Helyna L. Clove

I read this novella for the indie novella competition, SFINCS. The following review is my own personal opinion as a judge and does not reflect the views of the team as a whole. Find out more about the competition here and my team, The WIPs, here!

Watcher by the author duo J. P. Relph and Mathew Gostelow is a thriller with speculative elements that got me immersed in it from basically the first couple of short sections. It read like a 90s supernatural detective movie (yes, movie!) following Daniel Roth, a man capable of “walking”, that is, in a trans-like state connect to people’s minds and see through their eyes. As we might suspect, this ability made him very valuable to the British intelligence forces where he had been working for years, and then left after an unfortunate incident. At the start of the novella, he is called back into service by his old handler, Agent Burke, to investigate a cult which is getting more and more threatening…

We get the story in different styles: letters, journals, and different POVs, and mostly in a non-linear fashion. Alongside the current investigation into the cult where the assigned agents are attempting to contact cult members for Daniel to “walk” with (as he relies on genetic material to use for his ability) in order to get a glimpse of the insides of the operation and its mysterious leader, Daniel’s past is also slowly revealed, with his traumatizing childhood and the way his ability made itself known, and also the incident which made him leave service. We also hear from an agent undercover inside the cult, Rebecca, who is Daniel’s old friend and recently stopped reaching out, thus, her recovery is his priority. Rebecca and Daniel both suffered from a brutal, religious upbringing, leaving them with separate sets of deep wounds which they bonded over during the years working together. Interestingly, this cult, that calls itself The Children of the Watchers, is also connected to God and his angels—fallen angels, more precisely, cast into oblivion and torment because of their sharing of secrets and fraternizing (and more) with humanity.

For a long while, we as readers have no idea what the cult wants exactly, apart from some vague threat of mass murder at the turn of the millenium. But we are drawn into Daniel’s story by several other factors: Daniel’s struggles with his ability which he intends to use for good but which slowly weakens and sickens him; his sensitive but strong personality formed by awful experiences and events that never truly broke him but consistently push him to the brink; the mystery of how Daniel’s “walking” might be connected to the cult and its rebel angels; and the pacing itself in revealing plot threads and characters which is just perfect. I was glued to the page, wanting to know where this was going. The side-characters of Burke and Bec were also interesting to watch: Burke with his headstrong, “everything for the greater good” positioning, caring for Daniel but absolutely willing to drive him into the darkness to save people, and Bec, through whom we see another side of religious trauma and its consequences. It all worked very well from me. The prose is mature and well-rounded as well, grounded but just dramatic enough at the right places.

The story steadily hurtles towards an ending we can feel won’t be all happy and sunshine. The reveal about the true purpose of The Children of the Watchers and how it all connects to Daniel’s ability is satisfying, dark, and intriguing. I do have some ambivalent feelings about it: while it was certainly fitting, some stuff divorced a bit too much from the established mood during that last act. And while one can certainly find a sliver of hope in it (and by gods, I tried), it’s also perhaps a bit too bleak to my tastes. But like I said, it’s nothing that isn’t foreshadowed or proper for the kind of story we are reading.

Watcher definitely felt like a hidden gem to me, judging by its number of reviews, and a great read for everyone who likes biblical (apocryphal) angelic mythology and thrillers featuring special investigation units and supernatural abilities. In a span of a novella, the authors are able to weave a full, satisfying story with interesting lore, great characters, and an atmosphere that will immerse you entirely.

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