Publisher:
Tesart818, LLC

Publication Date:
03/25/2024

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
979-8-9899175-0-1

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
14.95

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THE GOATMAN

By Wallace Martin

IR_Star-black
IR Rating:
3.5
THE GOATMAN by Wallace Martin is an atmospheric Southern Gothic coming-of-age story about a likable young protagonist, interspersed with riveting medical scenes unrelated to the more interesting murder-mystery plot.
In 1960s rural Georgia, a teen boy investigates a series of murders when his night terrors convince him the local urban legend is responsible.

When his older brother goes missing, teenage Zeb starts hearing a voice in his head warning him that some of the members of his Georgia town are going to die. The voice, he believes, belongs to the Goatman, a regional urban legend who supposedly kills animals but now has branched out into killing humans, too—in obscure and violent ways. After a near-death experience from a Copperhead bite, Zeb’s hallucinations evolve into frightening night terrors that portend gruesome deaths. Especially after his family maid, Thelka, gets caught in the investigation’s crosshairs, young Zeb takes the incompetent police’s search for the dangerous murderer into his own hands.

Over the course of Wallace Martin’s THE GOATMAN, Zeb’s squeamish friend Jake grows increasingly more frantic, and Zeb’s visions grow more grotesque and threatening. Suspense builds as Zeb uncovers the long-hidden secrets of the town, fueled by paranoia and trauma responses to the recently concluded WWII and the lingering 1950s racial tensions of the South. The book’s gothic setting shines under the influence of the small-town community, populated by the chatty yet secretive Black maid Thelka and chainsaw-wielding lumberjacks, among other illustrative characters.

The book struggles to find its identity in scenes concerning Zeb’s doctor-father, whom Zeb often helps when attending to patients in the emergency room. Medical scenes are interjected between scenes of Zeb’s investigation into the Goatman murders, disrupting the mystery plot. Details during Zeb’s post-snakebite hospital stay at the beginning of the book, like the process of him receiving a tracheostomy, are rendered lifelike and intense because of the author’s medical knowledge and background. However, the long medical scenes delay the onset of the plot, which doesn’t pick up until 100 pages into the book. Despite their lack of relation to the main plot, the scenes involving Zeb’s father are entertaining, as the story’s vivid language bolsters drama: “His first attempt at passing the tube was unsuccessful and traumatized the back of Zeb’s throat causing bleeding which made visualization even more difficult. Zeb’s color radiated a worsening deep bluish hue. Doc mumbled something under his breath that seemed to fuse an epitaph and a curse with a prayer.”

While Zeb’s insistence that the mythical Goatman is the serial killer gets repetitive, his unwavering certainty in the face of mockery is commendable. As the main protagonist, he is likable, reeling from his beloved brother’s disappearance while navigating the typical teen struggles of crushes, school, and family dynamics. His childlike obsession with the local urban legend and his father’s high expectations of him work to realistically convey him standing on the border between youth and adulthood.

Minor characters, too, come alive as singular individuals through the book’s eloquent, precise description. Zeb’s father, for instance, is an intimidating figure defined by anger and fierce intelligence: “Once Dr. Barton appeared more agitated than amused, everyone scattered from the room. Zeb’s father had a temper that would blow in like a tempest. Anything or anyone in its path would encounter the full fury—intended or not.” Thelka “like[s] to talk,” to the point where her dialogue is over the top. Her excessive colloquialisms are distracting and stereotypical when no other character has as strong an accent: “‘Bout the only thing they don’t hit no mo’ is the house. Doc done cured ‘em of that when Zeb blew out all the windas in the garage with that twelve-gauge shotgun shootin’ at somethin’ he tossed in the air.” While Thelka is as talkative as is stated, other characters are wordy, too, as when Zeb’s crush, Wanda, relays information about her day in a straightforward manner to show what has happened outside of Zeb’s purview.

However, Zeb’s conversations with his friend Jake and adults in the town rivetingly make up for the others’ wordiness; when a knowledgeable family friend tells Zeb secrets about the Goatman, for instance, the conversation indicates character, progresses plot, and is entertaining on its own. THE GOATMAN is full of unexpected discoveries that, despite the book’s identity struggles, result in a suspenseful, eerie Gothic tale.

THE GOATMAN by Wallace Martin is an atmospheric Southern Gothic coming-of-age story about a likable young protagonist, interspersed with riveting medical scenes unrelated to the more interesting murder-mystery plot.

~Aimee Jodoin for IndieReader

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