Memorials by Richard Chizmar
An Appalachian road trip dripping with death
Memorials follows a trio of college students as they embark on an Appalachian road trip to film a documentary about roadside memorials for a school assignment.
Despite having only known each other a few months, Billy, Melody, and Troy have quickly formed true friendships, partially because of the shared burden of having each suffered tragedies in their recent pasts. Billy, for example, lost both his parents in a car accident — which is what inspired his interest in the phenomenon of roadside memorials.
Their idea is to discover memorials and share the stories behind them — of those who were lost and those that they left behind — in the hope of not only shedding some light on why the bereaved feel compelled to erect a roadside monument but also, by extension, serve as an additional artifact of remembrance.
Yet despite the three musketeers’ respectful intentions, it seems someone (or, more likely, plural someones) is apparently vexed at their snooping around these shrines.
Someone is watching them. Stalking them. Trying to scare them. Willing to hurt them.
At first, there are merely the expected cultural conflicts between the bigoted hillbillies and the two-thirds POC traveling outsiders. But then, things get creepier… Our heroes begin to feel (quite reasonably) unsafe camping out every night. The very real threat of violence against them grows increasingly palpable. And that’s before things get downright freaky.
They discover a strange symbol covertly graffitied on several of the memorials. Naturally intrigued by this eldritch emblem, they seek out its meaning — only to learn that it has ties to an ancient folk religion; that they might have unwittingly angered a local cult, and thus put a target on their backs…
Memorials is an engrossing and compelling read; an affable adventure that, while it takes its sweet time, allows us plenty of opportunity to get to know its characters and to enjoy their company.
The characters are what makes this book. Chizmar does a great job of crafting three individuals who are at once both recognizable archetypes and fully-rounded and unique individuals.
Despite the fact that the story wasn’t plotted in advance (according to the author’s endnotes), its pace and twists flow naturally and sufficiently to keep you constantly engaged and wanting to find out what happens next.
There’s also a significant mystery element to the book, which keeps you turning the page to learn more. The longer the journey goes on, the more clues and red herrings are uncovered. People from Billy’s past come back into his life, new characters are introduced… But who can actually be trusted?
Eventually, of course, the book veers into severe horror territory, but by the time it gets there, the stakes are compounded because we’ve spent so much time with these characters and come to like all of them very much. We don’t want anything bad to happen to them. Which, well, too bad.
In that way, Memorials unfolds both naturally and realistically; beginning in a world analogous to the reality we all inhabit, and slowly slipping into one altogether stranger and more terrifying — a jolt of true horror in a world that is already harsh enough.
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