The Bottom Line: Only a grinch wouldn’t love this addictive holiday horror story. Highly recommended.
Christmas has long been a celebration of hope emerging from the clutches of horror. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol features doomed ghostly apparitions confronting Scrooge, while Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas blends eerie comic horror elements with the warmth of holiday cheer. Sandy Lender’s Silver Bells: A Christmas Horror Story continues the tradition in Reindeer Creek, a festive community under attack.
When 40-something medical transcriptionist Ivy Light travels to spend a snowy Christmas with BFF Candy Harris, she’s struck by the extravagance of Candy’s new chalet, including a seizure-inducing light display. A healthy dose of holiday cheer is definitely needed, as Candy’s husband, Arthur, has hired a private detail – led by handsome John Knightley – after receiving a series of anonymous threats. Could Harris’ cloaked enemy be local union leader/godfather Dayton Manti, who has a formidable influence over local workers?
Dangerous mortals aren’t all the family has to fear. While Jingle Bell Rock plays in the background, Knightley finds teenager Lexie – a girl the family has taken in – fending off an impossibly large black wolf.
As you might have guessed by the title, the curious power of silver is a running theme in the story. A mysterious (“hella weird”) shopkeeper pushes buyers to purchase items made of silver. Elsewhere, a professor posits that fidgeting with a silver pendant may invoke spirits.
Lender showcases considerable world-building skills as she adds compelling layers to Reindeer Creek throughout, creating a setting that is unlike any other Christmas story setting in memory. Through striking visuals, Reindeer Creek reads like a mashup of Washington Irving’s haunted forests in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving), the greed-induced decay of Pottersville (It’s a Wonderful Life) and the glitzy electric spectacle of The Great Christmas Light Fight.
Despite the presence of demonic powers that threaten (and perhaps take) lives, Lender keeps the tone light and genuinely funny. Only the most jaded readers won’t laugh out loud as the family sets up a Karaoke machine – only to find that it won’t project the words to Wham’s Last Christmas. That doesn’t stop the family from summoning a hearty dose of holiday cheer, which proves to be infectious for characters and readers alike.
