Horror Annotation - Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

 Horror Annotation:  Hex

 

“People find hope, comfort, or confidence in making the sign of the cross or not walking under a ladder, just as you find hope and confidence in offering a pennant to the witch. Magic exists in the minds of those who believe in it, not in its actual influence on reality.”

Title:  Hex   

Author:  Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Genre:  Horror

Publication Date:  April 26, 2016

Number of pages: 380 pages 

Geographic Setting:  Black Spring     

Period: The Past, 1664 and 1713, and the contemporary period.

Series: Standalone 

Plot Summary:

The town of Black Spring is cursed by a witch named Katherine van Wyler. She was a settler in one of the Dutch Settlements that the British took over. She was a single woman with one daughter and one son. She left the church, which began accusations that she was into witchcraft.  In October 1664, her son died of smallpox. Soon, the settlers see a young boy wandering around, so she is sentenced to death as a witch.  The problem is she didn’t disappear; with her death, she still haunts Black Spring. In 1713, they chained her and sewed her lips and eyes shut, ending her evil eye. Currently, Katherine pops in and out of their homes, jobs, and public venues. If the residents leave Black Spring and Katherine, they feel very depressed and want to commit suicide, and the same happens if they listen to her whispering. Sometimes, they must propel her with sticks since no one can touch her without dying.

Katherine must be hidden from the rest of the world, and only Black Spring’s natives know about her. The HEX control center pays attention to the witch and her location.  There are cameras around Black Spring recording the town, and agents are sent out to hide the witch from people coming out of town to visit.  The HEX control center also prevents people from moving into their town and being cursed by the witch.     

The younger generation is getting tired of the curse. For instance, Tyler wants to attend college, spend time with his girlfriend, and get out of Black Spring. He records the witch and does experiments with her. He represents technology in Black Spring. He has to be careful to skirt the Emergency Decree and not tell anyone about the witch, but by bypassing the system, people in Black Spring can log in to his social media accounts. Tyler wants the world to find out about the witch and be released from the curse.  

          The problem is that the videos and experiments with the witch get increasingly out of control, causing her to behave erratically and not her regular movements.  And the town is starting to get more paranoid and violent in reaction to the witch.     

Subject Headings:

Horror Fiction

Black Rock Forest (N.Y.)

Ghost stories

Haunted Places

Paranormal Fiction

Witches

Appeal:

Dutch horror writer Thomas Olde Heuvelt creates an unsettling version of horror and human nature. The tone in the novel Hex is dread with a sense of terror. We are introduced slowly to Kathyrn and know she is an unsettling presence in their town. The townspeople try to ignore her and live their lives as if she weren’t there, but she is a constant presence. Her appearance is also unsettling in the novel; she is chained, and her eyes and mouth are sewn shut. 

Framing is also important in the book. There is a back story to Kathryn, which creates the novel's structure.  We know she was killed because she was a witch, but why is she still around? What do they think she wants?  This does propel the story along.

In the same way, setting is essential. Black Spring and the Black Rock Forest are described in great detail.  Sometimes, the description proceeds with the explanation of the witch’s influence. For example, the woods can feel cursed, or the water runs blood red.  The setting increases the creepy atmosphere of the novel. 

Story Line: 

There are two ways the storyline in horror converges on Hex.  One is concerned with human nature.  Are we naturally good or evil?  Do we have faith that we will do the right thing? Or will we do the worse?

The second way is that there is no happy ending.  Hex’s ending is very dark, which creates a feeling of being chilled to the bone.             

Three terms that best describe this book:

Unsettling, Sad, and Disturbing

Similar Authors and Works (Why are they similar?)

3 Relevant fiction works and authors;

1.          Desperation by Stephen King. 

  

Both books have evil supernatural entities that take over isolated small towns and unleash a bloodbath. 

2.          Chill by Carson Scott.

       

After a man-made tragedy hits their small towns, they are turned to the sins of the past.  Kathyrn’s curse is a man-made tragedy, and the people of Black Spring have to look back at history to understand and explain the witch.

Daphne by Josh Malerman

 

Both books are about a local legend that occurs in a small town.  Hex and Daphne are disturbing horror novels. Both are about supernatural entities:  a witch and a ghost. 

 

Relevant non-fiction works and authors

1.               The Essential Johnny Cash

This is the music that was listened to when Kathryn is first introduced, and Jocelyn Grant hopes she likes it because she won’t go close to her again. 

        Blair Witch Project

    Blair Witch Project is often called a contemporary version of a hex by a witch in their small towns.  Both the movie and the book have a witch who terrorizes the living and an unsatisfying conclusion at the end,    

The Greatest Killer:  Smallpox in History by Donald R. Hopkins

When Katherine was living, there was a smallpox outbreak, which led to the death of her son.