I keep insisting that I do not like horror novels, yet I find myself enthusing over Gothic horror and delighted by them. The Feast of the Innocents is no exception.

It is an homage to early Gothic novels of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, written very thoroughly in the style of that time, and set in Scotland in 1665. It features nearly all the greatest hits of Gothic fiction - among them are labyrinthine dungeons, mostly abandoned castles, secret identities, humorous servants, creepy woods, even a grotto where arcabe rituals are performed. It is heavy on the uncanny and doubles, and really gets into supernatural visions.

But it's also very much a horror novel with so, so much blood and gore. Just fountains of blood, people getting murdered to death and murdered but not dead, flayed alive, and more. I found the stylized narrative removed some of the immediacy of the horror, and the sheer volume made it a little boring after a while. But all in all very well done and entertaining. I do enjoy filling in my mental bingo sheet when reading a Gothic, discovering how the major tropes appear.

It's not going to be a novel for everyone, certainly. And it's very long with short chapters, slow to develop. Still, worth checking out if you're also a fan of the Gothic. ( )