Review: The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe

The return of Bronwyn, the prodigal daughter turned war hero, to her home among a hyper-insular mountain family triggers a dramatic series of events. Along the way you find out that there is a very, very good reason they hide away from the rest of the world.

Southern Gothic: 60%

Set in the mountains of Tennessee it’s hard to get much more southern than that. Where it excels at scratching that Southern Gothic itch is in its depiction of the intensely isolated community of Needsville and Cloud County. If you’ve lived in the deeply rural south much of this will ring very true.

The Outcast is a common trope in Southern Gothic. In an unusual bending of convention, in Hum the ‘outcasts’ are in fact intensely normal: A Methodist preacher and a small town reporter.

One element that really resonated is the power a single law enforcement officer can have in isolated spaces like this, for good, or in this case, ill. They carry the weight of the State behind them, and that has an outsized effect in areas with smaller populations, and less ability to push back.

The inverse of this is how outsized an effect a single bad apple can have. Dwayne Gitterman is bad news, and everyone knows it. But he maintains a delicate balance of being a huge problem without becoming a big enough one that anyone puts him down. It’s a balance unfortunately endured by endless small communities across the South.

Fantasy: 35%

If you did any research on this book ahead of time, then there is about a 50/50 chance that you know what the Tufa people are, but in case you haven’t had that spoiled for you yet, I won’t reveal it. Suffice it to say there is magic at work here, and it’s pervasive. For much of the book it shows itself in subtle ways, misdirection and the like, but it grows steadily more prevalent.

Horror: 5%

While the Sin-Eater is delightfully creepy, and there are a few haints running about, the horror elements are fairly limited. I'd argue the most intense horror elements come from depictions of the Iraq War.

Other Notes

• Romance - Various relationships are strong plot points, but budding romance less so. There are strong attractions with flirtations abounding, but for the most part they are a sideline, not the main attraction.

• Waffle House Watch - Yep! There is a great scene that takes place inside one. And while there is no fighting, someone does get kicked out, which is a nice touch.

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