THE CHRYSALIS by Brendan Deneen – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Chrysalis by Brendan Deneen
Published by Tor Books on September 4 2018
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 304
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Disturbing and atmospheric, The Chrysalis combines traditional horror elements with solid character development and delivers a cautionary tale about addiction.

The Chrysalis is being described by a lot of readers on Goodreads as “science fiction,” but I just don’t get that. To me, this was pretty clearly a horror story, and while it might not work for some horror aficionados, I personally enjoyed the slowly building terror and the creepy atmosphere. This isn’t a haunted house story, but there is something awful living in the basement of the Decker’s new suburban home, and it wreaks havoc on Tom and Jenny’s relationship, not to mention their relationships with their friends and family. Take a bit of Rosemary’s Baby, add in a dash of Little Shop of Horrors and The Shining and mix well with Deneen’s horrifying glimpse into an imploding marriage and you’ll have an idea of what to expect.

Tom and Jenny Decker are a young couple living in New York. Tom’s an artist but works as a bartender, and Jenny is a personal trainer, dodging lewd passes from her businessman clients. They live in an apartment that they love, until one day the landlord triples their rent and they are forced to move out of the city. Luckily, they find a huge old house in the suburbs that they can easily afford (with the help of Jenny’s rich sister Victoria), and despite the fact that the house is literally falling apart and is stuffed full of the previous tenant’s junk, they decide to move in, thinking it might be a fresh start. And just days after they arrive, Jenny discovers she is pregnant, a surprise to both of them since they hadn’t even been thinking about starting a family.

Jenny refuses to go down into the basement, which is stacked high with old furniture and boxes, but Tom is drawn to it, for some reason. One day he decides to start clearing out some of the junk and discovers something sinister: hiding behind an old refrigerator is a large, slime-covered, pulsing chrysalis clinging to the wall. Tom feels compelled to touch it, and when he does, he feels an intense, drug-like high that also gives him blood-soaked visions of killing people. When Tom snaps out of the influence of the chrysalis, he barely remembers anything, but just like any addict, he can’t stay away from the chrysalis for long. Soon he’s sneaking into the basement at least once a day for a fix, but Jenny knows something is up.

As Tom begins to change from the loving husband she once knew, Jenny knows she must do something to bring him back. But the chrysalis has other plans for them…

We spend a lot of time with the characters in this story, and not so much time in the basement with the chrysalis (more about that later.) But I’m not complaining. I loved getting to know Jenny’s sister Victoria and her wife Lakshmi. The dynamic among the four of them is fraught with tension, since Tom can’t stand Victoria. We also meet Tom’s best friend Kevin, who is constantly trying to get Tom to come and work for his company. As the story progresses, and Tom’s personality and behavior goes downhill, we get to see how that behavior affects each relationship in a different way. I thought it was an interesting choice to make Tom and Jenny heavy drinkers, just bordering on alcoholism in my opinion, which also affects all their relationships.

I loved the atmospheric quality of the story. I’m a sucker for creepy house stories and Deneen does a great job of describing the house with all its dark corners and terrible smells, rotting wood steps and peeling wallpaper. The suburban setting adds to the feeling that the Deckers are no longer in the heart of the city, but stuck out in the boonies by themselves. The story is divided into nine sections which follow the progression of Jenny’s pregnancy, which I thought was a clever way to frame the story. It also added a lot of tension, as Jenny gets closer and closer to that nine month mark. Jenny’s due date is in December, and I loved how the weather turns cold and snowy as things move towards their inevitable climax.

One of the odd things for me in this story is that the chrysalis itself is mostly “off screen.” Most of Tom’s interactions with it are described after the fact, so as far as monsters go, it was pretty passive. If you’re looking for an in-your-face, action-filled horror story, you won’t find that here, although there are some violent moments. Instead, this story is character focused, and the real horror is Tom’s descent into homicidal madness. Deneen touches on lots of human fears–impending parenthood, job security, money worries and changing relationships–and uses the chrysalis to magnify those fears.

There were several story elements that I felt could have been better developed. Let’s just say I had a lot of unanswered questions when I finished reading the book, and while the author may have deliberately left things vague, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions, I would have liked to see the story expanded in parts. For example, Tom makes friends with Malcolm and Hannah, a father and daughter who own a local bar, and when they first meet, both are taken aback at how much Tom looks like Malcolm’s deceased son Nick. Later, Jenny visits the bar, and Malcolm and Hannah tell her that she looks exactly like Malcolm’s dead wife. This weirdness is never explained, and in fact has nothing to do with the rest of the story. Since the author never did anything with the idea, I just felt, what was the point of putting it in?

There’s also a hint that Jenny’s unborn child has something to do with the chrysalis, but again I felt like it was a terrific idea that just wasn’t fully developed. The action picks up near the end, in fact it turns bat-shit crazy, although the ending left me scratching my head a bit and also felt a little abrupt. Ultimately, this story isn’t about the chrysalis, it’s about Tom and his addiction to the chrysalis. Deneen almost could have left out the scary bits and this would have been an effective and emotional drama about a troubled marriage, but luckily he didn’t. If you’re in the mood for an atmospheric, psychological tale with a focus on the characters, then you’ll love this book.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.