The Winter Tree

by Mark Morris

FINALLY IN PRINT AFTER MORE THAN THREE DECADES, THE NOVEL MARK MORRIS WROTE BEFORE TOADY EVIL NEEDS ONLY A SEED Limefield has had more than its fair share of tragedy. Barely six years ago, a disturbed young boy named Russell Swaney died beneath the wheels of a passenger train mere moments after committing a heinous act of unthinkable sadism. Now, a forest fire caused by the thoughtless actions of two teens has laid waste to hundreds of acres of the surrounding woodlands and unleashed a demonic entity EVIL TAKES ROOT Now, a series of murders plague the area and numerous local residents have been reported missing, including the entire population of the nearby prison. But none of this compares to the appearance of the Winter Tree, a twisted wooden spire which seems to leech the warmth from the surrounding land. EVIL FLOURISHES Horrified by what they have caused, the two young men team up with a former teacher and the local police constabulary to find the killer, but it may already be too late. Once planted, evil is voracious. Like a weed, it strangles all life, and the roots of the Winter Tree are already around their necks.

Genres: Horror

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2018

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range.

His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award.

His most recently published or forthcoming work includes a novella entitled It Sustains for Earthling Publications, a Torchwood novel entitled Bay of the Dead, several Doctor Who audios for Big Finish Productions, a follow-up volume to Cinema Macabre entitled Cinema Futura and a new short story collection, Long Shadows, Nightmare Light.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first novel Morris wrote back when he was 21, but it never got published until recently. Considering it was a young man's first novel, for the most part it was well done. The writing itself is the star, as word choice, sentence structure and the overall flow of the story are remarkably accomplished. In the preface of the book Morris acknowledges the short comings in his early effort, although I think he is a harsher critic of himself than is the case. There are definitely lapses in logic and holes in the plot, but the tale carries itself along at a nice, smooth clip, helping to hide some of the drawbacks. Where I feel the biggest failing in the novel is comes toward the end. The final climactic chapters are drawn out longer than necessary, and the ending itself was pretty shoddy and disappointing. Overall, it really is an enjoyable story, much better than a lot of the "potboilers" (as Morris alludes to) of the day and in ways is reminiscent of James Herbert's works of the 70s and 80s. 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 stars rating for me.

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author begins with a warning that it is an early novel, and is being presented without cleaning it up.

I personally enjoyed it.

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite Morris' self deprecating forward, The Winter Tree was pretty good. The plot was solid (right up until the end) and the cast of characters were pretty sympathetic. If I had been an editor and gotten this manuscript, I would have had three bits of advice: cut 100 pages, lose the police and journalist centric storylines, and focus on the teenage protagonists. The story belonged to the boys, it was their fight, they released the demon, they needed to put it back. The police storyline and the investigative journalist storyline were mostly for pacing, to slow down the action, and they did. They drug. Aside from that the ending was a total deus ex machina (which he admits in the forward.) If the boys had found a way to seal the demon away again, it would have brought the story full circle, but they didn't. Seriously, how hard was it to have one of them stab the thing with a piece of the original tree?