Carapace

by Allan Watson

The village of Carapace was unravelling. Strand by strand. Thread by thread. As the weave teased itself apart, the underlying pattern of the community was subtly altered. The effects were small at first. Trivial things. Small portions of bad luck, ill health and misfortune. The type of things that happened anywhere else surely. Nothing to do with ill omens or portents of evil. But there were some in Carapace who knew differently……………………
It was the task of the Betrothal Society to notice such insignificant tragedies, to write them down in their black ledgers and analyse any small shifts in the bad luck spectrum. The three men who comprised its committee were old now - prone to their own frailties and the sin of complacency. It was almost seventeen years since the last Briding had taken place and although they meticulously recorded the latest spate of ill fortune in their black leather books, they did nothing except whisper amongst themselves. They had forgotten what it was like to have the enemy at the door.

Carapace heralds the return of the late lamented multi-character, horror genre - complete with buckets of blood, gallons of gore, gratuitous violence and frequent descriptions of dubious sexual practices. This is the sort of novel where you don’t so much suspend your disbelief as put it into cryogenic storage. This is Whisky Galore meets Night of the Living Dead.

Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2011

About the author

Allan Watson is a writer whose work leans towards the dark end of the fiction spectrum. He is the author of seven novels - Dreaming in the Snakepark, Carapace, The Garden of Remembrance, 1-2-3-4, Monochrome, Heart Swarm and Wasp Latitudes.
In between the books, Allan wrote extensively for BBC Radio Scotland, churning out hundreds of comedy sketches, in addition to being a regular contributor for the world famous 'Herald Diary'.

He occasionally masquerades as a composer/musician, collaborating with crime writer Phil Rickman in a band called Lol Robinson with Hazey Jane II whose albums have sold on four different continents (Antarctica was a hard one to crack)

Allan lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland, but has never worn the kilt or eaten a deep fried Mars Bar. He also once spent three days as a stand-in guitarist for the Bay City Rollers, but he rarely talks much about that...

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carapace, Scotland has thrived for centuries, blessed with prosperity, good health, and lack of crime. But, the town's luck is turning, as a recent spate of unnatural death's has occurred. It is up to the Betrothal Society to set things back on course, and rid itself of the evil , most UnReverend Thurston Jenner, who has risen to wreck havoc on the tiny, secluded village.

Carapace is ,at once, original, creative, humorous, seductive, smart, fast paced, and deliciously horrifying. Did I say well written? No? Well, it's that too. Scottish writer, Allan Watson has a way with words that will have you re-reading sentences ,and paragraphs too, just to savor their unique flavor and feel.

To paraphrase: "He closed his eyes and looked upon the canvas of an insane artist. All the shades and hues of the day were there. irregular blotches that bled into one another, crawling with a life of their own. There was the dull grey of his morning, and the hot, heavy orange of his car trip, a livid black streak representing his anger. Red ran through the other shades like thin trails of blood giving the image a theme..."

You get the picture; this is not your average horror romp. Carapace is my 5th read of Watson's. I can't wait for more. If this is your first journey it won't be your last.

If you like "Carapace", be sure to download, "1,2,3,4" and "Dreaming in the Snakepark", two of my personal favorites.

[Cathi Penman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Stephen King you will love this! It’s so good I’ve read it twice and enjoyed it even more on the second reading. It is shocking and entertaining and hard to put it down once you’ve read the first page.