Philip Fracassi is one of the more respected names in the horror genre. His short fiction has been nominated for the Bram Stoker award and his stories have appeared in the most prominent outlets. Initially published in a limited edition by specialty press Earthling Publications, Boys in the Valley is his third novel and gains a wide release through Tor’s horror imprint Nightfire.
St. Vincent’s Orphanage for Boys.
Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania.
Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, 30 boys work and learn and worship. They live their lives in a methodical way and get along despite different personalities and pasts. Peter Barlow, orphaned by a nighttime murder at his childhood home, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future … a family.
Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, his body covered with occult symbols carved into his flesh. Upon his death, an ancient evil is released that infests St. Vincent’s and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides.
Others turn up dead.
Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives — and perhaps their eternal souls — are at risk.
At the turn of the 20th Century, Peter Barlow watched his father murder his mother and subsequently take his own life at a very young age. As a result, Peter was taken in by St. Vincent’s Orphanage for Boys in Pennsylvania. One night, an injured man – a prisoner – is brought to the church to be healed both spiritually and physically. It is a great moment of chaos and although the prisoner succumbs to his injuries, the effect of his presence irrevocably changes things at the orphanage. Strange things happen – boys disappear, one is murdered, and even the most imposing of priests become unsettled by the changes that come over some of the boys.
Fracassi drew me into his story immediately, the opening scene where Peter becomes an orphan is powerful and builds up immediate empathy and sympathy for the character. He is one of the more liked boys in the Orphanage and has formed a bond with a priest named Andrew, who is effectively a surrogate father for peter. We read most of the story from Peter’s first-person narration, so there’s an even deeper connection to him. We see how he befriends some of the boys and takes others under his wing like a big brother. However, at points in the story, Fracassi jumps to the omniscient narration to convey events happing outside of Peter’s immediate radius. That provides another interesting understanding into Peter and how others view him.
Some of the other characters who round out the store are the aforementioned Father Andrew, Peter’s friend David, perhaps the most kind and caring of the priests in the orphanage. There’s the imposing priest Johnson. Most of the boys are afraid of Johnson, he metes out “instruction” in what could be seen as an abusive fashion. Bartholomew, one of the orphans, seems to be the most affected by the “infection.”
But that fateful night when the prisoner dies, something is unleashed. A disease, a virus…something dark has infected other boys in the Orphanage. Their darker impulses take over and one particular image sets the conflict between the unaffected and infected into motion. Many of the boys weren’t exactly happy with their priestly overlords before the prisoner arrived, the boys were treated quite brutally and bullied. One might say this makes some of the boys more susceptible to the “infection” being spread, which then leads some very disturbing acts.
Fracassi masterfully crafts a story with dreadful anticipation in Boys in the Valley. His depiction of the conflicted environment of the Orphanage feels genuine and real. The way the darkness soon spreads came across very believably and the pacing is just addictive. Fracassi’s doesn’t waste time with characters mulling over the incident and what it means, they think as it progresses and keeps pulling the reader along. Laced through the darkness; however, is some hope and positivity. Peter’s relationship with Andrew as well as Peter’s friendship with a young girl named Grace. That aforementioned dread is something of a cloud over that goodness, but doesn’t block it out completely.
Lord of the Flies is the inevitable comparison with boys becoming consumed by even and their baser instincts. I couldn’t help finding similarities to a section of the King/Straub novel, The Talisman – that of the scenes involving Sunlight Gardner’s Home for Wayward Boys.
In the end, Fracassi’s talents as a powerful storyteller are on full display in Boys in the Valley. I hope to get to read more of his work in the future.
Highly Recommended
© 2023 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | 352 pages
July 2023 | Published by Tor Nightfire
https://pfracassi.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
