?). The protagonist has no concern outside of whatever boy she likes and *gasp* whether or not he returns her affection, the killer is so insane he overcompensates for every little thing, and all the deaths are gore-less, freak accidents summarized in one page and always ending in a descent into quiet, uncaring darkness.
With the elements of a Halloween slasher, teens getting stranded at a remote cabin, the haunted house aesthetic of the acting assignment the students have to pull off, and the seance for a deceased friend, it's sad how much this book bored me. Gibson has a confusing way of trying to keep a teen slasher book wholesome while neglecting to make any of her characters sensitive or self-aware so they end up coming off like horrific sociopaths that just keep tarping and piling up bodies in a corner like it's no big deal.
Another irony in that vein is the contrivance to get the teens to the cabin had to be a volunteer effort rather than teens wanting to get together to party and have sex, yet the skits they practice with the intent of entertaining children involve a simulated hanging, a serial killer teacher with bodies stored in her home and ending in a gun suicide, and a simulated seance for a REAL deceased friend. Oh, and a funeral hearse decoration just to make sure the children are fully tainted for life. I think if she had just set out to write a fully adult horror novel where she didn't have to make a weird effort to sterilize sex, violence, profanity just to protect readers or fit publication market guidelines, the resulting work would have come off LESS disturbing than the cheery, vacuousness you get in The Seance, Slay Bells, and My Bloody Valentine.
Lastly, I was very disappointed that the victimized spirit of Kelly never gets real closure. She suffered assault and an unplanned pregnancy and no one ever even realizes this or just how much she had to suffer. I wanted more justice and attention brought to the issue of the sexual assault, but this was apparently added for dramatic flair alone. With the killer being a politician's son, it hit too close to the real world for him to get away with everyone thinking he was merely homicidal and insane.
With the elements of a Halloween slasher, teens getting stranded at a remote cabin, the haunted house aesthetic of the acting assignment the students have to pull off, and the seance for a deceased friend, it's sad how much this book bored me. Gibson has a confusing way of trying to keep a teen slasher book wholesome while neglecting to make any of her characters sensitive or self-aware so they end up coming off like horrific sociopaths that just keep tarping and piling up bodies in a corner like it's no big deal.
Another irony in that vein is the contrivance to get the teens to the cabin had to be a volunteer effort rather than teens wanting to get together to party and have sex, yet the skits they practice with the intent of entertaining children involve a simulated hanging, a serial killer teacher with bodies stored in her home and ending in a gun suicide, and a simulated seance for a REAL deceased friend. Oh, and a funeral hearse decoration just to make sure the children are fully tainted for life. I think if she had just set out to write a fully adult horror novel where she didn't have to make a weird effort to sterilize sex, violence, profanity just to protect readers or fit publication market guidelines, the resulting work would have come off LESS disturbing than the cheery, vacuousness you get in The Seance, Slay Bells, and My Bloody Valentine.
Lastly, I was very disappointed that the victimized spirit of Kelly never gets real closure. She suffered assault and an unplanned pregnancy and no one ever even realizes this or just how much she had to suffer. I wanted more justice and attention brought to the issue of the sexual assault, but this was apparently added for dramatic flair alone. With the killer being a politician's son, it hit too close to the real world for him to get away with everyone thinking he was merely homicidal and insane.
October 27, 2023
So one thing I must confess is that I do not have this book as a first edition paperback printing.
Sandwiched between My Bloody Valentine and Slay Bells is The Seance in an omnibus collection called Twisted. It is basically where all my Jo Gibson come from as I have two other collections of her works but who can pass up gorgeous original cover art of the 1990s on your reading list?
Every holiday has its downside and The Seance is centered around Halloween. It is basically the fall equivalent of Slay Bells around Christmas Time with a bunch of teens and twenty somethings in one spot where they get picked off one by one. There is backstory given as to why one person is going crazy and offing people where we don't get a reveal until we get toward the end so it is told in third person and "vague" from the psycho's POV.
There is a prologue which gets the story going but it is more another plotline to tie everything together in a neat little package.
Kelly Barnes asks to meet her boyfriend Tommy Jackson far out of town to deliver to his some news that could ruin their relationship in the small town of Foothill. They are the perfect couple looking to be engaged on Kelly's 18th birthday on Halloween and be married after graduation in June and going to the same college.
Kelly never gets to tell Tommy her secret as her car goes off the road and then gets plowed into by a train.
That was over the summer and now it is fall - almost Halloween. Tommy is still devastated by Kelly's death but there are girls in school who pray he can overcome his grief and ask them out.
Cheryl Maloney is new in town and knows how Tommy and Kelly were perfect from word of mouth around such a tiny town but...that's all in the past and Kelly is gone.
Jennifer Larkin is a little different. She has known Tommy all her life and she thinks she is in love with him because he's so handsome and athletic and charming but he has never noticed her because he always had eyes for Kelly. Jennifer is good friends with Tommy's fraternal twin brother Tim but has never looked at him as a potential love interest.
That isn't the case for Tim. He knows Jennifer has a huge crush on his brother but he wants to be more than her friend. Despite that, Tim knows that Jennifer would do anything to help Tommy after losing Kelly and he has an idea to help his brother.
It never would have came to Tim if their drama class wasn't told that the fall play couldn't be put on for the younger school kids to watch on Halloween because of construction on the auditorium.
It is changed to the idea of putting on skits in a haunted house. A location is secured at the Saddle Peak Lodge by Dale Prescott, his uncle the owner who would love some business in the off-season. It soon is decided that it can become an overnight where the kids and chaperones will enjoy some treats after the spooky tricks.
Susie Romano's parents own the deli to provide sandwiches.
Ronnie Hughes' parents own the bakery to provide cookies.
Brian Garvey is the tech guy good with special effects.
Melanie Carpenter's father is the mayor so he OKs anything to give the town publicity.
Alexia "Lexie" Sussman is Jennifer's BFF has parents who are reporters and editors so she has a head for news. She thinks Jennifer should give Tim a chance and is full of chutzpah.
Pete Peterson (yes I believe that is his full name) is the student teacher who did commercials in town and now has a degree in drama to work under Miss Voelker, their teacher.
All the good ideas of witches and vampires and psycho killers are taken so Tim decides that he and Jennifer should put on a seance for their skit. Except that the spirit they plan to contact is Kelly Barnes...
Gossip has traveled that Kelly committed suicide and intentionally rode her car into the train - her state of mind similar to being depressed and suicidal just before she died. Tommy thinks it might have been his fault because he has no idea what sort of news she wanted to tell him at a roadhouse far from town...a town of prying eyes and whispers.
Tim and Jennifer may be doing this skit as a joke to everyone else but they are serious enough to do research and ask advice from the woman who owns the psychic book store in town. Zada Tilitch tells Jennifer and Tim that their hearts are in the right place to help and that they could be successful if they follow everything correctly.
Yet she also warns them that if a spirit is contacted and they are angry...their vengeance could be strong enough to kill.
Zada says she will come to the dress rehearsal to supervise the seance but it is all up to Jennifer and Tim to do any real contacting but a few things happen to throw a wrench in the plans.
First, a rain storm powerful enough to cause rock slides closes the roads to and from the lodge so the kids might not be able to head up if it can't be cleared in time for the buses.
That's okay...teenagers with enough food to feed an army can throw themselves a huge Halloween party with those supplies and old fashioned hormones racing.
Secondly, Zada is a fraud looking forward to milk this tiny town with all of the ripe connections and take advantage of the grief of people like Tommy for money.
Yet that isn't the worst and final problem...
You see one of the young men knows Kelly's secret that she took to the grave...because he was part of it.
He was the one who killed her and even if he doesn't believe this séance will call up any spirit...he can't take any chances.
No one can ever know and leave alive...
I was actually left guessing as to whom the culprit was until the suspect pool started dwindling and the reasons for the crime weren't completely out there.
There were plenty of twists and some of the deaths were shocking and sad and all out crazy amid the teenage drama. It was kind of the reason I didn't give this book 5 stars in that the gender of the killer was so easily revealed in a lot of exposition.
The ending was dramatic and had a hint of ambiguous implications that I guess are left up to the reader but it was still pretty good.
The Seance is an overlooked YA thriller and if you can get your hands on it...add it to your collection of good reads for the Halloween season.
Sandwiched between My Bloody Valentine and Slay Bells is The Seance in an omnibus collection called Twisted. It is basically where all my Jo Gibson come from as I have two other collections of her works but who can pass up gorgeous original cover art of the 1990s on your reading list?
Every holiday has its downside and The Seance is centered around Halloween. It is basically the fall equivalent of Slay Bells around Christmas Time with a bunch of teens and twenty somethings in one spot where they get picked off one by one. There is backstory given as to why one person is going crazy and offing people where we don't get a reveal until we get toward the end so it is told in third person and "vague" from the psycho's POV.
There is a prologue which gets the story going but it is more another plotline to tie everything together in a neat little package.
Kelly Barnes asks to meet her boyfriend Tommy Jackson far out of town to deliver to his some news that could ruin their relationship in the small town of Foothill. They are the perfect couple looking to be engaged on Kelly's 18th birthday on Halloween and be married after graduation in June and going to the same college.
Kelly never gets to tell Tommy her secret as her car goes off the road and then gets plowed into by a train.
That was over the summer and now it is fall - almost Halloween. Tommy is still devastated by Kelly's death but there are girls in school who pray he can overcome his grief and ask them out.
Cheryl Maloney is new in town and knows how Tommy and Kelly were perfect from word of mouth around such a tiny town but...that's all in the past and Kelly is gone.
Jennifer Larkin is a little different. She has known Tommy all her life and she thinks she is in love with him because he's so handsome and athletic and charming but he has never noticed her because he always had eyes for Kelly. Jennifer is good friends with Tommy's fraternal twin brother Tim but has never looked at him as a potential love interest.
That isn't the case for Tim. He knows Jennifer has a huge crush on his brother but he wants to be more than her friend. Despite that, Tim knows that Jennifer would do anything to help Tommy after losing Kelly and he has an idea to help his brother.
It never would have came to Tim if their drama class wasn't told that the fall play couldn't be put on for the younger school kids to watch on Halloween because of construction on the auditorium.
It is changed to the idea of putting on skits in a haunted house. A location is secured at the Saddle Peak Lodge by Dale Prescott, his uncle the owner who would love some business in the off-season. It soon is decided that it can become an overnight where the kids and chaperones will enjoy some treats after the spooky tricks.
Susie Romano's parents own the deli to provide sandwiches.
Ronnie Hughes' parents own the bakery to provide cookies.
Brian Garvey is the tech guy good with special effects.
Melanie Carpenter's father is the mayor so he OKs anything to give the town publicity.
Alexia "Lexie" Sussman is Jennifer's BFF has parents who are reporters and editors so she has a head for news. She thinks Jennifer should give Tim a chance and is full of chutzpah.
Pete Peterson (yes I believe that is his full name) is the student teacher who did commercials in town and now has a degree in drama to work under Miss Voelker, their teacher.
All the good ideas of witches and vampires and psycho killers are taken so Tim decides that he and Jennifer should put on a seance for their skit. Except that the spirit they plan to contact is Kelly Barnes...
Gossip has traveled that Kelly committed suicide and intentionally rode her car into the train - her state of mind similar to being depressed and suicidal just before she died. Tommy thinks it might have been his fault because he has no idea what sort of news she wanted to tell him at a roadhouse far from town...a town of prying eyes and whispers.
Tim and Jennifer may be doing this skit as a joke to everyone else but they are serious enough to do research and ask advice from the woman who owns the psychic book store in town. Zada Tilitch tells Jennifer and Tim that their hearts are in the right place to help and that they could be successful if they follow everything correctly.
Yet she also warns them that if a spirit is contacted and they are angry...their vengeance could be strong enough to kill.
Zada says she will come to the dress rehearsal to supervise the seance but it is all up to Jennifer and Tim to do any real contacting but a few things happen to throw a wrench in the plans.
First, a rain storm powerful enough to cause rock slides closes the roads to and from the lodge so the kids might not be able to head up if it can't be cleared in time for the buses.
That's okay...teenagers with enough food to feed an army can throw themselves a huge Halloween party with those supplies and old fashioned hormones racing.
Secondly, Zada is a fraud looking forward to milk this tiny town with all of the ripe connections and take advantage of the grief of people like Tommy for money.
Yet that isn't the worst and final problem...
You see one of the young men knows Kelly's secret that she took to the grave...because he was part of it.
He was the one who killed her and even if he doesn't believe this séance will call up any spirit...he can't take any chances.
No one can ever know and leave alive...
I was actually left guessing as to whom the culprit was until the suspect pool started dwindling and the reasons for the crime weren't completely out there.
There were plenty of twists and some of the deaths were shocking and sad and all out crazy amid the teenage drama. It was kind of the reason I didn't give this book 5 stars in that the gender of the killer was so easily revealed in a lot of exposition.
The ending was dramatic and had a hint of ambiguous implications that I guess are left up to the reader but it was still pretty good.
The Seance is an overlooked YA thriller and if you can get your hands on it...add it to your collection of good reads for the Halloween season.
March 3, 2022
I wanted to love this book so much. I absolutely love horror stories where a group of friends go off to an abandoned lodge and murders start happening. And I know this is YA and a bit older, but I couldn't get over the cheesiness of some of it. The psychic comes to the lodge and all the kids are downstairs waiting for her. She decides she wants to come down the stairs with a grand entrance, but someone comes up behind her, so she moves over to let them go by, but they push her. This is the first death, and it looks like an accident. But the main character, a 15 or 16 year old, questions it. And she's like "I think she wanted to make a grand entrance, but someone came up behind her so she decided to move over to let them by but they didn't go by. They pushed her." Oh you mean you guessed EXACTLY what happened? To a T? How do you just guess this woman wanted to make a grand entrance? That someone came up behind her and she tried to move over? How do you come to that conclusion with no evidence? This is just one example of the cheesiness that kind of ruined it for me.
October 21, 2015
Actual rating - 2.5
This one was just as dull as the last one unfortunately, and again, It didn't interest me even when people died.
Glad I've only got one more book in the bind up to read.
This one was just as dull as the last one unfortunately, and again, It didn't interest me even when people died.
Glad I've only got one more book in the bind up to read.
December 10, 2018
Read my full recap at ogwnostalgia.wordpress.com/the-seance-jg
If you've read Jo's Slay Bells or My Bloody Valentine, then you know what you're in for, as she used the same basic template for all three books. This one is the least fun, however, possibly because it was the last of the three; possibly because in this one we suddenly have Surprise!Rape sprung on us, then get to see the killer/rapist's POV where he justifies his actions to us. This mechanism was hilarious in Slay Bells; here it makes me want to give my brain a bleach bath. No thank you.
If you've read Jo's Slay Bells or My Bloody Valentine, then you know what you're in for, as she used the same basic template for all three books. This one is the least fun, however, possibly because it was the last of the three; possibly because in this one we suddenly have Surprise!Rape sprung on us, then get to see the killer/rapist's POV where he justifies his actions to us. This mechanism was hilarious in Slay Bells; here it makes me want to give my brain a bleach bath. No thank you.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews