Red Hail - Jamie Killen - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Jamie Killen

GENRE: Sci-fi mystery.

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: Have you ever read a fictional work that reads like it's based on facts despite its outlandish plot? This is one! As long as you don't overanalyse this indie novel, it offers a wild and creepy ride. A good mix of sci-fi, mystery and psychological thriller. Enjoyed most of it.

Story Synopsis:

Sixty years ago in 1960, a scary illness swept through the small town of Galina in Arizona, apparently beginning with a mysterious red hail. Not only were the symptoms strange, but they also had no apparent resolution. The onset created communal tensions between the whites and those of Mexican origin. The authorities dismissed the whole affair as a case of mass hysteria, and the plague remained out of public sight and mind.

Now, in 2020, Colin, a sociology professor, has been researching the Galina Plague as the subject of his dissertation when his partner Alonzo falls ill. To Colin’s utter horror, Alonzo begins demonstrating the same symptoms as the victims of the Galina Plague. As one of the very few people who knows the strange events of the past, Colin rushes to find out what stopped the plagues in the sixties.

The book comes to us over the two timelines of 1960 and 2020, and is written in the third person perspective of some key characters, including Colin.

Bookish Yays:

😍 The first half of the book was utterly gripping, and to a certain extent, even terror-inducing. The “disease” scared the bejesus out of me. Many scenes left me jittery. I had to keep the book aside at regular intervals to relax my nerves.

(On an aside: I finally understand why Joey of FRIENDS felt like keeping his copy of ‘The Shining’ in the freezer. I might have done the same for ‘Red Hail’ had I not loved my Kindle so much!)

😍 One of my favourite experiences while reading is putting myself in the place of the characters and wondering what I would have done in such a situation. This exercise is nerve-wracking for this book, but it serves well to understand the almost-catastrophic tension faced by the inhabitants of Galina in 1960. As people who have survived a viral global pandemic, who better than we to understand what it is like to fear the unknown ailment?

😍 The suspense is well-maintained almost throughout the first 75% or so. Even though the possible source is guessable to a certain extent, the hows and whys don’t come out until the climax.

😍 The book has quite a few strong characters in the contemporary as well as historical timeline. Without going into much detail, I’ll just say that most of the main characters are strong and atypical. I especially loved the female characters. Anza, Sonia and Dove all don’t fit into traditional roles and are major catalysts in this tale. (As a mother, I could feel Sonia’s pain to my core.) The quirky combo of teenaged Anza, gutsy Dove and pragmatic Fr. Santiago makes for an interesting team of epidemiological investigators.

😍 For a change, both the timelines are powerful enough on their own merit and work in tandem to reveal the secrets. This is the first time I have seen two distinct timelines function so well as two halves of the same picture. There is a perfect synchronicity between the timelines, and each supports the book equally without spoiling the fun of the other era.

😍 The book covers quite a few strong themes such as racism, homophobia, religious fanaticism, xenophobia, and fatalism. While each of these is intense, the book never felt like it went over the top in its approach of these topics.

😍 Alonzo and Colin are homosexual partners, and there is another homosexual pair in the 1960s. While the latter felt a bit too convenient to the book, I loved the portrayal of the contemporary pair. Their new relationship, their banter, their love, their struggles and their struggle to accept what’s happening – every aspect of their life comes across realistically.

😍 There are priests of two religious orders in the book. The evangelical one is the usual fire-and-brimstone spouting hack who does everything possible to prove God’s avenging hand in the new disease. The Jesuit priest is the more practical fellow who doesn’t let go of his faith but is still open-minded about the possible causes, and doesn’t push God into every conversation. As a Christian who is a staunch opponent of evangelical malpractices, I loved this depiction. I also appreciate how it highlighted the difference in the approach across varied Christian denominations. (I am fed up of people who presume all Christians to have the same malevolent intentions.)

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 While I did like the resolution, I can’t help feeling like it was too smooth and too tame, especially after the originality of the first half. That said, I must appreciate the unusual source of the “cause”. It is not an angle commonly taken in this genre.

😐 Dove is a strong character and one of a kind. Hers is the kind of woman character we dream of reading. At the same time, her character background seems to span too many diverse things. It felt like a convenient way of putting her into varied situations without much question. I also would have loved to know her age. This might not be a problem for everyone, but for key characters, I like having a rough idea of how to picture them in my head. Dove seems to be anywhere between 40 to 65, too wide an age range for my comfort.

😐 The fictional Galina, Arizona (probably based on Galena, Arizona) is used fairly well in the story. The small town setting is utilised to highlight the closeness and familiarity of the neighbours while still depicting the underlying hostility between the whites and the Mexicans. At the same time, the natural features of the desert-mountain landscape could have been used even better to enhance the eeriness of the events. The heat, the sand, the distances between the houses, the mesa, all were great elements that could have heightened the tension more.

😐 The book goes ahead at a mostly steady pace, not too fast to rush over key elements and not too slow as to create boredom. However, while the first half kept me gripped, the second half’s slackened action makes the events feel a bit repetitive and dragged.

Bookish Nays:

😒 There are some plot holes, though admittedly, these will only pop up if you go over every event with a fine-toothed comb. There are also some gaps in the events at the end. While we can fill in some of the blanks, I would have loved for the plot to seal the entire story properly.

😒 Some of the secondary characters are quite clichéd.

All in all, I did have a lot of fun with this book, until my mind started popping up the queries and I realised that I didn’t have all the answers. So this is the kind of book you ought not overanalyse. It is an imaginative entertainer, and if you read it with the right spirit, you will have a great time being creeped out.

4 stars. (It was a strong 4.5 stars until the first half, and that saved the overall rating. The second half kept swinging between 3.5-4 stars.)

My thanks to author Jamie Killen for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Red Hail”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.