Book Review: "Leech" by Hiron Ennes - sci-fi horror as it should be

Some books are hard to define. Some books feel like they grab your arm and drag you on an unexpected, often uncomfortable journey, not allowing you to catch your breath and figure out what is going on until the story is halfway to being finished. Some books sound incredibly strange when you talk about them, but they leave you with an impression so strong, you think they will never let you go. After you finish reading them, you’re left confused and directionless. No other book, you think, would ever come close. You might as well quit reading altogether.

Hiron Ennes’ novel Leech is an example of such a book. Classified as sci-fi, horror, gothic novel, dystopian fiction, and many other such labels, the book feels like it does not belong to any genre and all of them at once. In my review on Goodreads, I called it a mix between Jeff VanderMeer and Stargate – two of my favorite things unexpectedly brought together. But I am afraid this description does not come close to doing it justice.

It is impossible to discuss Leech without getting into spoilers about the premise. I will try to avoid giving in too many plot details in this review, at least as much as I can. Leech is such an unconventional book that one cannot write a conventional review for it.

The world in Leech and its reality is revealed gradually to a reader that is getting more and more intrigued and confused. However, from the first chapter we can already establish where we are and what we’re dealing with – if only a little bit. Leech takes place in a distant future, after some post-apocalyptic event (a war, most likely). The story is told from the point of view of a parasite (possibly alien in origin, but this is only hinted at) whose consciousness resides in multiple hosts. The parasite is part of an organization called the Institute – an organization that provides medical doctors, seemingly for the good of humanity, but really only to keep their hosts healthy and alive.

This particular parasite arrives in a new host to a palace in the mountains where its old host has just died unexpectedly. It is quickly discovered that there is a rival parasite that might have taken over the old host – and thus a battle for survival begins with the most unexpected results.

The story takes place somewhere in what used to be France. The world is frozen now, and aristocratic families preside over mining villages. They are assigned doctors, without knowing that these doctors are not fully human.

The aristocratic family in Leech is strange and eccentric and a little absurd. As I was reading, they reminded me poignantly of the family in the series of novels Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. The atmosphere in the palace is dark and claustrophobic and full of secrets.

Although the novel could be called slow-paced, the slow pace is necessary. There is an underlying tension that the reader needs to experience before the action can truly start. The uncomfortable feeling is part of the reading experience and should be savored.

There are many aspects of the novel that should be praised. I’ll mention a few of them:

• The oppressive atmosphere, the cold, the sense of nowhere to go. The novel gets gory at times, but the gore is never for shock value alone. The sense of unease makes Leech a good horror novel that goes beyond regular jump-scares and seems to burrow into your subconscious, invading your dreams.

  
  

• The many twists and turns. You start to doubt what is truth and what is fiction, given the point of view shifts in ways that cannot be fully explained (certainly, they can’t be explained without spoilers).

  
  

• The strong narrative voice(s), the characters and their distinct personalities, the strangeness in them.

  
  

• The worldbuilding and the hints of mythology that are a little familiar but that are changed enough to be realistic given the long passage of time and the damage done to civilization as we know it.

  
  

• The fact that the dominant surviving civilization seems to be French and not English – especially refreshing given it’s written by an Anglo-American writer.

  
  

Things that I might not have enjoyed so much:

• The ending came too quickly and felt a little rushed.

  
  

• Speaking of the ending, I would have liked a clearer resolution (I understand why I wasn’t given one, though).

  
  

• It wasn’t that big of a problem, but sometimes the shifts in pov were a bit confusing and hard to follow.

  
  

Regardless of its faults, Leech is a work of genius in my opinion. I’m surprised not to see it given more attention. Also – I would love to see this turned into a movie. There is a lot of visual potential to it.

 For those of you who enjoy a little bit of weird in your reading, for those of you who want Gothic fiction with a sci-fi flavor (or science fiction with a gothic flavor), for those who like strong narrative voices and solid writing, with descriptions that literally chill your bones and so many twists and turns that you’re left panting and exhausting by the end of the book – you should definitely pick up Leech. An unforgettable experience awaits you.