The Boatman - Annalisa Crawford - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Annalisa Crawford

GENRE: Short Story Collection, Literary Suspense.

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: An impeccably-written atmospheric story collection. Mixes suspense and literary with a dash of paranormal at times. Nothing scary. Loved it!

Annalisa Crawford is one of the few indie authors who are on my tried-and-tested-and-found-to-be-reliable list. Having already read and loved her collection titled “The Clock in My Mother's House and Other Stories” and her novella “Cat and The Dreamer”, I ventured into “The Boatman” with high hopes and higher expectations. As you can see from my rating, I wasn’t disappointed.

This is a collection of three somewhat-interlinked stories. Each story has a woman in the central role, with the first two tales being in their first person narration. This book was previously published as “Our Beautiful Child” in 2014. I read the revised edition published in October 2023.

For a change, I wasn’t bothered by the lack of an author’s note, as the theme of the collection is very clear.

The Goodreads tagline promises you “suspenseful, traditionally-inspired ghost stories.” So let me clarify at the outset for the benefit of my fellow chicken-hearts: the book isn’t scary! There are ghosts in all the three stories, though in one case, the ghosts are more like personal demons from the past than anything otherworldly. But even when paranormal elements make an appearance, the writing stays focussed on their character than on the chill factor. So this should be a comfortable read even to those who don’t read horror. (That said, if a horror lover picks this up hoping for a spooky ghostly book, they might end up disappointed. No gore or monstrous entities herein.)

The titular ‘Boatman’ is the name of the pub where many of the interactions in the stories take place. The setting appears incidental to the plot, but the significance of the place becomes clear in the final story. “The Boatman” is inspired by a real pub of the same name, though I am not sure if the real one also has ghosts! 😉

The stories are in literary-fiction style, which means that they are heavily character-driven. For this, characters have to be realistic and relatable. This is a tough task for such a book where the characters aren’t your typical fictional leads. Each of them is a complex person with secrets. One character is trying to outrun her past, another is trying to escape her future, and the third is trying to hide from her present. Despite this challenging task, the author handles the character development with aplomb. You may or may not like the characters, but you will not be able to ignore them.

Compelling characters are useless when the plot doesn’t lend them a hand, right? All three tales have plots that are not just compelling but also somewhat unsettling. They develop slowly, but as you begin to see where things are going, you might feel a sense of unease. The endings left me stunned, even though I could see two of them coming. The stories lingered in my head long after the last page, as my mind buzzed with queries and curiosity. The endings might not work for some readers, but to me, they were perfection.

As is necessary for a suspenseful work, every story is imbued with an atmosphere that heightens the impact of the scenes. The imagery is so clear that I could visualise all the scenes in my mind without issues.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Each of them is a clear winner, though I must say that my enjoyment increased with every subsequent tale. The final story is the pièce de résistance of the book. As there are only three stories, here’s an individual glimpse at each. I am not going into the content, as these stories are very easy to spoil. Best to go in blind.

⛵ The Traveller – While it is not that tough to guess the reveal, it is still a gripping tale. I would have loved some answers to my multitude of whys and what nexts, though I can see why the author ended it that way. I loved the title as its true significance comes out only later in the tale. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

⛵ Ella's Story – Haunting from start to end. Loved how it portrayed the impact of a frightening thought on routine life. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

⛵ Our Beautiful Child – Oh my! What a way to tie the stories together without any repetition, and still carry the book ahead!! This won’t leave you with answers, but as it is the most imaginative of the triptych, it will leave a mark. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Though this indie book is just 129 pages long, I progressed slowly, relishing the vibes from the ambience and the characters. As the stories offered the perfect level of characters AND plot AND atmosphere AND suspense, I enjoyed the ride to the core.

Strongly recommended to all short-story lovers, lit fic fans, and para-suspense readers. This is not a book to be speed- read as you might miss out on some clues if you zoom through the stories. Take your time with the work, and savour the refreshing novelty of ‘The Boatman’.

4.5 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each tale.

My thanks to author Annalisa Crawford and BookSirens for the DRC of “The Boatman”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.