Within the Walls
Book Review
By Michael Whelan (Author, not the illustrator)
Finished 05-01-2019
Genre: Thriller
Basic Plot: A newly singled mother finds herself in a very strange new apartment building among strangers that appear to be hiding something very dark. Everyone here that seems to be plagued by devastating tragedies and hardships have turned to Mother Miriam, the landlord, to help them. But her help seems to be dark in nature, will the newest tenants be able to find peace here at last or will they be living a nightmare?
I was recommended this from one of the YouTubers I watch through an ad he read on his video and I was intrigued. When I heard the name Michael Whelan, I immediately assumed it was one in the same with the illustrator of novels for Brandon Sanderson and Stephen King, but apparently this is a totally different person. Even so, through a lot of help from the author himself, I finally got to read this novella. Copies can be bought only through his website currently, https://authormichaelwhelan.com/ for, I believe, about $3. Anyway, the story itself was strange. I found myself captivated by the prologue right away. I loved the intricate wording this author uses to weave stomach churning visuals. His descriptive tactics are tasteful and hard hitting. I would say that is the books strongest feature. One part in specific will be ingrained into my mind most likely, forever. He mixes real life depravities with horrific impossibilities and created something wonderfully eccentric. I will say I found the pattern of information to be somewhat jumpy, but not to the point where it becomes confusing to figure out what is taking place. Just could have been a little more detailed in that respect so as to keep the reader from figuring out the timeline for themselves. However, it does add to the narrative since during the last few sentences the narrator reveals their identity and it makes a little more sense as to why it would be perceived this way.
All in all, I gave this a 4 out of 5 which is truthfully much more lenient of a score than I would credit to most other authors for the same work but because the story was captivating and this author is of the new self published variety, I find the dependencies are so minor compared to the twists and imagery provided. I really did enjoy this one. I found myself disgusted, apprehensive and enthralled even with the usual complaints of a debut author and would say this is probably one of the best debut novels I have ever read.
