The Remaking is a novel by Clay McLeod Chapman and published by Quirk Books. Thank you, for sending a copy for me to review!
The Remaking is a 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist.
SUMMARY: Only the old trees know the true tale of mother Ella Louise & her daughter Jessica Ford, alleged witches. On October 16th, 1931, Ella and Jessica were burned alive in the woods of Pilot’s Creek Virginia. What was left of the bodies were buried, in separate locations. Ella Louise Ford’s gravesite is unknown to this day, but Jessica’s body is buried in the Pilot’s Creek Cemetery. The story of Ella and Jessica is passed on through ghost stories. That is until 1971, when the story was adapted into a film, Don’t Tread On Jessica’s Grave. Amber Pendleton, a young girl scores the roll to play the preteen witch, Jessica Ford. The film is made, but not without trouble, lots of trouble. A supernatural event happened on set, pushing the film to cult statues immediately.
Years go by, it’s 1995, Amber Pendleton’s acting career is stagnant. She makes the rounds at all the horror conventions, forcing a smile across her face. She hate’s the circuit, all the fans are all the same. However, she needs the money. So she’ll autograph items and take the photos with the fans, with a little help from pills and alcohol. One day, she gets an unexpected call from her agent. I Know What You Did On Jessica’s Grave is in the works, a remake of the 71 cult classic, Don’t Tread On Jessica’s Grave. The director wants Amber in the film, this time… to play the mother, Ella Louise Ford. The film enters production, but too much trouble, familiar trouble disrupts the movie.
Years go by, it’s 2016. The truth still isn’t clear about what happened on the production of I Know What You Did On Jessica’s Grave. Amber is sought out by podcaster, to pull the truth from her. Is Amber Pendleton crazy? Did Ella Louise come back from the grave to take the young Amber in 1971? Did Amber fall to heavily into her roll as Ella Louise in 1995 and commit murder? learn the truth, read The Remaking.
CHARACTERS: I’m only going to pick one character to mention.
Amber Pendleton: She’s had a rough life. Her mother pushed hard for Amber to be an actress. When Amber scored her first real acting job for a movie, her mother was so happy, Amber was just a nervous child. The event that took place during her first film job left her scared, emotionally and mentally. She absolutely hated the convention life, but because her acting days were pretty much not a reality, she had to do the signings and photos. Her life turns out to be pretty sad. Since that first job, people have always associated her with that one roll as Jessica Ford, the little witch girl. She feels in her heart, that her life is forever tied to the Ford witches.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: I enjoyed the book. The author takes a unique approach at writing this story, The novel is a story, about a story remaking a story, based on origin story, followed up by a new type of storytelling. It sound’s complicated, but it really isn’t. I didn’t find the book to be scary, (I can’t recall a book ever really freaking me out) but it has all the elements a spooky story would have. Clay Chapman did a wonderful job structuring the story.
The writing style wasn’t my favorite. The way some things were written I just got plain annoyed with. Some elements felt rushed. Some moments lacked detail, while others went into excellent detail. I’m not quite sure how to explain this next thing, but some of the writing felt like the author was in a mode, writing immediately what came to mind and ran with it, leaving in the hesitations and mind stutters. Here’s an example of what I’m trying to say, this isn’t from the book, I don’t want to put copy what’s in the book, but this is the flow in some areas:
I’m writing so fast because thoughts are coming into my brain!
My brain…
My brain…
Brain hurts…
If I slow down the writing will stop and I’ll be so far behind on my schedule.
Schedule schedule schedule…
I think about the schedule so much my brain hurts… hurts..
That’s my only issue with it. Again, I think the author did a good job with the structure, it’s a cool way to tell a story and how it evolves over time with both the storytellers and the form of story telling. The story is more than a horror, it’s a tragedy.
Do I recommend you pick up The Remaking? Yes, Chapman wrote a spooky story in a unique way.
RATING: I give this horror novel an B+