THE TOLL by Cherie Priest

Cherie Priest is a modern master of the southern gothic horror novel, her stories evoke fear with a pervading haunted atmosphere. Her latest novel, The Toll, is powerfully haunted from the very start as we are introduced to a newlywed couple – Titus and Melanie – troubled by their past, hoping a camping trip in the swamp (of all things) will help to set their relationship back on course. That was the plan, at least, until they crossed a strange bridge leaving Titus in a daze and his wife missing.

Take a road trip into a Southern gothic horror novel.

Titus and Melanie Bell are on their honeymoon and have reservations in the Okefenokee Swamp cabins for a canoeing trip. But shortly before they reach their destination, the road narrows into a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car.

Much later, Titus wakes up lying in the middle of the road, no bridge in sight. Melanie is missing. When he calls the police, they tell him there is no such bridge on Route 177 . .

Much of the novel takes place in the aptly named town on hard times Staywater. There’s a feel of motionless, stagnant water to everything – from the town itself to the rut the characters perceive themselves to be in. Priest takes readers through the town, introducing them to Cameron who lives with his “cousins” Daisy and Claire. There’s a timeless feel to these characters, they evoke character types many readers have encountered, younger characters stuck in their small town who wish to escape contrasted by their elders who have been fixtures in the town. Cameron lives a rather humdrum lifestyle, the only thing he really clamors for is the attention of the barmaid Jess despite his “cousins” Daisy and Claire cautioning him against this for his “protection.” Staywater’s main gathering place is, unsurprisingly, a bar. The bartender, Dave, is one of the only people in Staywater not originally from the town. Like Titus, he has fuzzy memories of his what happened when he crossed a mysterious bridge and woke in nearly the same spot Titus woke at the outset of the novel, Dave’s been unable to leave the town and is romantically involved with Jess, the girl who woke him on the bridge thirteen years earlier. Titus, likewise, is wary of leaving the town without his wife.

The town of Staywater is very much a character, too. It exudes an atmosphere of stagnant dread; a town very much clinging on for life as its once prosperous logging industry is dormant. The past haunts all the characters, and like many of the best horror novels, the past is referenced only in passing. There’s no history laid out, rather, the characters drudge through their days knowing they have little control over the downward spiral in which Staywater has swept them. Ghosts visit Dave’s bar, and most of all, a spirit? Entity? Creature? … whatever “it” is, for as long as most people can remember, it comes every 13 years to claim somebody. Claire and Daisy thought they rectified the situation, but when Titus arrives and word spreads of his missing wife, they realize their work is incomplete.

With each turn of the page, the level of discomfort rises. We learn early on that Titus and Melanie’s relationship has been far from ideal, it has gone through ups and downs with marriage and a honeymoon in the swamp as something of a last ditch effort. Not exactly a good approach to a relationship. If anything, it seems Titus is fighting against a sense of relief about his wife disappearing, which presents an internal tension whenever the story focuses on Titus. A similar “internal tension” pervades many of the characters: Dave’s dissatisfaction with what happened 13 years ago conflicting against his feelings for Jess, Cameron being torn between loyalty to his “cousins” and wanting to leave Staywater, and most of all, the foreboding tension surrounding the whole town about the thing/creature that haunts them. How every 13 years, that thing takes what it wants for its own.

Readers expecting a huge detailed, denouement may be disappointed. For me, I don’t think I’d be happy with a granular explanation of why things happen, what the dark entity is, or why Staywater is a stagnant, haunted area. It is a timeless novel of dread, more powerful for the hints Priest gives readers. A full explanation would likely rob the ghosts and monster of its power. Priest smartly and deftly restrains the story for a more powerful effect.

For my reading tastes, a new horror novel from Cherie Priest is appointment reading. With The Toll, that appointment was met, but I want another appointment as soon as possible.

Highly Recommended

Trade Paperback | 336 Pages
July 2019 | Tor Books
Excerpt: https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9780765378231 | https://www.cheriepriest.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher Tor Books