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The Horror
When a famous horror writer arrives in a lovely coast town to work on his new novel, he is immediately seduced by its picturesque beauty and friendly locals. It looks like he finally found the ideal place to concentrate after a difficult and stressful period of his life. But when strange and frightening events begin to happen all around him, he begins to wonder if behind the beautiful facade of reality lurk some well-hidden and much darker secrets— or, maybe worse, if he' s purely and simply losing his mind?
144 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 27, 2024
21 people want to read
About the author
Seb Doubinsky
41 books171 followersI was born in Paris, in 1963, right in the middle of a western movie, of which my parents never saw the end. I have thereafter split my life between France and the USA, having spent most of my early childhood in Syracuse, and Seattle. After some studies, a lot of wandering and a few strange jobs, I have finally found myself teaching French literature in Denmark, where I have been living since 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 12, 2024
Full Review
Doubinsky’s first entry into the horror genre is a successful one. It tells a tense, page-turning story that fans of horror will certainly find entertaining. Doubinsky continues to show himself an insightful writer of speculative fiction. I definitely recommend picking up The Horror, and I look forward to what Doubinsky will come out with next.
Doubinsky’s first entry into the horror genre is a successful one. It tells a tense, page-turning story that fans of horror will certainly find entertaining. Doubinsky continues to show himself an insightful writer of speculative fiction. I definitely recommend picking up The Horror, and I look forward to what Doubinsky will come out with next.
March 30, 2024
Seb Doubinsky's first foray into horror is very impressive, intriguing and subversive. I received an ARC and read it in one sitting.
The short chapters are somehow hypnotic and make it difficult to stop reading - there's always another compelling reveal only a few paragraphs away. The mystery kept me interested throughout. Nothing about the way the story develops is obvious (and neither are its tone or feel) and the conclusion offers a fantastic twist, which plays with narrative expectations and genre conventions.
The atmosphere was not at all what I expected from a horror story. There was a pleasant summer holiday feel and a strong sense of place and space, which made it easy to enjoy sinking into the setting. The little cottage and the small town seemed so idyllic and relaxing. Being at ease, however, only contributes to the feeling of betrayal that comes with the slow realisation of the rot hiding underneath. The backstory of the town is heartbreaking and plays a major role in the story. Great use of the location!
I adored the way humour was weaved into the story, with many funny moments I didn’t expect. The balance of amusing/tragic and light/heavy was just right for me.
There were some brilliant dream-like scenes and dream sequences. If you're partial to those, there's plenty here to enjoy. The first dream hits especially hard and shifts the whole tone of the story.
The resolution reminded me of The Last House on Needless Street in the way that it reveals the underlying assumptions about who we traditionally see as the antagonist/enemy/other in horror fiction, forcing the audience to rethink and reconsider. The whole concept of a protagonist and their role in a story receives a similar treatment, opening the question of who ‘the hero’ is and who tends to be ‘entitled’ to be the hero.
Then, finally, the real source of the horror is revealed and it is ‘real’ in the literal sense, which breaks through the otherworldly conventions of the genre to focus on dark truths about human nature. Fantastic concept, a joy to read, left me musing about it for a long time after reading it. Highly recommended, and a great illustration of how horror keeps evolving and transforms into something much more socially conscious, self-referential and self-reflective.
The short chapters are somehow hypnotic and make it difficult to stop reading - there's always another compelling reveal only a few paragraphs away. The mystery kept me interested throughout. Nothing about the way the story develops is obvious (and neither are its tone or feel) and the conclusion offers a fantastic twist, which plays with narrative expectations and genre conventions.
The atmosphere was not at all what I expected from a horror story. There was a pleasant summer holiday feel and a strong sense of place and space, which made it easy to enjoy sinking into the setting. The little cottage and the small town seemed so idyllic and relaxing. Being at ease, however, only contributes to the feeling of betrayal that comes with the slow realisation of the rot hiding underneath. The backstory of the town is heartbreaking and plays a major role in the story. Great use of the location!
I adored the way humour was weaved into the story, with many funny moments I didn’t expect. The balance of amusing/tragic and light/heavy was just right for me.
There were some brilliant dream-like scenes and dream sequences. If you're partial to those, there's plenty here to enjoy. The first dream hits especially hard and shifts the whole tone of the story.
The resolution reminded me of The Last House on Needless Street in the way that it reveals the underlying assumptions about who we traditionally see as the antagonist/enemy/other in horror fiction, forcing the audience to rethink and reconsider. The whole concept of a protagonist and their role in a story receives a similar treatment, opening the question of who ‘the hero’ is and who tends to be ‘entitled’ to be the hero.
Then, finally, the real source of the horror is revealed and it is ‘real’ in the literal sense, which breaks through the otherworldly conventions of the genre to focus on dark truths about human nature. Fantastic concept, a joy to read, left me musing about it for a long time after reading it. Highly recommended, and a great illustration of how horror keeps evolving and transforms into something much more socially conscious, self-referential and self-reflective.
May 27, 2024
A very entertaining classic style horror tale with a great grasp of building suspense and a sense of threat before things get dark and weird fast. Highly recommended!
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
March 30, 2024
An engaging and immersive novel to be read all in one breath.
I came across Seb’s work after reading some reviews which compared is novels to P.K. Dick’s romances (who happens to be my all time favorite writer), and I was pleased to agree with the reviews after I read all of Seb’s sci-fi works.
This time thanks to the author I had the honour and priviledge of reading his latest book before the publishing date set to be 24th March through IFWG publishing.
This novel marks a debut for Seb in the genre, even if he experimented horror narrative in the collected short stories collaboration with J.S. Breukelaar: “Turning of the Seasons: A Dark Almanac” (which i read and loved).
Categorizing this novel as mere horror story would be a capital sin, here you’ll find topical issues, art and literature references, onirical dimensions and more…
Each chapter is a brushstroke in a wisely forming picture which will be suddenly darkened with bloody red and dark black tints in a dramatic turn of events.
True Horror lies within us, it is the “Beast” within us like in Golding’s masterpiece “Lord of the flies”.
What is scarier? Bad dreams? Black cats? Apparitions? Or our reality filled with intolerance, bullism and bigotry.
Once again, and that’s why I love Seb’s work (really you should read his dystopian/sci-fi/bizarro novels of the city-state cicle), what is reality? This is the question that fascinates me the most, and so do books and novels that move around it.
One last personal thought to end my review. Seb cites Lovecraft’s unfamiliar and strange landscapes and his “losing mind” topos, a coincidence is that a big tome of all tales by H.P. Lovecraft is sitting in my library waiting to be read. There is no better book than one that makes you looking forward to read another one, or I should say two, given that this novella also made me discover and immediately add to my wishlist “Immobility” by Brian Evenson from which the opening epigraph is cited.
I came across Seb’s work after reading some reviews which compared is novels to P.K. Dick’s romances (who happens to be my all time favorite writer), and I was pleased to agree with the reviews after I read all of Seb’s sci-fi works.
This time thanks to the author I had the honour and priviledge of reading his latest book before the publishing date set to be 24th March through IFWG publishing.
This novel marks a debut for Seb in the genre, even if he experimented horror narrative in the collected short stories collaboration with J.S. Breukelaar: “Turning of the Seasons: A Dark Almanac” (which i read and loved).
Categorizing this novel as mere horror story would be a capital sin, here you’ll find topical issues, art and literature references, onirical dimensions and more…
Each chapter is a brushstroke in a wisely forming picture which will be suddenly darkened with bloody red and dark black tints in a dramatic turn of events.
True Horror lies within us, it is the “Beast” within us like in Golding’s masterpiece “Lord of the flies”.
What is scarier? Bad dreams? Black cats? Apparitions? Or our reality filled with intolerance, bullism and bigotry.
Once again, and that’s why I love Seb’s work (really you should read his dystopian/sci-fi/bizarro novels of the city-state cicle), what is reality? This is the question that fascinates me the most, and so do books and novels that move around it.
One last personal thought to end my review. Seb cites Lovecraft’s unfamiliar and strange landscapes and his “losing mind” topos, a coincidence is that a big tome of all tales by H.P. Lovecraft is sitting in my library waiting to be read. There is no better book than one that makes you looking forward to read another one, or I should say two, given that this novella also made me discover and immediately add to my wishlist “Immobility” by Brian Evenson from which the opening epigraph is cited.
April 11, 2024
What I love about this book is the main character's self-awareness that the situation he's in seems to be turning into a kind of horror story, but because of that he has difficulty accepting its reality. In most horror, characters act like they've never seen or read a horror story before: "What's that, a mysterious black cat wants me to follow it into the basement of an abandoned insane asylum? I can't imagine what might happen next!"
In The Horror, the main character is, thankfully, aware of the existence of the genre, which adds an extra layer to everything that happens. I initially thought the idea of a lonely middle-aged horror writer looking for a quiet seaside town to work in was very Stephen King, but later in the novel it becomes clear that this set-up was intended to lull the reader into a false sense of what is happening. New facts emerge that made me re-read the early chapters in a completely different light.
Chapters are short and vivid - the suspense is subtle and uncanny, until suddenly it's shockingly immediate. I almost subtracted one star because I wish it was longer! But I guess you can't blame a book if you don't want it to end...
In The Horror, the main character is, thankfully, aware of the existence of the genre, which adds an extra layer to everything that happens. I initially thought the idea of a lonely middle-aged horror writer looking for a quiet seaside town to work in was very Stephen King, but later in the novel it becomes clear that this set-up was intended to lull the reader into a false sense of what is happening. New facts emerge that made me re-read the early chapters in a completely different light.
Chapters are short and vivid - the suspense is subtle and uncanny, until suddenly it's shockingly immediate. I almost subtracted one star because I wish it was longer! But I guess you can't blame a book if you don't want it to end...
June 14, 2024
Arriving at the house
The evil within. Perhaps a fictional urge, perhaps more. Something emerges when given time alone to grow. Would a gun feel guilty? Are we accountable for our urges, or are we the tools of our urges?
The evil within. Perhaps a fictional urge, perhaps more. Something emerges when given time alone to grow. Would a gun feel guilty? Are we accountable for our urges, or are we the tools of our urges?
March 28, 2024
Seb Doubinsky’s stunning fever dream of a novel, The Horror, winks at us from the beginning, playing with genre and form. Everyone knows this story. But do they? With well-earned nods to the horror greats, this prismatic book uses its unreliable narrator who poses dangers of his own—a horror writer who goes to a small town to find still more horror—to foreground questions of truth, history, race, gender, and the unofficial stories that live beneath the official ones. In a thought-provoking twist, the worlds of the novel-within-a-novel, which reflects on the atrocities of World War II, and the book itself intertwine in ways that make us ponder the horror of our own times.
March 18, 2024
Seb Doubinsky's The Horror is my first in the genre after ages. I confess I enjoyed it. It was just the right read after a few years of reading the heavy weights - Tolstoy, Melville, Mann ...
This is the ideal read for a beach vacation for those who relish the genre.
Mind you, it's not hardcore horror - no slashers, evil clowns and such. Though it has the right amount of chills, it remains safe for most but the most faint hearted.
I leave you to add it to your upcoming buys or to gift to someone who relishes the genre.
This is the ideal read for a beach vacation for those who relish the genre.
Mind you, it's not hardcore horror - no slashers, evil clowns and such. Though it has the right amount of chills, it remains safe for most but the most faint hearted.
I leave you to add it to your upcoming buys or to gift to someone who relishes the genre.
April 18, 2026
This was my first time reading this author, and honestly, I probably should have tried one of his more well-known books instead, but I'm a big horror guy so I bypassed his popular sci-fi books for what appears to be his only horror release. The opening has a lot of talk about how "yes, this plotline is a giant cliche, yes, I know you know all these tropes already," and maybe I was misunderstanding, but I took that to mean that he was then going to do something to subvert my expectations, break the trope into weird little pieces. Instead, the book then proceeds to tell exactly the same story that it just finished telling us we've already read before. I had also heard good things about the author's prose, and maybe their sci-fi books have some killer writing, but this felt in line with your average Free On Kindle Unlimited type read. I will definitely give this author another shot, however, maybe The Babylonian Trilogy or Missing Signal.
October 1, 2024
The Horror is an apt title, but this book is also a page-turning atmospheric mystery. It had echoes of Stephen King with its well-drawn small American beach town setting and relatable characters. It’s an immersive book and I devoured it quickly, drawn in bit-by-bit by the compelling twists and growing dread as the story unfolded. Doubinsky is a masterful writer who elevates familiar tropes with layers of nuance, weirdness and subtle truths. Highly recommended!
July 2, 2024
Who would have thought it was possible to make horror while debunking all the tropes of horror? Seb has done it with this entry into the genre, keeping both his main character as well as his reader in an unbearable state of ambivalence between denial and fear. A must-read if you like literature that reflects on itself.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews