Safe Return Doubtful

Horror, translated from the Dutch by Lia Belt and published October 2025

I find it easy to write off modern American horror. I’m not the target audience; most stuff is blended with romance and fantasy and attracts readers a lot younger than me. I’m a traditional horror fan of classic writing, but do enjoy something more modern if it’s done cleverly.

Heuvelt is such an author, a sort of mix between Grady Hendrix and Robert McCammon, Hendrix with his tongue in cheek humour, rarely to be taken seriously, and McCammon with dark interpretations on small town America.

Heuvelt is a Dutch writer, and though this was translated by Lia Belt, Heuvelt himself was involved closely with the translation.

The residents of Bird Street, in a small rural town in Washington State, are all successful, wealthy, healthy and happy; their children are all well-mannered and smart and high achievers… for eleven months a year at least. In November they suffer from a very serious sort of ‘seasonal affective disorder’, when they lay low, as that time is particularly subject to tragedies, bad luck and conflict. This is the price they must pay, like a contract, for their happiness in the other eleven months.

The synopsis is enticing, and with Heuvelt’s unique style, despite me comparing him to Hendrix and McCammon, he does deliver. His style, or skill, as in his earlier work Hex is to move closer to the bone than his counterparts would do, to disturb and shock the reader by delving into topics that others would stay clear of. Here, that’s mental health, terminal illness and suicide. It requires a careful pen, but he manages to pull it off, with a smattering if dark humour as well.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5