Stories depend on how they’re told as much as what is being told. The easiest example of this is to take a first person point of view story and switch it to third person. By taking the story out of the character’s head, the unreliable narrator effect is lost. By moving third person to first, readers become limited to only the things the protagonist can notice or experience. But form depends on more than just point of view. Is the story set is the past? The present? The future? Is the prose minimalistic or rich and lush? Does the story start at the beginning, middle, or end? All of these stylistic choices affect the story as much as the plot. In Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie, style dictates when and what type of information flows to the reader. The conceit of DiLouie’s book is that it’s a behind-the-scenes investigation into the disappearance of ghost hunters in the form of a ‘written documentary.’ Basically, DiLouie has ‘compiled’ information from the cast and crew to form the text of Episode Thirteen. It’s a bold choice executed well.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie is a character driven story about a missing television crew. It’s highly stylistic presentation makes for a quick read without sacrificing depth of character. Recommended.
From the Publisher
From the macabre mind of a Bram Stoker Award-nominated author, this heart-pounding novel of horror and psychological suspense takes a ghost hunting reality TV crew into a world they could never have imagined.
Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts.
Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter’s holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It’s also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen—and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong.
Review: Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie
Fade to Black is a ghost-hunting show with a crew of five people. Matt Kirklin is the lead investigator and star of the show; he’s also a true believer. Kevin Linscott is the show’s tech manager; he’s also a true believer and ex-cop who believes a demon forced him to kill a person. Jessica Valenza is the only person of color on the show; she’s an actress, single mother, and voice of common sense. For her, Fade to Black could be the vehicle to launch her career. Behind the camera is Jake Wolfson; he’s a professional camera operator who doesn’t have an opinion. He wants to get the job done and get paid. Rounding out the group is Claire Kirklin, Matt’s wife. She’s a physicist with a Ph.D. and a healthy dose of skepticism who’s grown a little tired of being the killjoy that debunks all the nonsense. These five have put out twelve episodes and are approaching the end of their first season. The network producers aren’t sure that Fade to Black’s formula is working enough for a second season. Pressure is on to deliver something new. Claire is unhappy; Jessica misses her kid; and Kevin thinks he’s the best investigator on the team. Episode 13 needs to be special if Matt and company want to keep their show on the air. For that episode, Matt chose to look for ghosts at Foundation House, formerly known as Wright Mansion. Reports of an abnormally tall woman appeared in the upper windows of the house. In the 70s, a group of paranormal scientists bought, lived, worked, and experimented in the mansion in rural Virginia. This group was known as the Paranormal Research Foundation. Their methodology was parapsychology, pseudoscience, New Age mysticism, and heavy doses of mind-altering substances. The researchers had three test subjects. One refused to be filmed, and the other two died years back. But the researchers themselves went missing in 1972. In episode 13, Fade to Black goes looking for the scientists. Except things begin to break down and, then, go horribly wrong. Episode Thirteen tells the story of the disastrous and infamous final episode of Fade to Black through the investigator’s own words.
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie is a story told in many different styles. From blog posts to emails to text messages to video transcripts, the five characters describe the disaster that befalls them at Foundation House. The multi-stylistic approach makes for quick reading, but DiLouie doesn’t sacrifice character or description. The varying style choices had different impacts depending on who was talking.
Style over Substance?
At heart, Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie is a novel, and certain expectations come with that. There is a plot there, and in a weaker writer’s hands, so much style change would signify a lack of something: character development, plot, world-building, etc. But DiLouie finds a way to fit depth into the various choices. All five characters are explored to different extents, but they all feel like fully realized characters. Claire and Jessica get the most character work, and frankly they’re the most likeable characters. DiLouie builds a good group dynamic among them. They all work well together, but, as with any working group, tensions exists sub-rosa between varying members. It’s well played as their small in the beginning but show more and more as stressors pressure the group.
Setting description is a bit minimal. I would have liked to see more of the house, but really I have no complaints about the amount we got to see. I had a decent picture of each of the scene settings, and I liked what I saw.
The plot was the weakest element. I’m still a bit confused about things that happened at the end of the book. And the haunting aspect seemed to not matter in the last 25% of the book. There are definitely a lot of questions left unanswered, and this could be a side effect of the ‘written documentary’ style choice.
Smart People Do Stupid Things
If I were every to write a book length critique of horror, I’d call it “People Doing Stupid Things.” This tradition continues in Episode Thirteen, but this time it’s smart people doing the stupid things. There’s a cliche that a crowd is only as smart as the stupidest person, and I think that applies here as well. Every single member of the group makes bad choices, and each of these choices pushes the group collectively along towards their horrific fates. DiLouie’s writing and character work makes these bad choices spring from the characters, and it’s only in hindsight do we see them as dumb choices. This is fantastic writing. The bad choices are needed for the plot, but since they spring from the characters, they drive the story as opposed to being forced on it.
Often, the word stupid applies to book learning. But in reality there are just as many kinds of stupid as there are smarts. Jessica may not have the academic credentials of Claire, but she has a common sense level of self preservation that the other four seem to be missing. Claire’s Ph.D. training makes her intelligent but constrains her in a way she doesn’t understand until things start going wrong. Matt has a naivete that makes him a good ghost hunter and a good connection for the audience, but his ambitions blind him to the state of his wife. Kevin might actually be the better investigator, but his need to prove himself makes him reckless. These flaws, these intelligences and stupidities, drive the plot. Their actions dictate the narrative, and the characters are what make Episode Thirteen worth reading.
Conclusion
Craig DiLouie’s Episode Thirteen does feel like a written documentary. The stylistic choices take a bit of getting used to but then open the story up into a richer experience than that of a single viewpoint. The various styles help characterize the Fade to Black crew members. It’s the characters that make the book special and worth your time. Recommended.
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie is available from Redhook Books on January 24th, 2023.
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