Drown in Fear
Elizabeth Blue
Publish America
2004
Elizabeth Blue's Website The premise of this novel is quite possibly the most refreshingly original idea in horror I've heard of in a long time…A woman, beautiful and terrifying, who seduces men and eats their flesh after she lures them to a watery death. And that's the novel. Of course, there are other characters; Jake, the hero of the story, who is both noble and good and ultimately battles the she-creature; Monty, Jake's outgoing best friend who unwittingly becomes the she-creature's next meal; Fitz, Monty's brother, who teams up with Jake against the monster; Belinda, the beautiful single mother who lives in Jake's neighborhood and who is the object of Jake's affections. Then there is the creature herself. She is a Night Mare, or Mara; a demon that lives in the water but haunts your dreams. The Mara represents men's worst fears about women; that they appear to be beautiful and sensual on the outside, but inside are monsters that plan only men's demise. That women use sex as a weapon to manipulate and ultimately destroy men. Women can be as foreign to the opposite sex as monsters and demons. And just as evil. She is a mythological monster that devours men by luring them into her watery realm, like some kind of twisted mermaid. She can appear beautiful, or terribly ugly, depending on whether she wants to trick you or terrify you. She has no guilt, no remorse, and no pity for the men she destroys. To her they are no more that sustenance, a way to survive. More than a monster, she has the ability to reason and communicate with humans. That still doesn't prevent her from destroying our kind. In fact, she takes a sick pleasure in the killing of her victims, enjoying the trapping and seduction as much as a child enjoys burning ants with a magnifying glass…
When a strange female assailant pulls Monty under the torrents of the James River, Jake knows Monty's death was a murder. The police, however, think Monty died from a natural drowning and that Jake is formulating the story as a way to cope with the loss of his best friend. Jake even doubts himself. That is, until the nightmares begin. Vivid and disturbing dreams that wake him up in a cold sweat haunt James every night. An uncannily beautiful woman torments him in his sleep to the point where he believes he is going mad. Then Fitz, Monty's brother, starts having them too. So does everyone who James tells about the woman he saw kill Monty in the water. The only person immune to the hallucinations and dreams is Belinda, Jake's neighbor and friend. The Mare seems uninterested in killing women for the most part. Except for a few that accidentally become entangled in the plot. As the nightmares persist, the group forms a plan to destroy the monster before she can kill anyone else, but it's risky terrifying, and their chances are slim…
Blue's dark eroticism is energetic and fun. Her no-bullshit writing leaves the characters free and open to develop naturally, with no cheesiness or predictable actions and conversations. No flowery excess crap fills the pages of 'Drown in Fear': only pure terror, riveting action, and a straightforward approach to writing about evil…
