Alex and Tricia have been able to explain everything through the application of scientific principles as long as they can both remember. But, when they are in the forest and the fog is swirling around them, their analytical minds fail to explain what they are experiencing. They want to run, but they are drawn forward, or did they run to find themselves moving in the wrong direction? Like fractals circles constantly turning and never ending, the lives of Alex and Tricia keep circling and twisting back on themselves in a regularly repeating pattern.
The Forest by Michaelbrent Collings is a tale of horror about a couple who must confront their past, their loss, their grief, and their fears. I received an advance review copy from the author.
The Forest is a wild ride through Alex's and Tricia's memories and visions to be wrapped up in a conclusion of science, metaphysics, and philosophy.
Plot
Alex and Tricia grew up as neighbors and have known each other as far back as their memories will take them. They bonded through their understanding and love of all things scientific. The love of science made them outcasts from most everyone they knew, but it also made them the center of attention. It was just the two of them until a new kid showed up in high school.
Sam was as smart as they were, if not smarter. They only knew him for a few days before they lost him to a horrific chain of events. They tried to rescue him from his mother while in the forest by the town they lived and grew up in. They weren't able to.
Later, the two married and had a son, Sammy. Another loss. This time a car accident. This time while driving on the road by the forest where they had lost their friend years ago. The grief of having lost their child was tearing them apart, so they sought professional counseling. They were given the advice to go back and face their loss at the place where it had happened—the forest.
Style
The Forest is told through the lens of the two main characters, Tricia and Alex, by a narrator who tells us they have their own agenda of what to tell. Our narrator doesn't just switch back and forth between the two main characters, but also between the two times of the major events. We are given the events of when they lost their friend Sam in high school and when they go back to the forest to confront their issues.
Alex and Tricia are connected through their appreciation of science. Their connection is so complete they complete each other's sentences, as though they already knew what the other was thinking. This is carried through in the story's style. Where one chapter begins the events through one character, another chapter completes the thoughts from the point of view of the other.
The back and forth pattern in time carries the same style. What happened in the past is happening in the present. That which started in one timeframe is moved through the other. Creating a pattern of concentric circles that are building out on themselves, or receding in.
The level of connectivity between the characters and the structure of the chapters sets up the use of cliffhangers to keep the reader moving forward. The story pulls you forward when an event is paused in midpoint to be taken up by the other lead's point of view.
Both the points of view of the characters and the different timelines are tied together through the understanding of science by the characters and how that science is at odds with the metaphysical or supernatural phenomena they are experiencing. And, Michaelbrent Collings does a wonderful job of pulling it together in word and in pattern.
There is great use of symbol and metaphor in The Forest. The symbols tie the two timelines into one coherent story. Collings then threads one section into another. It raises the events above the scientific minds of the lead characters to pull them, and the reader, into the level of the metaphysical and the philosophical.
Overall
I enjoyed The Forest. I was drawn forward through the pages. As I read further, I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to find how the individual threads would come together to create a finished fabric and the pattern upon it. It was nicely layered in the style of the fractal geometry promised early on.
Michaelbrent Collings did a great job of maintaining two main story events and bringing them into one storyline. He provided links and bridges to bring the conclusion of the story into a satisfying ending. An ending that answered the questions raised earlier. And then, raises new questions for the reader to contemplate.
I recommend The Forest for readers who enjoy a horror tale involving the fears and threats we create for ourselves. Those fears we bury deep within our subconscious selves. Those threats we know are there. Those parts we work to keep hidden from those around us, and especially from our own conscious minds.
The Forest is not yet available on Amazon (link)
Here are additional reviews of Michaelbrent Collings's book I have published.
The Sword Chronicles: Child of the Empire (link to review)
The Sword Chronicles: Child of Sorrows (link to review)
The Sword Chronicles: Child of Ash (link to review)
Predators (link to review)
The Longest Con (link to review)
About the Author (from the book)
Michaelbrent is an internationally-bestselling author, produced screenwriter, and member of the Writers Guild of America, but his greatest jobs are being a husband and father. See a complete list of Michaelbrent's books at writteninsomnia.com.
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