The Crystal Stopper Book

I feel pretty much slap bang in the middle with this one, and that's a bit disappointing if I'm honest. My second foray into Burnside's work was almost a year in the making, and I had high hopes for Glister as apparently it's the writer's favourite of the books he's written. I just found it ultimately to be a bit of a let down.

I'm not sure how to summarize the story, because I didn't really feel like there was much of one really. We follow a couple of different people's perspectives, but for the most part the story is told by a teenage boy named Leonard. He lives in an isolated place called Innertown, overshadowed by a shut-down power plant that has made the population of the town ill. He has a dying father, an unsatisfactory relationship with his girlfriend - and other boys his age have been slowly disappearing over the years. Only the local policeman Morrison seems to know anything about it.

One thing that I think Burnside does incredibly well is atmosphere. From the very beginning, he created a creepy, eerie world for the reader to inhabit - although I believe the town is meant to be set somewhere in Scotland, it feels almost otherwordly and fantastical. The people are all quite odd and/or reclusive, the weather is dark and dreary, and the ominous presence of the now defunct power plant is a brilliant addition, making it very easily for me to imagine myself in its shadow at all times.

There are also a couple of points in this book where the events are quite shocking. Burnside can quickly move events on from being bearable to alarmingly violent at the drop of a hat, almost out of nowhere. Some of the images are maybe not for the faint-hearted, but I wouldn't say they were quite as shocking as moments in The Dumb House. Still, I can see parts of this book being quite disturbing for readers less inclined to read horror/thrillers.

What in the end let me down was the ending though. It made absolutely no sense, left absolutely no resolution, and was just plain bizarre. Not in a good way either. Although I don't need some massive revelation at the end of the book, it would have been nice to feel like there was some sort of point to the events depicted in earlier pages. Although again the imagery was intriguing, odd, and gruesome at times, it just made the book fall flat in the end, because I felt like Burnside had an idea for a story but never fully worked it out. Disappointing to say the least.

I would recommend trying this book if you like creepy atmospheric reads, but if you're the kind of person who likes a strong plot then this definitely isn't one for you. I will still be reading more of Burnside's work though, as his style is something I really enjoy.