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The Prisoner of Hell Gate
FOUR DECADES AFTER TYPHOID MARY WENT TO HER GRAVE, FIVE CURIOUS GRADUATE STUDENTS STRUGGLE TO ESCAPE ALIVE FROM THE ABANDONED ISLAND THAT ONCE IMPRISONED HER. CONTAGION DOESN’T DIE. IT JUST WAITS.
In the Hell Gate section of New York’s East River lie the sad islands where, for centuries, people locked away what they most feared: the contagious, the disfigured, the addicted, the criminally insane.
Here infection slowly consumed the stricken. Here a desperate captain ran his doomed steamship aground and watched flames devour 1500 souls. Here George A. Soper imprisoned the infamous Typhoid Mary after she spread sickness and death in Manhattan’s most privileged quarters.
George’s great-granddaughter, Karalee, and her fellow graduate students in public health know that story. But as they poke in and out of the macabre hospital rooms of abandoned North Brother Island—bantering, taking pictures, recalling history—they are missing something: Hidden evil watches over them—and plots against them.
Death doesn’t only visit Hell Gate. It comes to stay.
As darkness falls, the students find themselves marooned—their casual trespass having unleashed a chain of horrific events beyond anyone’s imagination.
Disease lurks among the eerie ruins where Typhoid Mary once lived and breathed. Ravenous flies swarm puddles of blood. Rot and decay cling to human skin. And spiteful ghosts haunt the living and undead.
Soon five students of history will learn more than they ever wanted to know about New York’s foul underbelly: the meaning of spine-tingling cries down the corridor, of mysterious fires, of disfiguring murder, and of an avenging presence so sinister they’d rather risk their lives than face the terror of one more night.
In the Hell Gate section of New York’s East River lie the sad islands where, for centuries, people locked away what they most feared: the contagious, the disfigured, the addicted, the criminally insane.
Here infection slowly consumed the stricken. Here a desperate captain ran his doomed steamship aground and watched flames devour 1500 souls. Here George A. Soper imprisoned the infamous Typhoid Mary after she spread sickness and death in Manhattan’s most privileged quarters.
George’s great-granddaughter, Karalee, and her fellow graduate students in public health know that story. But as they poke in and out of the macabre hospital rooms of abandoned North Brother Island—bantering, taking pictures, recalling history—they are missing something: Hidden evil watches over them—and plots against them.
Death doesn’t only visit Hell Gate. It comes to stay.
As darkness falls, the students find themselves marooned—their casual trespass having unleashed a chain of horrific events beyond anyone’s imagination.
Disease lurks among the eerie ruins where Typhoid Mary once lived and breathed. Ravenous flies swarm puddles of blood. Rot and decay cling to human skin. And spiteful ghosts haunt the living and undead.
Soon five students of history will learn more than they ever wanted to know about New York’s foul underbelly: the meaning of spine-tingling cries down the corridor, of mysterious fires, of disfiguring murder, and of an avenging presence so sinister they’d rather risk their lives than face the terror of one more night.
212 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2016
18 people are currently reading
1184 people want to read
About the author
Dana I. Wolff
1 book25 followersI write about dead people. Why they turn up. Why they come to untimely ends. How their passing casts a shadow over those of us who—for the moment—remain alive. How they haunt us until that very instant when the dark angel approaches and kisses us on our parched lips.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
August 15, 2016
3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/08/14/...
What would you do if you and your friends were trapped on a wooded island with no way to get off? It is the early 80s, so there are no cellphones to call for help even though civilization is just hops away. The only inhabitant on the island appears to be a homeless woman who is creepy as hell, but she offers you shelter and food and is an excellent cook.
It’s an unsettling situation for sure, but manageable if everyone keeps just calm and waits for rescue. For public health graduate student Karalee and her four companions though, the island may be their last resting place. They are on one of the lonely islands in the Hell Gate section of New York’s East River, where for centuries civilization locked away those they feared the most. The shelter the five friends find is an abandoned old hospital, once used for quarantining victims of infectious diseases. One of its most famous patients was a woman named Mary Mallon—the Irish cook better known as Typhoid Mary.
Karalee didn’t end up at the island by accident. Her great-grandfather was George A. Soper, the sanitation engineer who was the one who discovered Typhoid Mary and finally captured her after she infected and killed people with her cooking. Karalee and her friends were out boating on a beautiful summer day when she spies North Brother Island, and immediately feels drawn to the place because of her family’s history. But when their boat becomes damaged by the unyielding currents of the river, the youths are marooned and are forced to spend the night with the old homeless woman to provide for them. The woman, grimy as she is, proves to be a wizard when it comes to whipping up meals for her stranded guests. She tells Karalee and her friends that her name is Mary, and a slight Irish accent marks her speech. Coincidence? Or is there something more sinister at play here?
Dana I. Wolff’s The Prisoner of Hell Gate is set up like your classic slasher horror scenario: a group of twenty-somethings find themselves trapped in an isolated place with a crazy killer on the loose determined to pick them off one by one. But there’s a twist here. Instead of relying on a copious amount of blood and gore to scare her readers, the author uses our deep-seated fear of germs and gruesome infectious diseases to create horror. And rather than a knife-wielding psychopath, the villain in this tale is a madwoman whose weapon is much more nefarious and repulsive.
Who was Mary Mallon, exactly? The media of the early twentieth century dubbed her Typhoid Mary, for being identified as an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. Working as a cook, she managed to infect dozens of people and was isolated not once but twice by public health workers, after she changed her name and returned to being a cook even though she was ordered not to upon her first release. I’d heard of her before reading this book, but wasn’t aware of the specifics of her life or the circumstances around her arrest and quarantine. On that front, this book was very informational. I learned about the cat-and-mouse game between Mallon and Soper as the latter traced the trail of infection all across the city in order to finally apprehend her. The story contains many flashbacks to the past, including a recounting of the General Slocum disaster of 1904, when the steamship caught fire and sank in the East River taking with it the lives of more than a thousand men, women and children. The Prisoner of Hell Gate is not a historical novel per se, but those who have an interest in these history subjects will probably find its premise intriguing.
The plot, however, is pretty textbook. The cast is gradually whittled down as one by one they fall prey to the killer. It’s a timeworn device, but to Wolff’s credit she manages to apply it in a quick and suspenseful fashion, even though none of her hopped up, foolish and arrogant characters are all that likeable, which robs their deaths of the desired effect. Karalee is especially annoying with her stubborn defense of Mary Mallon, even though she knew full well all the people Mallon infected and her subsequent lack of cooperation with the authorities. There’s a personal reason for Karalee’s strange sympathies, but they weren’t very well developed. The best character was probably the mysterious Mary. Her narrative is disturbing, but the complexity with which she is written is utterly fascinating.
For my review, I left parts of the story deliberately vague, because I think some of the most unexpected surprises are best left for readers to discover on their own. I wouldn’t go into this book expecting it to shake up the genre, but it had its moments, not to mention some cool twists. It probably could have been scarier it weren’t for the man missed opportunities to play up the terrors of infectious diseases and outbreaks, but there is a supernatural aspect here that I thought was well incorporated. All in all, The Prisoner of Hell Gate was an entertaining read. I would recommend it if you’re looking for a fast-paced, mainstream-type horror read, especially if you have an interest in the history of Typhoid Mary.
What would you do if you and your friends were trapped on a wooded island with no way to get off? It is the early 80s, so there are no cellphones to call for help even though civilization is just hops away. The only inhabitant on the island appears to be a homeless woman who is creepy as hell, but she offers you shelter and food and is an excellent cook.
It’s an unsettling situation for sure, but manageable if everyone keeps just calm and waits for rescue. For public health graduate student Karalee and her four companions though, the island may be their last resting place. They are on one of the lonely islands in the Hell Gate section of New York’s East River, where for centuries civilization locked away those they feared the most. The shelter the five friends find is an abandoned old hospital, once used for quarantining victims of infectious diseases. One of its most famous patients was a woman named Mary Mallon—the Irish cook better known as Typhoid Mary.
Karalee didn’t end up at the island by accident. Her great-grandfather was George A. Soper, the sanitation engineer who was the one who discovered Typhoid Mary and finally captured her after she infected and killed people with her cooking. Karalee and her friends were out boating on a beautiful summer day when she spies North Brother Island, and immediately feels drawn to the place because of her family’s history. But when their boat becomes damaged by the unyielding currents of the river, the youths are marooned and are forced to spend the night with the old homeless woman to provide for them. The woman, grimy as she is, proves to be a wizard when it comes to whipping up meals for her stranded guests. She tells Karalee and her friends that her name is Mary, and a slight Irish accent marks her speech. Coincidence? Or is there something more sinister at play here?
Dana I. Wolff’s The Prisoner of Hell Gate is set up like your classic slasher horror scenario: a group of twenty-somethings find themselves trapped in an isolated place with a crazy killer on the loose determined to pick them off one by one. But there’s a twist here. Instead of relying on a copious amount of blood and gore to scare her readers, the author uses our deep-seated fear of germs and gruesome infectious diseases to create horror. And rather than a knife-wielding psychopath, the villain in this tale is a madwoman whose weapon is much more nefarious and repulsive.
Who was Mary Mallon, exactly? The media of the early twentieth century dubbed her Typhoid Mary, for being identified as an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. Working as a cook, she managed to infect dozens of people and was isolated not once but twice by public health workers, after she changed her name and returned to being a cook even though she was ordered not to upon her first release. I’d heard of her before reading this book, but wasn’t aware of the specifics of her life or the circumstances around her arrest and quarantine. On that front, this book was very informational. I learned about the cat-and-mouse game between Mallon and Soper as the latter traced the trail of infection all across the city in order to finally apprehend her. The story contains many flashbacks to the past, including a recounting of the General Slocum disaster of 1904, when the steamship caught fire and sank in the East River taking with it the lives of more than a thousand men, women and children. The Prisoner of Hell Gate is not a historical novel per se, but those who have an interest in these history subjects will probably find its premise intriguing.
The plot, however, is pretty textbook. The cast is gradually whittled down as one by one they fall prey to the killer. It’s a timeworn device, but to Wolff’s credit she manages to apply it in a quick and suspenseful fashion, even though none of her hopped up, foolish and arrogant characters are all that likeable, which robs their deaths of the desired effect. Karalee is especially annoying with her stubborn defense of Mary Mallon, even though she knew full well all the people Mallon infected and her subsequent lack of cooperation with the authorities. There’s a personal reason for Karalee’s strange sympathies, but they weren’t very well developed. The best character was probably the mysterious Mary. Her narrative is disturbing, but the complexity with which she is written is utterly fascinating.
For my review, I left parts of the story deliberately vague, because I think some of the most unexpected surprises are best left for readers to discover on their own. I wouldn’t go into this book expecting it to shake up the genre, but it had its moments, not to mention some cool twists. It probably could have been scarier it weren’t for the man missed opportunities to play up the terrors of infectious diseases and outbreaks, but there is a supernatural aspect here that I thought was well incorporated. All in all, The Prisoner of Hell Gate was an entertaining read. I would recommend it if you’re looking for a fast-paced, mainstream-type horror read, especially if you have an interest in the history of Typhoid Mary.
July 24, 2016
I was baffled by all the rave reviews of this book until I saw that the author is a former publishing agent. Must be nice to have connections in the literary world!
The Prisoner of Hell Gate is a "horror" story told in alternating perspectives--that of "Typhoid Mary" Mallon, and that of modern-day public health students Karalee Soper and her friends, a forgettable lot that includes her jock boyfriend and a Latina who misuses American slang (it's funny because English is her second language!). Mary's parts are dreamy and atmospheric, with Karalee and her friends helpfully supplying all of Mary's backstory through awkward "as you know, Bob" exposition-dialogue. The group happens to be boating near the island where Mary was forcibly quarantined. Since Karalee is the great-granddaughter of the man who "caught" Mary, they take a detour to explore the ruins. Predictability ensues.
This book is all the worst horror tropes rolled up in one unpolished paperback package. Thanks to the thin character development, it's hard to actually care what happens to Karalee and her "friends." The heavy-handed attempts to make Mary a sympathetic (or at least "complicated") figure fail completely.
Not scary, not worth your time.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
The Prisoner of Hell Gate is a "horror" story told in alternating perspectives--that of "Typhoid Mary" Mallon, and that of modern-day public health students Karalee Soper and her friends, a forgettable lot that includes her jock boyfriend and a Latina who misuses American slang (it's funny because English is her second language!). Mary's parts are dreamy and atmospheric, with Karalee and her friends helpfully supplying all of Mary's backstory through awkward "as you know, Bob" exposition-dialogue. The group happens to be boating near the island where Mary was forcibly quarantined. Since Karalee is the great-granddaughter of the man who "caught" Mary, they take a detour to explore the ruins. Predictability ensues.
This book is all the worst horror tropes rolled up in one unpolished paperback package. Thanks to the thin character development, it's hard to actually care what happens to Karalee and her "friends." The heavy-handed attempts to make Mary a sympathetic (or at least "complicated") figure fail completely.
Not scary, not worth your time.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
December 8, 2016
A different look at Typhoid Mary
Brothers she had once, but none so suffocating as this Brother.
- first line
A group of college students and a junior professor go out on the river one day and end up landing on a mysterious island. The students are all studying the field of public health. They hang out together often and call themselves the Sewer Rats. They are curious about the island and drawn to its mysteries. As they explore the island, they come across signs of recent habitation, even though no one should be living there. Many years ago, it was where Typhoid Mary was imprisoned - for the sake of public safety. Things gradually get creepier, as it starts to get dark and the students start to worry if they will ever make it off the island.
This is an interesting story. Half of the story is told from Mary's point of view, and the other half from the student's. Mary is angry and wants to be left alone. One of the students, Karalee is the granddaughter of the doctor who imprisoned Mary on the island.
I can't say it left any real impression on me, but the story was unusual. I finished it a while ago, but have been busy with school. Sorry about the short, semi-coherent review.
Brothers she had once, but none so suffocating as this Brother.
- first line
A group of college students and a junior professor go out on the river one day and end up landing on a mysterious island. The students are all studying the field of public health. They hang out together often and call themselves the Sewer Rats. They are curious about the island and drawn to its mysteries. As they explore the island, they come across signs of recent habitation, even though no one should be living there. Many years ago, it was where Typhoid Mary was imprisoned - for the sake of public safety. Things gradually get creepier, as it starts to get dark and the students start to worry if they will ever make it off the island.
This is an interesting story. Half of the story is told from Mary's point of view, and the other half from the student's. Mary is angry and wants to be left alone. One of the students, Karalee is the granddaughter of the doctor who imprisoned Mary on the island.
I can't say it left any real impression on me, but the story was unusual. I finished it a while ago, but have been busy with school. Sorry about the short, semi-coherent review.
June 11, 2016
Wowza, what a creepy ghost story that definitely held my attention. I still have the goose pimples from reading it. I had heard of Typhoid Mary but I wasn't all that familiar with her. And while I'm certain this was mostly fiction the major stories about her history had to have some semblance of truth.
At first, I was thinking I had read this book because I've read another set on this island, however it was much different. What a perfect setting for a creepy book what with its history and everything. I really enjoyed reading this book and think the author did a great job writing it.
Thanks to Macmillan/Picador for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
At first, I was thinking I had read this book because I've read another set on this island, however it was much different. What a perfect setting for a creepy book what with its history and everything. I really enjoyed reading this book and think the author did a great job writing it.
Thanks to Macmillan/Picador for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
May 19, 2017
I did enjoy this story, but it wasn't a favorite.
The characters are good and there was an interesting twist at the end, but I just didn't love this book. :-(
The characters are good and there was an interesting twist at the end, but I just didn't love this book. :-(
November 4, 2018
Abysmal
July 27, 2021
I received this as an ARC a long time ago and just could never get in to it. After reading The Vines this year, I decided to finally power through this one. Neither one does it for me. This one has no likeable characters so you aren’t rooting for anyone. It’s also extremely slow moving with a ton of build up for a handful of action pages at the end.
July 30, 2019
A quick thriller with some interesting historic details mixed in.
October 6, 2017
Well this was a disappointment. I was really looking forward to this book but it wasn't even scary and quite frankly had such a long opening before anything started to happen, I was bored. I was also past my 50 page mark and had to finish the book at that point.
It reads out like a typical horror movie, which I do love to watch by the way. You got bunch of young college kids and typical types of people you'd see in this group. They go to the island that held typhoid Mary ...but is she dead? And if she isn't is she real? Its great in they get stuck there and things start to happen but as I said above it takes forever for that to actually pan out.
It's a small book and a fast read. If you like these types of stories this one is for you. I think it could have been better for me with more action and more scare overall. And the ending....in typical horror movie fashion...it sucked!
It reads out like a typical horror movie, which I do love to watch by the way. You got bunch of young college kids and typical types of people you'd see in this group. They go to the island that held typhoid Mary ...but is she dead? And if she isn't is she real? Its great in they get stuck there and things start to happen but as I said above it takes forever for that to actually pan out.
It's a small book and a fast read. If you like these types of stories this one is for you. I think it could have been better for me with more action and more scare overall. And the ending....in typical horror movie fashion...it sucked!
May 21, 2016
This was just an OK read to me.
It wasn't scary in the traditional sense. It could have been. There were no "kill" scenes. I don't need them. Just a little suspense would have worked for me. We kind of always knew when Mary was coming
It was disgusting. Although nothing got to me too bad except for Mary licking her filthy fingers.
What was Mary anyway? A ghost that still ate food? Did the virus keep her alive and frozen at a certain age?
Where was Estela from? There are many countries she could have emigrated from. You make it a gag that her English isn't good. Or at least that she kept making mistakes with common English language phrases. Can we at least know where she's from?
We weren't even given the basics about the characters. One was Asian, one was Jewish, one was a professor sleeping with his student, and one was the great granddaughter of George Soper. It made it hard to care what happened to them.
I know a little about Typhoid Mary. She saw no need to wash her hands at all. She had no regard for human life. She kept finding work. Cooking for others and, making them ill.
They couldn't track her everywhere. So, how many people she killed is not exact.
The author could have done a lot more with that.
2.5 stars
It wasn't scary in the traditional sense. It could have been. There were no "kill" scenes. I don't need them. Just a little suspense would have worked for me. We kind of always knew when Mary was coming
It was disgusting. Although nothing got to me too bad except for Mary licking her filthy fingers.
What was Mary anyway? A ghost that still ate food? Did the virus keep her alive and frozen at a certain age?
Where was Estela from? There are many countries she could have emigrated from. You make it a gag that her English isn't good. Or at least that she kept making mistakes with common English language phrases. Can we at least know where she's from?
We weren't even given the basics about the characters. One was Asian, one was Jewish, one was a professor sleeping with his student, and one was the great granddaughter of George Soper. It made it hard to care what happened to them.
I know a little about Typhoid Mary. She saw no need to wash her hands at all. She had no regard for human life. She kept finding work. Cooking for others and, making them ill.
They couldn't track her everywhere. So, how many people she killed is not exact.
The author could have done a lot more with that.
2.5 stars
October 7, 2016
I was really hyped about this book. After reading the synopsis, I thought it was the perfect book for me. I was almost tired of reading a lot of romance and I wanted something that could freak me out. However, I'm really disappointed.
Even tough it's a really small book, I spend too much time trying to get in the story and I couldn't connect with it. I ended up bored and wondering if this book will ever end.
It doesn't mean that I hated it. It had its good parts, and that's what kept me from giving it one star. But it wasn't good enough at the end.
Still, I think that many people will like it, if their thing is historical and horror.
I won this book through GoodReads and I thank to the publisher for providing me this copy but this fact didn't influence the review.
Even tough it's a really small book, I spend too much time trying to get in the story and I couldn't connect with it. I ended up bored and wondering if this book will ever end.
It doesn't mean that I hated it. It had its good parts, and that's what kept me from giving it one star. But it wasn't good enough at the end.
Still, I think that many people will like it, if their thing is historical and horror.
I won this book through GoodReads and I thank to the publisher for providing me this copy but this fact didn't influence the review.
April 28, 2016
Talk about death on swift wings. This story is about five students graduate students that are trying to escape from the abandoned island that once get this a woman named typhoid Mary. Basically they are trying to get off the island alive but they inadvertently awakened the evil that has been there for some time waiting. Blood, flies, dead, ghost this book got it all. A must read for all fans of horror.
October 22, 2016
I enjoyed this until the ending. Horrible ending. Don't waste your time on this one.
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April 12, 2019Short story: I disliked this book.
Long story: Wolff's ghost story centers on a historically scrumptious geographic location, particularly for fans of the morbid. She attempts to draw a horror tale from the incarceration of Typhoid Mary on the Manhattan island that was the location of Riverside Hospital, as well as the site of the incendiary shipwreck of the General Slocum. There's a definite attraction of morality and tragedy in both of these tales, and Wolff's story weaves them together with the classic thriller trope of a group of young men and women who playfully decide to explore the island, only to find themselves in a situation with no escape. One of these students (of public health...what else?) is none other than the descendent of George Soper, the doctor who pursued and locked up Typhoid Mary after she had spread infection to a number of households.
Although there are ghosts in this book, Typhoid Mary isn't technically one of them. She's a real human who persists long after the mortal inhabitants of the island have deserted it, surviving on rabbits and garden vegetables. This is an interesting decision on Wolff's part, and one that can be difficult to agree with. Because Mary's corporeal tangibility has to be explained, it results in a series of speculations that are more improbable and tiring than a simple ghost presence. But it's definitely unique. However, it's just one of several instances where Wolff's construction of reality is clearly manipulated to serve her own needs. Another would be when Mary decides to infect her five young guests with her own biological specimens, and they (mostly) all fall ill in a matter of hours...even though one of the students points out that the incubation period takes weeks. Just because you point out your own contradictions doesn't give them literary immunity, Wolff.
Typhoid Mary haunts the students alongside the honest-to-goodness ghosts of the General Slocum shipwreck. They unite in a desire for justice...Typhoid Mary for her humiliating treatment and loss of freedom at the hands of Soper, the shipwrecked Germans for burning alive on a boat that lacked proper safety precautions. Wolffe relates the tale of the shipwreck in gory detail. It's gory stuff, and taken almost perfectly from the Wikipedia entry on the incident.
Apparently this ghostly need for retribution must be exacted on the unwitting students. Because intruders, arrogance, presumptuousness, etc. However, not much is done to make the reader love or even enjoy these characters. Their conversations are almost painfully expository, and they insist on taking sides on Typhoid Mary's case in a pretty banal and unrealistic fashion. Our protagonist, Katalina Soper, is stubbornly sympathetic towards Mary. It's a relief when Mary decides to start picking them off one by one with brute force, even though this renders unnecessary her decision to infect them with typhoid through the food she served. (What was the point, Mary?)
This book didn't make a lot of sense, and I suspect it's because it didn't try. Just like we're force fed Katalina's constant clicking of the camera, and her traumatic childhood memories (which don't come into play until the very end, and only then as a clunky dramatic device) we're also force fed the idea that this story is a coherent ghost tale, with a supernatural reality that doesn't just bend to the writer's needs whenever she doesn't feel like making the extra structural footwork to make it believable.
Long story: Wolff's ghost story centers on a historically scrumptious geographic location, particularly for fans of the morbid. She attempts to draw a horror tale from the incarceration of Typhoid Mary on the Manhattan island that was the location of Riverside Hospital, as well as the site of the incendiary shipwreck of the General Slocum. There's a definite attraction of morality and tragedy in both of these tales, and Wolff's story weaves them together with the classic thriller trope of a group of young men and women who playfully decide to explore the island, only to find themselves in a situation with no escape. One of these students (of public health...what else?) is none other than the descendent of George Soper, the doctor who pursued and locked up Typhoid Mary after she had spread infection to a number of households.
Although there are ghosts in this book, Typhoid Mary isn't technically one of them. She's a real human who persists long after the mortal inhabitants of the island have deserted it, surviving on rabbits and garden vegetables. This is an interesting decision on Wolff's part, and one that can be difficult to agree with. Because Mary's corporeal tangibility has to be explained, it results in a series of speculations that are more improbable and tiring than a simple ghost presence. But it's definitely unique. However, it's just one of several instances where Wolff's construction of reality is clearly manipulated to serve her own needs. Another would be when Mary decides to infect her five young guests with her own biological specimens, and they (mostly) all fall ill in a matter of hours...even though one of the students points out that the incubation period takes weeks. Just because you point out your own contradictions doesn't give them literary immunity, Wolff.
Typhoid Mary haunts the students alongside the honest-to-goodness ghosts of the General Slocum shipwreck. They unite in a desire for justice...Typhoid Mary for her humiliating treatment and loss of freedom at the hands of Soper, the shipwrecked Germans for burning alive on a boat that lacked proper safety precautions. Wolffe relates the tale of the shipwreck in gory detail. It's gory stuff, and taken almost perfectly from the Wikipedia entry on the incident.
Apparently this ghostly need for retribution must be exacted on the unwitting students. Because intruders, arrogance, presumptuousness, etc. However, not much is done to make the reader love or even enjoy these characters. Their conversations are almost painfully expository, and they insist on taking sides on Typhoid Mary's case in a pretty banal and unrealistic fashion. Our protagonist, Katalina Soper, is stubbornly sympathetic towards Mary. It's a relief when Mary decides to start picking them off one by one with brute force, even though this renders unnecessary her decision to infect them with typhoid through the food she served. (What was the point, Mary?)
This book didn't make a lot of sense, and I suspect it's because it didn't try. Just like we're force fed Katalina's constant clicking of the camera, and her traumatic childhood memories (which don't come into play until the very end, and only then as a clunky dramatic device) we're also force fed the idea that this story is a coherent ghost tale, with a supernatural reality that doesn't just bend to the writer's needs whenever she doesn't feel like making the extra structural footwork to make it believable.
April 8, 2018
Karalee and her friends cruise New York’s east river enjoying the last few days of summer. Their daring adventurous spirit attracts them to North Brother Island. A place with a dark haunting history that Karalee knows all too well about. As they explore what remains of the abandoned hospital they soon learn that many deadly secrets still remain.
I was disappointed reading The Prisoner of Hell Gate. The cover and summary made me think it was going to be a book I would love.
The prose was awkward with lots of unnecessary exposition. Pacing was slow and I kept reading hoping the story would pick up eventually.
The story focused a lot on the location and historical events. You could definitely feel the author’s enthusiasm in retelling history. However the way it was delivered was often just large info dumps.
Characterization was poor, unmemorable and felt a bit forced at times. A few of the friends I couldn’t even tell apart. It gave them a two dimensional quality that had me comparing them to stereotypical horror fodder.
I felt like the story didn’t really pick up until the very end. The last few chapters were fast paced and intense. There were a few scenes I loved and they delivered the horror I was waiting for.
The ending was so abrupt it literally made me laugh. I would call it lazy but at that point I was just glad to be finished with the book.
The story had a lot of potential. It made me wish it was reworked more to make it even better. There were so many moments I wish were expanded upon or smoothed out.
The Prisoner of Hell Gate was an okay read. There were parts of it I thought were interesting. I finished reading the book without abandoning it. However, it just left me wanting more from it.
I was disappointed reading The Prisoner of Hell Gate. The cover and summary made me think it was going to be a book I would love.
The prose was awkward with lots of unnecessary exposition. Pacing was slow and I kept reading hoping the story would pick up eventually.
The story focused a lot on the location and historical events. You could definitely feel the author’s enthusiasm in retelling history. However the way it was delivered was often just large info dumps.
Characterization was poor, unmemorable and felt a bit forced at times. A few of the friends I couldn’t even tell apart. It gave them a two dimensional quality that had me comparing them to stereotypical horror fodder.
I felt like the story didn’t really pick up until the very end. The last few chapters were fast paced and intense. There were a few scenes I loved and they delivered the horror I was waiting for.
The ending was so abrupt it literally made me laugh. I would call it lazy but at that point I was just glad to be finished with the book.
The story had a lot of potential. It made me wish it was reworked more to make it even better. There were so many moments I wish were expanded upon or smoothed out.
The Prisoner of Hell Gate was an okay read. There were parts of it I thought were interesting. I finished reading the book without abandoning it. However, it just left me wanting more from it.
March 18, 2021
I did not like any of the characters from the group of friends (the Sewer Rats), the only ones that did not completely annoy me were Gerard (I forgot he existed most of the time), and Estela (she never did anything to make me dislike her- at least not that I remember). Mary was a more interesting perspective to read from in comparison to Karalee, giving glimpses into her past and about her current state on the island. Speaking of her current state, it poses a lot of questions for me and the answers given just do not make sense.
The story itself was okay until I got to the ending, not only did it feel rushed but I honestly just did not like it. It slowly started going downhill for me about halfway through, up to that point I did mostly enjoy the plot and feel that it has potential. For me the book read like a bad horror film; not bad in the way where it is still enjoyable and cheesy, but bad in the way where you don't know if you really want to continue.
Despite my dislike of the characters or the ending I enjoyed reading about the setting, about North Brother Island, the dilapidated buildings, and the atmosphere surrounding it. I found some of the descriptions to be pretty well written.
I also have no clue what is with my copy of the book but some of the sections were out of order so I tabbed the page numbers to easily flip between the sections. It did not factor at all into my rating but it did amuse me. The was one instance of Chick being called Chuck.
The story itself was okay until I got to the ending, not only did it feel rushed but I honestly just did not like it. It slowly started going downhill for me about halfway through, up to that point I did mostly enjoy the plot and feel that it has potential. For me the book read like a bad horror film; not bad in the way where it is still enjoyable and cheesy, but bad in the way where you don't know if you really want to continue.
Despite my dislike of the characters or the ending I enjoyed reading about the setting, about North Brother Island, the dilapidated buildings, and the atmosphere surrounding it. I found some of the descriptions to be pretty well written.
I also have no clue what is with my copy of the book but some of the sections were out of order so I tabbed the page numbers to easily flip between the sections. It did not factor at all into my rating but it did amuse me. The was one instance of Chick being called Chuck.
October 12, 2016
(originally reviewed at
thelibraryladies.com
)
Here is a brief history lesson for those who may not be as privy to the genuinely tragic story of Typhoid Mary. Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who came to America in 1883, and eventually took a position as a cook for upper class families. For immigrant women during this time period, choices were limited, as servitude or prostitution were two very common end games for them. Mary was lucky enough to find work as a cook, but unfortunately she was an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid Fever. She was quarantined twice in her life, and when she was released the first time she was explicitly told that she couldn’t be a cook anymore. So she worked as a laundress for awhile, but unsatisfied with the pay she changed her name and started cooking again…. and more typhoid infections broke out. Eventually she was found, and spent the rest of her life in quarantine (source). “Prisoner of Hell Gate” kind of takes liberties with the history of Typhoid Mary, and twists it a bit to suit the story and the message that Wolff wants to convey. While I don’t necessarily disagree with the message (mistreatment of lower class women during the turn of the 20th century was wrong, oppressive, and had high consequences), I do think that “Prisoner at Hell Gate” was a bit too focused on this message and sacrificed scares for a soap box.
Also, to really talk about the issues I had with this book, I’m going to have to delve into spoilers. So if you want to read this book, you may want to avoid this review.
The core group of protagonists (known as the Sewer Rats for their Public Health focus in grad school) are mostly flat caricatures. The main character, Karalee, is the great grand-daughter of George Soper, the man who hunted Typhoid Mary down and ultimately confined her in isolation for the rest of her life. Karalee has mixed feelings about her legacy and feels a need to defend Typhoid Mary, not really necessarily because of Mary herself, but because of the toxic pride that her father took in the Soper legacy that negatively affected her and because of the cruddy situation women had during that time period in general. She is the most complex character in this group, and is leaps and bounds more fleshed out than her companions. Chick is her boyfriend and he’s the epitome of misogynistic jerk that we are supposed to want dead. He’s a creep, he’s racist, he’s potentially anti-Semitic, and he’s sleeping with Karalee who is his student, but he was so moustache twirly in his evilness that it just felt lazy. Root for him to die because HE’S TERRIBLE was how it felt. I’m never into easy outs like that. There’s Josh, who embodied the neurotic Jew stereotype to the point that I was feeling uncomfortable. There’s Gerard, who is pretty boring and forgettable. And then there’s Elena, who I thought could have had some serious potential, but who didn’t get to be much more than the sassy Latina. I liked that we did have some diversity in this group (Josh, Gerard, and Elena), but it was very unfortunate that none of them were terribly complex.
And then there’s Mary. In this story, Typhoid Mary isn’t necessarily a carrier of Typhoid, but some kind of superhuman being that has evolved beyond being sick and even aging itself. We aren’t really told why, it’s just given as the reality to fit the narrative so that Mary can still be alive and antagonistic forty years after her supposed death. When our group of Sewer Rats stupidly maroon themselves on the supposedly abandoned island where she was left to rot, Mary decides that they all deserve to die, especially Karalee, the descendent of the man who sent her there. And this is where I just can’t totally buy in to this story. I myself do have sympathy for Mary Maron, because yeah, wow, what a shitty hand to be dealt. You are a carrier of a deadly disease without known treatment, and because of this your life has been changed and you cannot exercise the same, LIMITED rights that lower class women have in society. But, that said, I am just not totally willing to say because of this, these dumbasses who crash land on her island deserve to contract typhoid and die. If I’m feeling SUPER generous, maybe I’ll give you Chick. Maybe. But Elena, Josh, Gerard, and Karalee? Nope. Not at all. If it was an attempt to empower Mary, it didn’t work for me. If there had been some actual retribution towards George Soper as he was written in this book, I could have probably been on board! But analogs for him through his descendent and a chauvinist, plus three to round out the body count, just didn’t have the same empowering effect.
In terms of scary moments, this book did have a few of them. At first I was really intrigued by the atmosphere of the Sewer Rats tromping through an abandoned island with remnants of humanity. Abandoned buildings, shadows in the dark, scary noises in the night, all of these things made for some tense moments that genuinely set me on edge during parts of this story. It felt very “Blair Witch” meets “Abandoned By Disney” , which is the kind of story that freaks me out. What we don’t see is far scarier than what we do, in my opinion. But once they met up with Mary the story started to suffer. Hell, once it was made clear that Mary had her own perspective chapters, I was immediately put off. Had we not had the Mary perspective at all, and had the Sewer Rats been stalked by an unknown person or thing in the woods around them, I think it would have been far more interesting as a horror novel. As it was, the seeming need to justify the aggression that Mary felt and exercised towards the Sewer Rats really hindered what could have been a creepy and genuinely scary narrative.
It’s too bad that “Prisoner of Hell Gate” wasn’t what I wanted it to be. It had promise, but fell flat.
Here is a brief history lesson for those who may not be as privy to the genuinely tragic story of Typhoid Mary. Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who came to America in 1883, and eventually took a position as a cook for upper class families. For immigrant women during this time period, choices were limited, as servitude or prostitution were two very common end games for them. Mary was lucky enough to find work as a cook, but unfortunately she was an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid Fever. She was quarantined twice in her life, and when she was released the first time she was explicitly told that she couldn’t be a cook anymore. So she worked as a laundress for awhile, but unsatisfied with the pay she changed her name and started cooking again…. and more typhoid infections broke out. Eventually she was found, and spent the rest of her life in quarantine (source). “Prisoner of Hell Gate” kind of takes liberties with the history of Typhoid Mary, and twists it a bit to suit the story and the message that Wolff wants to convey. While I don’t necessarily disagree with the message (mistreatment of lower class women during the turn of the 20th century was wrong, oppressive, and had high consequences), I do think that “Prisoner at Hell Gate” was a bit too focused on this message and sacrificed scares for a soap box.
Also, to really talk about the issues I had with this book, I’m going to have to delve into spoilers. So if you want to read this book, you may want to avoid this review.
The core group of protagonists (known as the Sewer Rats for their Public Health focus in grad school) are mostly flat caricatures. The main character, Karalee, is the great grand-daughter of George Soper, the man who hunted Typhoid Mary down and ultimately confined her in isolation for the rest of her life. Karalee has mixed feelings about her legacy and feels a need to defend Typhoid Mary, not really necessarily because of Mary herself, but because of the toxic pride that her father took in the Soper legacy that negatively affected her and because of the cruddy situation women had during that time period in general. She is the most complex character in this group, and is leaps and bounds more fleshed out than her companions. Chick is her boyfriend and he’s the epitome of misogynistic jerk that we are supposed to want dead. He’s a creep, he’s racist, he’s potentially anti-Semitic, and he’s sleeping with Karalee who is his student, but he was so moustache twirly in his evilness that it just felt lazy. Root for him to die because HE’S TERRIBLE was how it felt. I’m never into easy outs like that. There’s Josh, who embodied the neurotic Jew stereotype to the point that I was feeling uncomfortable. There’s Gerard, who is pretty boring and forgettable. And then there’s Elena, who I thought could have had some serious potential, but who didn’t get to be much more than the sassy Latina. I liked that we did have some diversity in this group (Josh, Gerard, and Elena), but it was very unfortunate that none of them were terribly complex.
And then there’s Mary. In this story, Typhoid Mary isn’t necessarily a carrier of Typhoid, but some kind of superhuman being that has evolved beyond being sick and even aging itself. We aren’t really told why, it’s just given as the reality to fit the narrative so that Mary can still be alive and antagonistic forty years after her supposed death. When our group of Sewer Rats stupidly maroon themselves on the supposedly abandoned island where she was left to rot, Mary decides that they all deserve to die, especially Karalee, the descendent of the man who sent her there. And this is where I just can’t totally buy in to this story. I myself do have sympathy for Mary Maron, because yeah, wow, what a shitty hand to be dealt. You are a carrier of a deadly disease without known treatment, and because of this your life has been changed and you cannot exercise the same, LIMITED rights that lower class women have in society. But, that said, I am just not totally willing to say because of this, these dumbasses who crash land on her island deserve to contract typhoid and die. If I’m feeling SUPER generous, maybe I’ll give you Chick. Maybe. But Elena, Josh, Gerard, and Karalee? Nope. Not at all. If it was an attempt to empower Mary, it didn’t work for me. If there had been some actual retribution towards George Soper as he was written in this book, I could have probably been on board! But analogs for him through his descendent and a chauvinist, plus three to round out the body count, just didn’t have the same empowering effect.
In terms of scary moments, this book did have a few of them. At first I was really intrigued by the atmosphere of the Sewer Rats tromping through an abandoned island with remnants of humanity. Abandoned buildings, shadows in the dark, scary noises in the night, all of these things made for some tense moments that genuinely set me on edge during parts of this story. It felt very “Blair Witch” meets “Abandoned By Disney” , which is the kind of story that freaks me out. What we don’t see is far scarier than what we do, in my opinion. But once they met up with Mary the story started to suffer. Hell, once it was made clear that Mary had her own perspective chapters, I was immediately put off. Had we not had the Mary perspective at all, and had the Sewer Rats been stalked by an unknown person or thing in the woods around them, I think it would have been far more interesting as a horror novel. As it was, the seeming need to justify the aggression that Mary felt and exercised towards the Sewer Rats really hindered what could have been a creepy and genuinely scary narrative.
It’s too bad that “Prisoner of Hell Gate” wasn’t what I wanted it to be. It had promise, but fell flat.
November 8, 2021
Recommendation: this one is a skip unless you need cheap entertainment for a couple hours and enjoy someone bastardizing history.
What can I say, I got hooked by a great title and then dragged in by a great premise. And despite the 2 star rating, I was actually immensely entertained from start to finish. This book was so predictable and flat that I made a game out of seeing who would die first/next, because it was hilarious. Was it a horror book? It wanted to be, and it had the ghosts, the maniac, and the murder for it, but any sort of atmosphere was lacking.
The only surprise was the last 3 pages, and I couldn't help but laugh.
What can I say, I got hooked by a great title and then dragged in by a great premise. And despite the 2 star rating, I was actually immensely entertained from start to finish. This book was so predictable and flat that I made a game out of seeing who would die first/next, because it was hilarious. Was it a horror book? It wanted to be, and it had the ghosts, the maniac, and the murder for it, but any sort of atmosphere was lacking.
The only surprise was the last 3 pages, and I couldn't help but laugh.
January 18, 2019
The premise had the opportunity to be good - spooky and atmospheric with a touch of believability. It quickly crossed the line into just plain dumb. By the end you'd be rooting for everyone to die because the characters are annoying and the plot is beyond silly. I mean, if the author had just forgone the weird ghosts at least it would have been better. But know, there had to be old urban legends and the characters of, weird half-thought-out mythologies, horribly boring and annoying characters, and constant idiocy had by all. This book isn't horror, it's just horrible writing.
July 22, 2020
this book was soooo spooky!
i picked up this book because i was interested in the history of typhoid mary, and it seemed like an interesting blend between horror and history. indeed it was! i liked how they integrated the history parts so seamlessly.
the ending though!! i literally was not expecting that at all.
i gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because i just felt like karalee wasn’t super detailed as a main character. i would’ve liked more backstory into her, and also more about her family, since that was a main part of the book.
overall i enjoyed this thrilling, scary book!
i picked up this book because i was interested in the history of typhoid mary, and it seemed like an interesting blend between horror and history. indeed it was! i liked how they integrated the history parts so seamlessly.
the ending though!! i literally was not expecting that at all.
i gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because i just felt like karalee wasn’t super detailed as a main character. i would’ve liked more backstory into her, and also more about her family, since that was a main part of the book.
overall i enjoyed this thrilling, scary book!
July 10, 2022
I'm really not sure whether I lean more toward loving this or just thinking it was bland. The concept was beautiful. Unique. The application.... shakey. Unfortunately, the characters were barely likeable. And the heroine(?) was a shaken, weak, emotional wreck.
Okay, so some good stuff:
The history in this book is rich and accurate as far as references to George A. Soper and Mary Mallon and even the General Slocum.
The idea of her somehow surviving all this time is insane in the best way.
And who doesn't love brutality aimed at a bunch of drug riddled 20 year olds?
Okay, so some good stuff:
The history in this book is rich and accurate as far as references to George A. Soper and Mary Mallon and even the General Slocum.
The idea of her somehow surviving all this time is insane in the best way.
And who doesn't love brutality aimed at a bunch of drug riddled 20 year olds?
November 14, 2018
In my opinion, the book starts out very confusing. However, it starts to get good then shifts to confusing again. There were moments I would start to enjoy the story before everything fell off track. There were incoherent sentences that if missed by an editor is shameful because they happened so often. I wanted to enjoy this because it has such an interesting concept, it just fell short in so many ways.
December 2, 2018
Feels unfinished. The story was passable and I kept reading because I wasn’t sure where it was going but at the end, it never fully reached the climax it was building towards. Felt rushed and failed to validate the rest of the story for me. Wouldn’t recommend to people who enjoy finality to their stories.
October 6, 2021
2.5 stars. The plot was interesting enough to pull me along, and the place descriptions were fantastic, but the characters… I mean, I understand that Mary and Karalee are the main characters so they’d be the most developed, but Karalee’s friends all seemed like one-dimensional caricatures so I kinda didn’t care what happened to them at all, which made it less scary than I wanted it to be.
August 6, 2019
Horror novel with a historical twist. This was a quick read,different but enjoyable. Five university students search the abandoned North brother island that once housed Typhoid Mary and other contagious prisoners. The ending is different. It’s a fun read. 3.5 stars
February 10, 2018
It was interesting to understand more about Typhoid Mary. I never really knew who she was or how she got the name.
April 7, 2018
I was left feeling like this book was missing something....
I hope that it was the author's intent, but I didn't care one bit for any of the characters.
I hope that it was the author's intent, but I didn't care one bit for any of the characters.
May 31, 2018
this was again something a little different for me but I love it. Great story turning historical fact into gripping fiction right up to the unexpected conclusion. It was hard to put down.
September 8, 2019
very cool premise, very apt ending, and everything in between was so so and foggy as the island this takes place on
March 9, 2021
The start of the book was slow, middle was decent, ending was terrible. Would not recommend.
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