Craven Manor - some secrets are better left forgotten ...

Although I rarely pick up books that are not part of a series, sometimes one catches my eye that I just can't walk away from.  Craven Manor, by Darcy Coates (whose two-book House of Shadow series I thoroughly enjoyed) is one of those. Supernatural. Gothic. Horror. These are story elements that I absolutely love, ever since I started reading Nancy Drew as a child and fell in love with Dark Shadows as a pre-teen. So, any time I am at a book store, I always check out the horror/Gothic books to see if anything stands out. This particular book caught my attention for one simple reason - the protagonist in the story is a man.

That may seem like an odd reason, but the fact of the matter is that most Gothic stories feature a young woman as the lead character; usually, the man in the story is her love interest who has a dark history and whose entanglement with the supernatural elements of a particularly forlorn palatial estate create fear and nightmares for the young woman.  In Craven Manor, however, a young man by the name of Daniel Kane takes the place of the young woman. Yet, instead of also switching the gender of the dark, brooding man of the manor, Coates maintains the mysterious, enigmatic man as the lord of the manor.  Which raised the question in my mind: is this a Gothic tale with an underlying male/male romance?  So, I bought the book to find out.

Craven Manor opens with young Daniel Kane at the end of his rope.  Formerly homeless, young Daniel has found a temporary home with his cousin, Kyle, who, it is easy to see, is taking advantage of him. Daniel, who has been floating from job to job on pretty much a daily basis, barely scraping by and rarely having enough money to eat, has a kind heart, and usually gives some of his much-needed money to his neighbor, Mrs. Kirshner, who is worse off than him. But one day, Daniel finds an envelope with his name on it lying on the linoleum floor just inside the front door. Inside the envelope, he finds the most unusual invitation - someone by the name of "Bran" is offering him a job as the groundskeeper for Craven Manor.  Daniel has no idea who "Bran" is and he has never heard of Craven Manor.  He doesn't know what to think - but when his cousin moves someone new into the apartment, kicking Daniel out of his room and putting him on the couch, he decides to take Bran up on his offer, since it comes with a small cottage on the grounds of Craven Manor, where Daniel can live for free.

Coates' description of the decaying mansion that is Craven Manor is so vivid that you can not only picture the peeling wallpaper and chipping stones, but you can hear the sound of dry leaves crunching underfoot and you can smell the decay and disuse within each room.  The crows that seem to always be present just outside the manor's front doors ... the black cat that seems to watch Daniel's every move ... the disconcerting painting of the young girl who Daniel discovers to have died so very tragically ... the locked room that Daniel has been instructed to never EVER open under any circumstances ... and the fact that Daniel has never met his benefactor, but instead gets all of his instructions through envelopes left on the foyer floor of the manor (and he receives payment each week in the form of two very old and very unique gold coins) ... so many mysteries, so many questions, but for inexplicable reasons, Daniel feels drawn to the manor.

As with any good Gothic tale, the manor has a sordid and sad history, filled with death and supernatural horror.  The Myrick family built Craven Manor - but the last of the family to reside in the manor met with a horrifying end - the daughter, Annalise, was thought to be a witch because of a rare disease she had, and she was burned alive (her remains kept in a small mausoleum, which becomes Daniel's first job to clean up); the mother was believed to be slowly going insane and ultimately was killed; and the son - well, the son was sent away to boarding schools, kept away from the house and the family, and upon his return, he discovered the horrible things that had happened to his family.  And when Daniel finally has the opportunity to meet his benefactor face-to-face, he discovers the unbelievable truth - Bran Myrick is the son that came home over a century before!

Coates never truly allows the reader to get too comfortable, because just like with poor Daniel, it's hard to determine what the truth is.  Is the story told by the barkeep in town about what happened with the Myrick family and the nearby town that has disappeared because of the horrors that occurred the truth? Or is the sad, heartbreaking tale told by Bran himself about his sister's untimely death and the curse placed upon his family the truth?  Or is it somewhere in-between?  And who is being kept locked away in that tower room, who Daniel catches mere glimpses of now and again?  And why must Daniel keep his cottage locked up tight with all the curtains drawn every night?  What lurks in the darkness of the estate's grounds at night, tapping on the door and windows of the cottage, trying to get in? And what will truly be unleashed is Daniel unlocks that tower door?

It is interesting to note that aside from Daniel's neighbor, Mrs. Kirshner, there are no women in the book (while, no living women I should say!).  The cast consists completely of men - Daniel, his cousin Kyle, the new roommate Fletch, the barkeep, Bran, the delivery man Joel, and Joel's father. And maybe it was just me looking too much into it, but during the first meeting of Daniel and Joel, there is an underlying sexual tension between the two men that made me think something was going to eventually come of it. Both men felt there was something unnatural about the manor and the means by which Bran chose to communicate with his hired help; they seemed somewhat awkward with each other (the same way two men might act when the first meet each other and feel an instant attraction); and the fact that before he left, Joel made sure he gave Daniel his phone number in case he needed anything - well, it just felt natural that these two would eventually express their feelings for one another - particularly since there is absolutely no mention anywhere in the book that either of these men has ever had a girlfriend or even expressed any feelings for the opposite sex!  Then there is the strange relationship between Daniel and Bran.  When Daniel finally meets his employer and, even more, when he discovers exactly what Bran is, he finds himself facing conflicting feelings of whether to trust the man or run away.  He chooses to stay (obviously), and the hurt he feels each time he thinks Bran has betrayed him or lied to him easily leads the reader to believe that Daniel is developing more than just feelings of friendship for Bran.

Maybe I am just projecting my own ideas into the story, but I really kept hoping Coates would explore either (or both!) of those potential relationships - and, perhaps, in her own subtle way, she did acknowledge this with the ending.  Maybe, just maybe, playing down the romantic side of things and emphasizing the dark supernatural horror of the story was a way Coates allows her readers to take the story in the manner of their own choosing, so as to allow readers to find their own satisfaction and enjoyment with the direction the story takes.  In any event, this book was truly a magnificent read, a definitely different take on the standard Gothic trope, and one that I hope to see more of in the future!

RATING:  10 old tin cans of Spam out of 10 for spinning a new twist on the Gothic horror tale and giving me a truly superb story of supernatural suspense!