Shaun Hamill burst onto the genre scene with A Cosmology of Monsters in 2019, about which I said, “Hamill impressed the hell out of me with this novel, I was completely absorbed in the prose.” It was a lovely mix of horror, fantasy, and modern fable. Hamill brings that same genre savvy and mixes up genres in The Dissonance, his second novel. The novel is primarily split between 1996-1999 and 2019 and follows a group of friends who discover and are drawn into the life of practicing magicians. Although this society of supernatural practitioners would not use the term Magic, they would say they manipulate the Dissonance.
“You can never go home again,” the saying goes—but Hal, Athena, and Erin have to. In high school, the three were students of the eccentric Professor Marsh, trained in a secret system of magic known as the Dissonance, which is built around harnessing negative emotions: alienation, anger, pain. Then, twenty years ago, something happened that shattered their coven, scattering them across the country, stuck in mundane lives, alone.
But now, terrifying signs and portents (not to mention a pointed Facebook invite) have summoned them back to Clegg, Texas. There, their paths will collide with that of Owen, a closeted teenager from Alabama whose aborted cemetery seance with his crush summoned something far worse: a murderous entity whose desperate, driving purpose includes kidnapping Owen to serve as its Renfield. As Owen tries to outwit his new master, and Hal, Athena, and Erin reckon with how the choices they made as teens might connect to the apocalyptic event unfurling over the Lone Star State, shocking alliances form, old and new romances brew, and three unsuccessful adults and one frightened teen are all that stand between reality and oblivion.
From one of the boldest, most brilliant voices in modern fantastical horror, The Dissonance is a thrilling and beautifully written story of magic and monsters, forgiveness and friendship.
Our heroes: Athena, Erin, Hal, and Peter. Each character has their own baggage that joins them on their journey in life and this novel. Hal’s mother is an alcoholic and his stepfather is a manipulative bully; Erin is a cheerleader, but has far from a great family life living in poverty; Peter’s parent’s died when he was very young and he now lives with his grandfather Professor Elijah Marsh; and while Athena had a fairly stable home life, she’s a black girl in a largely white East Texas school with self-image issues. Their story truly begins when at a sleepover at Peter’s grandfather’s house which is far from the beaten path and secluded at the outskirts of a forest, a book presents itself to the four friends. As it turns out, grandfather Marsh is a professor of the Dissonance, and the book that presented itself to the four friends is what amounts to a book of spells.
The novel truly begins in 2019 as Hal, Erin, and Athena have lived lives that are far from what they hoped. There’s also a little bit of focus on a character named Owen who is reluctantly drawn into a Dissonant ritual and unleashes … something. Through Hal, Erin, and Athena’s characters we learn of the regrets they have over the last couple of decades since they largely parted ways, though they will be reuniting at their 20th Anniversary.
As the friends are learning from Professor Marsh in the late 1990s, their bonds of friendship strengthen as they discover the wonders and horrors having a connection to the Dissonance can bring them. Professor Marsh purposefully had his residence built at the edge of the forest, for it presents a powerful connection to the Dissonance. Hamill builds out a history of the magic in this world as a very secret society and provides enough hints that imply a very deep history indeed.
What makes Hamill’s narrative so potent is how he is able to maintain such a high level of dramatic tension in both timelines. But introducing the characters at a later stage in their lives, it makes the good times of their youthful discovery that much more bittersweet. We know something bad is going to happen. The mystery of Owen’s plight following his own summoning, adds another level of dramatic tension that initially seems unconnected.
Hamill does so many things well in this novel. He depicts the teenagers realistically. Their motivations, their emotions, their thoughts, their awkwardness…all very believable and empathetic for who these characters are and as we’ve come to know them. Athena, Erin, Hal, and Peter are all unique individuals whose adult lives (after the big 1999 event) seem a logical extrapolation of the teenagers we came to know in the late 1990s.
Whenever a writer puts forth a story about youthful characters encountering something dark and supernatural the comparison to Stephen King is hard to avoid so here it is. There’s definitely a resonance between The Dissonance and King’s IT. However, Hamill crafts something unique behind that superficial similarity. I found myself wistfully reflecting on my youth and teen friendships whilst reading The Dissonance much like I do when reading or remembering King’s works focusing on teenagers.
I found the conclusion a bit harried and chaotic to follow, but I think that was part of Hamill’s point so it was effective in the right way.
A fine balance between Horror and Fantasy (maybe 60/40?), The Dissonance is a fine sophomore effort from Hamill. There’s a feel of more story that can be told in the world introduced here (and who knows, just maybe it is set in the same fictional milieu as his debut, A Cosmology of Monsters) and should Hamill choose to reveal more of this world, I will certainly be there to experience it.
Recommended
© 2024 Rob H. Bedford
Pantheon Books | July 2024
Hardcover | 496 pages
Excerpt: https://reactormag.com/excerpts-the-dissonance-by-shaun-hamill/
Author Web site: https://www.shaunhamill.com/ | Twitter: @shaunhamill
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
