When Samhain Publishing shut down in 2016, readers lost a wealth of great horror novels and up-and-coming authors. Granted, many of those books have found their way back to market in some form or another and those authors have been able to pursue new opportunities in indie publishing, either self-publishing or signing on with small presses. One of the hardest losses for me was the wealth of material from Jonathan Janz that up and vanished. Luckily, new publisher Flame Tree Press snatched him up and will be publishing his new titles along with his entire back-list.

Originally published in 2011, The Sorrows is the first to get a reissue. Fittingly enough, this was also Janz's debut novel, although it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. Coming into The Sorrows for the very first time seven years after its first publication date, I'm a bit surprised at just how much it doesn't feel like a first novel.

Usually when you've been reading an author's later works, you can tell you're taking a few steps back with their earlier stuff. Typically, those books just don't feel as polished or maybe the author hasn't quite found his voice yet, or possibly some plot points are a little sticky, if not downright sloppy, regardless of whatever promise they show. They're young pups learning their craft, a rising star whose hasn't quite found his groove yet. You've know they've got that special something, but they just haven't hit their fullest potential yet.

Well, The Sorrows doesn't suffer from any of that first-novel syndrome, and, man, Jonathan Janz hit the fucking ground running with this one. It makes me wonder how many shoddy trunk novels this dude squirreled away before he felt sure enough of his own talents that he finally pursued publication. Seems to me, Janz emerged fully-formed, his authorial voice strong, and his talents firmly on display and ready to rock. Maybe it seemed this way to Janz, too - The Sorrows is peppered with references of things to come. Take, for instance, the name of the film many of this book's characters operate on the periphery of, House of Skin, a film that shares the title and plot elements of Janz's second (and, at the time of this book's original publication date, then unpublished) novel. Even our lead male protag's name will sound awfully familiar to those familiar with the setting of Savage Species and Children of the Dark.

Ben Shadeland is a film composer with writer's block. Not a good thing to have when the film he's supposed to be scoring is ready to get locked-in and its release date is coming up fast. Hoping to avoid a breach of contract lawsuit, Ben's partner Eddie has them and their assistants, Eva and Claire, flown out to an abandoned castle situated upon an isolated island sure to get the creative juices flowing. Since this is a horror novel, there's plenty of other bodily fluids flowing and spilling all over the place, too.

What's most interesting about The Sorrows is the plot itself, particularly in the clever ways Janz develops and subverts the haunted house genre. While it shares plenty of aspects and more than a few devices with your typical ghost story, Janz takes it up a few notches, giving readers not only a haunted castle, but haunted people as well, along with a really interesting development that I didn't see coming.

This is a dazzling story, and the horror tropes at the core of it are well explored, particularly the history of Castle Blackwood and the ignominious murders that have since left it deserted. Janz's talents in delivering a fully and deeply layered horror story are solidly evident here, as is his incredible knack for characterization. Early in the book's opening, we get a look at Ben's marital troubles and the anguish his separation from his son is causing. We don't spend a lot of time with his ex-wife, but based on the state three-year-old Joshua is in, this probably isn't a bad thing at all. Through only a few sentences, Janz is able to tell us a lot about the kind of mother Jenny is, and we can infer pretty easily the type of spouse she was for Ben. I've always been impressed with how Janz can communicate so much about his characters in so little words, in such small spaces, and immediately get us to ally ourselves with his protagonist and hate his repulsive human antagonists. It's a talent he's only gotten better at since this debut, but even here it's still pretty damn sharp.

Pretty damn sharp, too, was Flame Tree Press for locking down the rights to Janz's work. That's some smart business sense right there, and I'm looking forward seeing the rest of this author's catalog getting a rapid release over the course of next year. There's a lot of Janz's books I haven't read yet, and I'm excited to dive into them as they relaunch. With a brand-new release dropping in the middle of all this, it's safe to say 2019 will be the Year of Janz and I, for one, will be celebrating all year long.

[Note: I received an advanced reading copy of this title from the publisher, Flame Tree Press, via NetGalley.]

Jonathan Janz has written a truly creepy disturbing horror novel. Your pulse will race as you keep turning the pages, because you cannot put this book down until you finish it.

Another excellent read from Jonathan Janz. What I thought was going to be a haunted house type of story turned into a creature feature of epic proportions.

The Sorrows is the first of many re-published backlist titles from Jonathan Janz and was his first book. It was originally published in 2012 and has been out of print for some time, and I am so glad that this and his other work is being re-released!

Holy crap what a ride that was! Friends, I know you have seen me screaming about The Siren and the Specter and The Children of the Dark, so I am sure that it will come as no surprise to you that I thoroughly enjoyed The Sorrows as well.

The story follows Ben Shadeland and Eddie Blaze, a Hollywood composer duo trying to beat the deadline for the score for the next horror film from renowned director Lee Stanley. Ben’s had a bit of creative block since his horrible wife divorced him, and Eddie has taken to haunting legends in Northern California to scare Ben into inspiration.

"Despite the fact that they’d mind for inspiration in eerie places several times, Ben felt the old thrill. Sometimes the tale inspired him, sometimes it was the setting. Often, the music didn’t come until days later, when a specific memory triggered his imagination."

Eddie has one last trick up his sleeve before their time is up: a month on an isolated island off the coast of Northern California called The Sorrows with an unsolved mystery attached to it.

The characters honestly are the gem of this story. Honestly, the exposition and character description in the first 20% of the book was incredible and never felt info-dumpy. I felt like these were real people that I knew. Which makes it more alarming as the characters stop acting like themselves; or rather, the darkest parts of themselves are amplified. Every character is fighting their own personal demons… and real ones.

“It won’t let us leave,” Eva whispered."

Having read both his latest and now first works, I can see the growth Janz has experienced as a writer but his raw talent is palpable. He has a command of writing that sucks the reader into the story and grips them start to finish. I enjoy that Janz juxtaposes supernatural horror elements with the horror and depravity of the human condition. I also appreciated the many allusions, implicit and called out, to the work of Edgar Allan Poe.

"She stayed behind a moment and gazed up at the castle. Yes, she decided. There was an intelligence in its towering pallid contours. Something corrosive and upsettingly sly. It reminded her very much of another Poe story, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher.’ Except this building did not look like it could fall. It looked like it would stand forever, far outliving its inhabitants."

Like the other books I have read by this author, I was captivated by the horrors. This book took a bit longer to build into the “NOPE” note territory for me, but the last 40% of the book was a nonstop ride on the nope train! My blood was pumping and I was anxious to see what would happen, hoping that the horrible characters would get their just desserts, and completely enthralled by what I will refer to as Gabriel. I really liked the allusions made there and I hope that is further explored in the series!

The downside to having his latest work published before his first novel is of course that the average reader may not dig to find out that this is a re-released title. This is a really good book, but after the success of Siren and the Specter it pales in comparison to how Janz has grown as a writer. I hope that the final publication does make note of this.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the story, I did struggle with the many characters and multiple perspectives, and the pacing was a little inconsistent in the middle. Some of the first flashback asides felt really disjointed to me; however, the payoff was incredible: the multiple perspectives tied together and the extra time dedicated to exposition when I was looking for action was made up for in spades. For me personally, I wish that there were a few less characters woven together and that the journal exposition was somehow tied into the plot (like Ben or someone finding them and reading along with the reader), but honestly for a first book I am utterly impressed.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Sorrows a lot, and cannot wait for the sequel because THAT FINAL LINE! There is a lot of intricate backstory and interesting exposition, the horror doesn’t really get started until 60% or so. But the book is scary and the payoff for multiple characters and POVs is there. I actually think this would adapt well to the screen and make an incredible movie. If you like Edgar Allan Poe and films like The Amityville horror, I highly recommend this book!

content warnings: torture, gore, abuse of power (a Harvey Weinstein-like character), murder, abuse, fatshaming (challenged and addressed), voyeurism, attempted rape

Ben and Eddie lead a crew to a deserted island castle, nicknamed The Sorrows, to find inspiration for a musical score they're composing for a horror movie. But as you can imagine, a place called The Sorrows doesn't have a happy history.

Let me first say that the writing in this novel was spectacular. It was visceral, brutal. It made the story very cinematic - so cinematic that I had creepy dreams about the story every night I read it. I could picture everything that was happening so clearly. I also really liked the inclusion of the journal excerpts from Calvin Shepherd. Something about those were very reminiscent of Dracula and Jonathan Harker's journal entries.

Things started to go awry for me near the end. There were so many things going on at once, so many evil forces coming together. It all got a little muddled and I thought it lost some of the spark. Instead of being scary, it got a little ridiculous. There was one part, where within about thirty pages, there were three different entities that were trying to murder the main characters. That got to be too much for me, even in a supernatural horror novel.

I will definitely pick up more of Janz's work in the future though - I can see a lot of greatness in his writing.

I'm a fan of the author, but unfortunately not this novel. It just didn't capture me the way his other books have. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, so I really kind of felt like I didn't care where the book was going.

The premise sounded simple enough as I settled in to read what I expected to be a spooky but not unusual tale of a haunted castle. I should have known after my last foray into horror with Jonathan Janz (The Siren and The Specter) that this is not an author who does "simple." While this book is heavy with supernatural horror, it also showcases the fact that sometimes the worst monsters are of the human variety. It frazzled my nerves and had me terrified over whether or not the characters I cared about would survive, while simultaneously wishing a horrific death to those who deserved one.
5 out of 5 stars
I received a complimentary copy for review.

I really wanted to love this book. I love Jonathan Janz but I have really struggled with this book and just can’t get through it.

Oh, this is nicely creepy!

In The Sorrows, Janz gives us so much atmosphere that you get that chill down your spine. There’s a palpable corruption in our characters and in the very walls of Castle Blackwood. Seriously, you couldn’t pay me to stay there.

The book isn’t for the faint of heart. There are scenes that are grotesque and scenes of such debasement that you just cringe – yet you read on, a captive of this eerie world the author has created.

I had a wee bit of an issue with the flashback/diary scenes, but the flashback thing tends to be my personal bête noire. Just a personal preference for storytelling that primarily takes place in the current time/setting rather than the back and forth.

I’m very glad that I’ve begun discovering this author’s works. I haven’t been disappointed yet and can’t wait for his next book!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

The Sorrows is my second Jonathan Janz novel. I got exactly what I expected. A creepy as hell novel.

Ben and Eddie are music composers, for horror movies. But after a difficult divorce, Ben can’t write a note which is a big problem considering they are working for Lee Stanley who is a great horror movie director and he is getting nervous to get the music. So Eddie decides to take Ben to Blackwood Castle to make him write, thinking that a creepy place would help. Blackwood Castle aka The Sorrows is on an island near northern California. Nearly a hundred years ago there were some horrific murders on the island and the place is deserted ever since. The boys take two other person with them, Eva - who is the assistant of Lee Stanley - and Claire, who is an aspiring composer. They go through some very disturbing and truly horrific things. The ending is the most disturbing of them all.
The story in itself is not new because there are lots of books with this same setting (haunted house) but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t scared and/or horrified at certain scenes.

If you are into horror stories, haunted houses than this book is for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley, Flame Tree Press and the author, Jonathan Janz, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Sorrows in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
All I can say is Mr Janz has delivered what was promised in the premise of this book. He has delivered a creepy horror novel that kept me turning pages into the early hours of the morning.
The storyline was well thought out and written by an author, in my opinion, is remarkably talented in writing this genre.
If you like a really creepy horror novel, give The Sorrows more than a passing glance.