Review
“Oh … you can call me Hicky. Your little Hicky.” - Hicky Knocky University drop-out Lee moves into a squalid Victorian flat his drinking buddy Pearce rules with an iron eco-warrior hand. There's rules against about any modern convenience as Pearce has fixed ideas on how the flat should have zero environmental impact. Also sharing the dubious accommodation are Allan, a would be artist, and Natalie, a nymphomaniac who believes they live in some sort of reality television show. Only after moving in does Lee discover the person who used to rent his room committed suicide by diving head first off the bedroom balcony. Lee quickly starts to notice something isn't right in the flat. His flatmates have a few Roos loose in the top paddock and an ethereal entity seems to have taken up residence. With his own sanity at risk Lee and his flatmates have to fight back against a barely understood evil that seeks their deaths. And while battling the forces of cosmic evil Lee also has to come to terms with the mysterious Gent, who isn't what he claims to be. What interest does the Australia Federal Police have in a doss? After reading a whole bunch of Young Adult novels, admittedly some of which were excellent, it was nice to sink my teeth into a book written for Adults that wasn't taking any prisoners if you failed to groove to the Author's vibe. Glenn Cannon is not writing for the faint of heart here, or those after a quick summer read, Hicky Knocky is an intense book that strives to raise itself out of the swamp of indifferent dark genre titles. While the novel is told in the first person, Lee is our point of reference as things become remarkably unhinged in the house that dripped madness, you are at stages wondering who is telling the story as Cannon does a remarkably job of summoning madness in his prose. Lee and his erstwhile flatmates change personalities in the flat and the Author nails this development with his writing style. You can readily believe the characters have lost all touch with reality and are living out their personality types on steroids. Cannon does a remarkable job with the dialogue in particular, madness is in the house and the Author conjures that aspect out of thin air. This becomes even more important when the entity, named “Hicky Knocky” by Lee, follows the narrator out of the flat and tries to influence his actions in a number of other locations. Cannon via dialogue makes the discerning reader well aware of what's happening. This isn't possession in terms of say William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, where a tween Regan changes personality type completely, this is more subtle with the possessed person's own personality being take to extremes. It's a solid approach that in it's subtlety is perhaps more chilling than Blatty's out and out assault on the Reader. Glenn Cannon also dials in the concept of the haunted house in the first block of his novel. Things are strange in the flat and Lee is sensing a presence, randomly seen, which pervades the atmosphere. The Author with this aspect conjures up the best of the sub-genre, I would suggest not reading this alone at night with a storm brewing outside. The gradual movement away from a playful spirit to something more sinister is handled with great detail, leading to the final act of the novel where the evil is finally given a corporal form as the flatmates face their own inner demons. It's a strong progression that has the Reader hooked from the first page right through to the final paragraph. Perhaps the scenes with the Federal Police could have been pruned from the novel as I wasn't sure if this was helping the book or not. Individual readers may have their own thoughts there, but I kind of thought this aspect of the novel was it's weakest link. As stated Hicky Knocky is not an easy read but it will pay you back if you stick with it as things gradually worsen for our protagonist. While on the face of things the demonic entity may appear to be some sort of earth based avenging angel, and there certain is a lot of propaganda involved, I believe this was more reflecting the desires of one occupant of the flat than the Author's intent. So don't worry you are not being feed a didactic treatise on the environment here, Cannon is delivering a horror novel in the Ramsay Campbell style. It took me a few pages to get into the novel, and I should point out in my edition the print is pretty condensed, but once I got my read on I was rocking along with the narrative trying to work out where it might all be headed. I certainly enjoyed my time in country and have no hesitation in recommending this novel to Readers who want a serious horror novel and not a quick wham bam read. Hicky Knocky arrived on my doorstep in en edition from McKenzie Publishing Ltd that also contains Glenn Cannon's earlier novel Forsaken Blossoms, I'll get around to reviewing the second book sometime in February due to Shadows commitments. I was unable to discover either a McKenzie or Cannon web presence, but the book can be purchased online right here for $20 AUD plus P&H.
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... Solid horror novel that delivers on it's promise.
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Disclaimer: Please note this review reflects the opinion of the team at ScaryMinds and should in no way be construed as
representing the views of the AHWA Shadows Award Judges. This review is for the edification of ScaryMinds readers and does not constitute a
“literary criticism” or any other criteria the Shadows Judging panel may take this year.