trivard676You may be familiar with Mark Kidwell’s comic, ‘Bump.’ This novel of the same name follows the same story, sinking its claws a little bit deeper into the events that lead up to what happened in the comic. The novel follows Kidwell’s splatter-house roots, and if you’re a fan of any of Kidwell’s other work, Bump won’t leave you disappointed.
For the uninitiated, the story starts off innocently enough – through the eyes of the Edgar Dill, coming home from what the reader assumes is a hard day’s work, carrying the fruits of the day’s labour in a sack. It’s here that you get the first look at the Old Dill Farmhouse. To anyone else it’s a dilapidated train-wreck of a house, but to Edgar Dill, it’s home. The only one he’d ever known, and the only one he ‘would’ ever know.
Through these eyes and the events of the first few chapters of the novel lend almost a sympathetic hue to Edgar Dill. Deformed from birth, intellectually stunted, and living in an old farm-house with his equal parts deranged and doting mother, you almost feel for old Edgar – he’d been given a pretty raw deal in life, and for him, things could only get worse it would seem. Whatever innocence the novel had takes a sharp turn once Kidwell reveals what’s in that sack and what Edgar intends to do with it.
Kidwell confesses that his inspiration behind Edgar Dill is the serial killer Ed Gein, so that pretty much takes care of any sympathy you might have had for Mr. Dill. Some of those sympathies still might remain when Sheriff Gil Lundy and the Alder County Sheriff’s Department set their sights on the Dill Farmhouse. Lundy decides that due process isn’t good enough when Edgar Dill decided to play with fire and kidnap his little girl, so it’s time to take the whole system into his own hands. However, Bump wouldn’t be a ghost story if Lundy and company lived happily ever after, or if it was the last time they ever saw Edgar Dill.
The mysterious events surrounding the Dill Farmhouse span 35 years. Every few years, Kidwell gives us a glimpse of what has become of the Dill Farmhouse, and what has become of our main protagonist, Gil Lundy. Kidwell also has created a truly unique monster lurking away at the Dill House in the form of It and his Tree Huggers. Something so wicked that on its surface, it seems almost absurd – that is until you peel back the layers and take a deeper look. The Old Dill Farmhouse has all sorts of tricks up its sleeve, from changing weather patterns, re-animating the long dead through the skin of others, and other horrific games just waiting for anyone who happens upon it.
The experience one might get from Bump is akin to walking down a long hallway after a particularly intense horror scene. That in itself might be the book’s only drawback. The pacing could have been a little bit better, risking almost losing reader-interest about halfway through the novel. However just like walking down that long hallway, you’re always on edge. You get all of the heeby-geebies of knowing that something bad is going to happen, but never really sure where it’s going to come from, or when it’s going to happen.
It’s hard to relax knowing that these things exist.
When something happens, no expense is spared in the details, either. Bump’s exposition is top-notch as Kidwell painstakingly describes every arterial spray, sliced flesh or gouged eyeball. The images Kidwell conjures up are pretty grotesque, but it’s nothing horror fans aren’t used to, so don’t let that turn you off at all (as if it would have…). The novel almost reads out like a movie, and Kidwell explains that this was no accident.
As much as we like Bump, we can’t help but feel that had we already gone through the comic of the same name, Bump would not have been as entertaining. Granted, we don’t always like admitting that we like pictures in our books, but it’s kind of hard to pass up some of Kidwell’s imagery. Particularly that of some of Dill’s horrific playthings.
Not so afraid of clowns anymore. Nope.
Its unique storyline, top-notch exposition and dark subject matter in general make it a must-read for any horror fan. Kidwell has expanded the world of his Bump comic and makes this novel a great read. If you’re either looking for a deeper backstory to the highly acclaimed comic, or looking to sink your teeth into the story fresh, you should definitely give Bump a read.
Anyone who is interested in purchasing the novel can do so through the Amazon page found here. There is a Kindle version in the works as well for anyone who wants to take their horror romp on the go with a Kindle, an iOS or Android device.
