When the Reckoning Comes is a debut horror novel by LaTanya McQueen.
A haunting
novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation
wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the
blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.
More
than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the
south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself
from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the
only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the
eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of
slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day
when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly
loved—arrested for murder.
But now Mira is back in Kipsen to
attend Celine’s wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed
into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends,
and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings
and the events of that devastating long-ago day.
But for all its
fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive
racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainments include
horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet
the darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully
erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam
the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented
them, which includes most of the wedding guests.
As the weekend
unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history
together, and to save themselves from what is to come.
I love reading debut horror, and I'm excited to read more from LaTanya McQueen.
When
the Reckoning Comes is atmospheric and chilling. I mention this often,
but when it comes to horror, ghost stories are my favorite. The ghosts
are used brilliantly in When the Reckoning Comes, but they are also what
makes the story confusing. It's hard to distinguish what's actually
happening in the physical world, but the hauntings are so effective in
telling the story McQueen wants to tell.
I
read When the Reckoning Comes with the Ladies of Horror Fiction discord
group. It was the group read pick for February, and it was the perfect
choice. I listened to it on audio which I recommend because the narration is fantastic.
⭐⭐⭐⭐★
4/5 stars
