Coffins

by Rodman Philbrick, Peter Berkrot (narrator)

In rural Maine, a stop on the Underground Railroad is menaced by a supernatural force in this terrifying novel of pre-Civil War horror.

Davis Bentwood has nearly finished medical school when he meets an abolitionist dwarf walking across Harvard Yard. Jeb Coffin is a nonpracticing doctor, a devoted student of transcendentalism whose home life has been shaken by tragedy. The two men become friends, and Coffin invites Bentwood to rural Maine to save his family from itself. The Coffins are noted abolitionists, their home a stop on the Underground Railroad, and lately they have been menaced by a supernatural terror. The tragedies are two brothers killed, a father driven mad, and a baby frozen solid in its crib.

At first Bentwood cannot bring himself to acknowledge the impossible horrors that have cursed this family. But he will not survive his sojourn in Maine unless he can open his mind to the possibility that something evil is waiting in the dark.

Genres: Horror

Audible Audio

First published February 9, 2002

About the author

Aka William R Dantz, Chris Jordan, W.R. Philbrick.

Rodman Philbrick grew up on the New England coast, where he worked as a longshoreman and boat builder. For many years he wrote mysteries and detective novels. The Private Eye Writers of America nominated two of his T.D.Stash series as best detective novel and then selected Philbrick's 'Brothers & Sinners' as Best Novel in 1993. Writing under the pen name 'William R. Dantz' he has explored the near-future worlds of genetic engineering and hi-tech brain control in books like 'Hunger', 'Pulse', 'The Seventh Sleeper'. And 'Nine Levels Down'.

Inspired by the life of a boy who lived a few blocks away, he wrote 'Freak The Mighty', the award-winning young-adult novel, which has been translated into numerous languages and is now read in schools throughout the world. The book was adapted to the screen in 1998 as 'The Mighty', starring Sharon Stone, Gillian Anderson, James Gandolfini, Kieran Culkin, and Elden Henson.

Philbrick, a screenwriter as well as a novelist, is the author of a number of novels for young readers, including 'The Fire Pony', 'Max the Mighty', 'REM World', 'The Last Book In The Universe', 'The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds' and 'The Young Man And The Sea'. His recent novels for adults include 'Dark Matter', 'Coffins', and 'Taken'. He and his wife divide their time between Maine and the Florida Keys.

Reviews

[Cvsummerfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: COFFINS
Genre: Thriller/Fantasy?
Author: Rodman Philbrick
ISBN: 0-312-87273-9

The Book

I came upon this book on the "sale" table of the Coles bookstore here in Toronto. The brief summary/preview of the novel on the flap caught my interest. A quick read of the first page immediately grabbed me and heightened my interest.

The book starts with an “editor's note”, witnessed or signed by the author, about a set of journals belonging to Dr. Davis Bentwood, the story's main character, before proceeding to the story, thereby lending a "true story narrative" edge to the novel. Along with these journals are a “true” log of a ship – in the days of slave trading, the captain of a ship kept 2 sets of logs, the “straight” one for the port authorities to peruse and the second one contained the real events and numbers pertaining to the ship’s cargo.

The main story is a first person account of Dr. Bentwood. Although the first death in the Coffin family has already occurred at the start of the novel, the flashbacks (for instance, Dr. Bentwood’s reminiscence of how met Jebediah Coffin, and his description of his journey to White Harbor) are so well written in that they are brief, and yet giving the reader the whole picture without dragging the story line. You get drawn to it because you know right away that it is an underlying story and it is what motivates you to read more.

Although the novel is set in the nineteenth century, the dialogue is easy to comprehend, and not as tedious as period stories tend to be, thereby creating a continuous flow to the story as you read it.

As well, the infusion of historical events and notable historical figures of the time, gives a credible effect of reality to the drama and its characters, not panning the morality of such events or historical figures. It does, however, give you enough to rouse your interest in such historical events, especially that of abolition, the slave trading and even the suffragist movement of the time. Enough interest that made me research on the internet and print out 7 hours of double-sided flight reading materials on Frederick Douglass, Joshua Chamberlain and the abolition, and gave me better understanding of this part of the American history.

The Author

Rodman Philbrick has used his family’s history of sea faring to full use in this novel. He has written other novels, including the more notable “Freak the Mighty” which had been made into a film called “The Mighty”. For more information on the author, check his website: www.RodmanPhilbrick.com, or Google his name.

[doris garritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frightening

A very good read. I could not put this book down, much as I may have wanted to when the descriptive passages became overwhelming. Most certainly a different sort of story giving insight into politics before the Civil War. Highly recommended to those who enjoy horror stories and history

[Janette Grimshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really different than the other Rodman Philbrick books I've read. It's an entirely different style, written in the language of the 1800's since that's the time period of the story. However, I still really liked it--well, all except for the porno sex scene at the very end.

[Dan Barr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coffins could have been a very good book if it wasn't for the glaring historical errors peppered throughout. (My most [least?] favorite example is the use of the term "Jim Crow Laws" in a book set a full 50 years before that phrase was even coined.) The author also has a bizarre need to populate the story with famous people . . . Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a just-off-stage Ralph Waldo Emerson . . . as if Coffins is some sort of pre-Civil War Forrest Gump where the main character has to accidentally meet with every culturally significant figure of his era.

The book starts with an fantastic conceit -- that the book you are reading is the discovered journals of a Civil War doctor. The book could easily have been filled with editors notes or responses or retorts instead of having famous people stop by for no reason. Only one small section has anything like that and it only shows how well the rest of the book would have been served by that.

Otherwise, there are some really great horror visuals, the writing is solid even when the author doesn't quite hit mid-19th century English perfectly, and the story concludes really satisfactorily so I'm glad I finished it despite some of the frustrations.

[Candice Lovekamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a Dollar General store and was drawn to it because of the artwork on the cover. I love fiction and non-fiction that deals with historical events, and the paranormal. There are many disturbing elements to the story, but at the same time, you come to care about the characters, even the ones who did bad deeds in the past. Each character is complex, and while you won't always agree with their decisions (past and present), you understand why they made those choices. I loved that real historical icons were mentioned in the narrative as well.

[Sistermagpie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book never really grabbed me. Set on the eve of the Civil War, it's about a non-practicing doctor who goes to visit his friend, a dwarf abolitionist, at the home of his successful sea-faring family in Maine. Turns out the family is cursed by a slave their father murdered when he was a slave trader.

One of the main problems was I was always really aware of the book dealing with history. Characters have careful conversations about exactly how they feel about the upcoming war and slavery, and everyone has opinions that are just right or not quite right enough but not wrong by modern standards. But I couldn't get into the conversations since I knew how all these things eventually shook out and there was nothing particularly interesting in what the characters thought about them. That is, despite the fact that slavery turns out to be central to the plot so it makes sense to tie it to the wider issue, it still felt like the characters were just reciting dialogues about historical things instead of being involved in important conflicts with each other.

A cousin is also rather randomly a suffragist, or at least she was one and now she isn't really involved, and she even more randomly used to be a secretary to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Like of course she has to be involved with a famous person (just as her cousin is bffs with Frederick Douglass) who drops by to give her own opinions. (From the book you'd almost think that Susan B. Anthony wasn't a firebrand abolitionist herself since Stanton claims she's "retiring" to her farm to "wait out the war" when Stanton will get back to women's rights.)

So I never really got involved in the book even when the curse drove everyone to madness and despair. Though I did like the situation we wind up with in the epilogue.

[Seff Liddell · Rating 2 out of 5]

While written well, mostly, I felt it was confused about what it was. There was a lot of discussion about slavery and suffragist which took you directly out of the creepy atmosphere the story had been setting up. When the action finally occurs it is so basic as to be laughable. White man slavery being cursed by a slave and that's not simplifying it. That is it. If you enjoy a story about 'your family will all die' curses that are straightforward then you might like this. It was not for me.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A FAR REACHING FAMILY CURSE... BE CAREFUL THE CHOICES YOU MAKE

[Darwin]

12/10/13-12/15/13

[Louise A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a creepy, eerie vibe. I enjoyed it.