Walter Greatshell Terminal Island

Walter Greatshell

Terminal Island

Greatshell's Terminal Island is a bizarre trip through madness, reality, hallucination, and the uncertain space between those two things. As a young boy, Henry is yanked away from his life on Catalina Island off the coast of California. He and his mother become transients and never put down any roots. All grown up, Henry returns to the island to sort out the confusion of his past. What ensues is far from a comforting family reunion.

This is an intriguing novel that keeps you guessing but not lost in chaos. Read carefully because the narrative jumps back and forth in time. Henry's past and present are carefully woven together and help create a growing sense of of unbalanced distress as the novel progresses. Dark, evil dreams of death and monsters hint at Lovecraft in a few places.Through the first two-thirds of the book, Greatshell skillfully walks the tightrope of reality and unreality quite well.

There are two major weakness of this novel however. First are the occult rituals. They just felt cheap. When in doubt, let's throw in some mumbling rituals. The ending was also weak. It just kept going and going and never hit that intense peak of fear I was expecting. It was an entertaining if not entirely compelling read.