The Southern Review of Books: Gothictown-Cinematic, Realistic, and of Course, Gothic
Reviewed by Jessi Rae Morton
Emily Carpenter’s new novel Gothctown is about as buzzworthy as they come. With a television series already in development, Carpenter’s novel is poised to become a hit, and rightfully so. With a title like Gothictown, readers come in with a variety of expectations, and Carpenter is more than prepared to offer up classic Southern Gothic tropes, characters, and settings with enough twists to keep us turning the pages. Giant, spooky old house. Check. Dark secrets in a small town? Locals who are a little too friendly? Promises too good to be true? Check, check, and check.
When Billie Hope gets an email from the town of Juliana, Georgia, she and her husband suspect that it may be a scam. The email offers a house of their choice for just $100 and an opportunity for Billie to open a new restaurant. The Initiative, Juliana’s name for this program, is designed to bring new people to the small town, and Billie, who was forced to close her New York City restaurant due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a perfect candidate.
After some deliberation, Billie’s husband, Peter, agrees to make the move, and the couple take their daughter, Meredith, and their cat to Georgia. The setting is idyllic. Meredith loves the outdoors, and Billie’s new restaurant venture gets off to a great start. But for Peter, things are not going so well. He worries constantly about potentially uncapped well somewhere on their property, and his concerns interfere with his sleep. He cannot locate the well or any record of it. As the months go on, Peter’s behavior begins to change, and his relationship with Billie suffers.
At the same time, Billie begins to learn more about her new town and becomes close with the restaurant’s neighbor, Jamie Cleburne. The Cleburne family are members of “the old guard” — the three founding families of Juliana: Minette, Cleburne, and Dalzell. The opening chapter and a few other asides establish the dark history of these families, so readers know what Billie doesn’t, heightening the tension throughout the novel.
After a fight with Peter, Billie’s relationship with Jamie crosses a line, and Peter decides that he needs a break from the town, from Billie, from everything. With her husband away, Billie begins to wonder about Peter’s fidelity, and she ends up watching recorded sessions with one of his therapy clients: a local named Alice. These videos offer more than Billie ever bargained for, but not in the way she feared. Instead, Alice provides an insight into Juliana’s history, both long past and more recent, sending Billie on a collision course with the old guard as she works to solve the mysteries of Peter’s disappearance, the seemingly toxic atmosphere of her house, and numerous unprosecuted crimes.
Carpenter provides background on the old guard in the very first chapter, and readers may worry that she has telegraphed too much. That’s not the case. There are some plot points that readers may see coming, but in some ways, those moments function as diversions. While readers expect one thing that does happen, a surprising detail or element appears or returns to our attention, creating momentum and intrigue, especially in the second half of the novel. After the first few chapters slowly established a sense of foreboding, the second half had me staying up late to find out what would happen next.
The novel is also highly cinematic, which is probably why it has been optioned and gone into early development so quickly. The descriptions of place are incredibly effective, but they are realistic, too, likely because Carpenter is a long-time resident of Georgia. Billie is also a particularly fun narrator, and her distinctive voice sets her apart from other residents of Juliana. Furthermore, though the novel has a clear ending, there are still mysteries left to uncover… I guess we have to just hope for a sequel…or maybe a season 2.
Mystery & Suspense Magazine Reviews: Gothictown
Reviewed by Pam Guynn
Readers of Southern gothic horror and mystery novels are in for a treat when they read Gothictown by Emily Carpenter. Near the beginning of the pandemic Billie Hope decided to close her successful restaurant in New York City. Post-pandemic, she gets an email that seems too good to be true.
She and husband Peter can buy a home in Juliana, Georgia for one hundred dollars. On top of that, she can get a business grant to open a new restaurant in the riverside community in Bartow County.
With several phone calls and one quick visit, Billie, Peter, and their daughter Meredith move as part of the Juliana Initiative to revitalize the town. She opens a new restaurant, meets members of the community, and Peter works mainly remotely as a psychologist while Meredith makes a new friend. Things should be wonderful, but the misgivings start to grow along with the sleeplessness and nightmares.
Billie makes decisions with her gut. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Despite being surrounded by people, she’s somewhat lonely and makes some bad decisions. Peter tends to weigh pros and cons of any situation and makes fully-informed decisions. He’s normally a communicator but has some secrets.
The book starts with a chilling prologue set in Juliana in 1864 and has some occasional flashbacks to times between then and now. These flashbacks let the readers know what is happening in the town before Billie and Peter do. However, that doesn’t deter from the suspense and horror of the situation that gradually builds.
As the situation became clear, I was cheering for Billie, Peter, and Meredith. Both adults make mistakes, making them both more realistic and more aggravating. The shocking and horrifying beginning stays with you and the tension builds throughout the book. The author did a great job of creating atmosphere and transporting readers to the community of Juliana.
The novel has a Southern Gothic feel with flawed, disturbing, and eccentric characters, alarming events, a somewhat isolated location, and a bit of the paranormal. There’s a focus on both its history and the current situation of the town. Is this truly an idyllic southern town or have Billie, Peter, and Meredith stepped into something dark and hidden? Various themes run through the novel including secrets, lack of communication, death, trust, family, belonging, and much more.
Overall, this is a dark, disturbing, compelling, and thought-provoking story, full of tension and with characters that came to life and were often unique. The author’s note and the discussion questions at the end are worth reading as well. I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author. Readers who like dark southern gothic mysteries will likely enjoy this novel.
The Nerd Daily Q&A with Emily Carpenter
By Elise Dumpleton
We chat with author Emily Carpenter about her new novel Gothictown, which follows a restauranteur who is lured by pandemic-era incentives and moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the Southern hospitality and sun-dappled streets…
Hi, Emily! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a Southerner, a mom, and a lover of scary stories. I live in Georgia but I’m from Alabama, so all my books take place in those two states and invariably incorporate a slew of Southern Gothic themes. Lots of crumbling mansions, creepy family secrets, and hauntings of ghosts, both real and imagined. I also have two perfect and adorable dogs.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with stories – books, movies, TV. I remember when I was five and not yet reading, I was playing with a friend and she said she’d been reading since she was four, and I was so envious because she could READ BOOKS and I still had to be read to by my mother.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
Your latest novel, Gothictown - If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Juliana, Georgia: run, girl, run.
What can readers expect?
The first chapter tells the reader in chilling detail how Juliana got its ghastly start. From there, you’re going to watch Billie, my protagonist, arrive in town full of hope and slowly uncover the truth about what happened there for herself. It’s unsettling, creepy, dread-inducing, and hopefully tons of fun.
Where did the inspiration for Gothictown come from?
Back in 2017 I started noticing a lot of American city governments offering people economic incentives to move to their cities and raise families. It seemed like a uniquely contemporary situation, especially with remote work booming. And then I came across an article about a small Italian village offering medieval villas for free as long as you promised to invest money in restoring them and stay for decades in the town. I immediately thought that was the most gothic thing ever and that town had to be full of vampires or something equally horrifying. All I had to do was move the setting to the South, and I was off to the races with the novel.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Honestly, I loved writing Billie because she’s a smart woman, but she’s flawed. Her need to be successful, to feel that rush of being known as the “hot restaurateur” causes her to overlook a lot of red flags. I did enjoy writing a smart, interesting, capable woman who just wants to get back to doing what she’s good at. I think we can all identify with the frustrations of a career that’s maybe not going in the direction we want and maybe being willing to compromise at some points to achieve success.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
For me, with the kind of books I write, it’s always a challenge to have this element of ghostly influence happening that stays in that liminal area between the physical and spiritual world. Like, is this a ghost I’m seeing or am I simply uncomfortable in this creepy old house I live in? That gray area is where my books live and it’s a bit of a tightrope to walk.
What’s next for you?
My next book A SPELL FOR SAINTS AND SINNERS is about a young woman who works as a psychic in Savannah and who gets pulled into the privileged and amoral world of an extremely wealthy family in town who she realizes she has a past connection to.
Emily Carpenter is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of suspense novels, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies, and Every Single Secret. After graduating from Auburn with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication, she moved to New York City. She’s worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her family.