A review by minimicropup
A History of Fear by Luke Dumas

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Imploring, impassioned, unsettling.

We follow our MC completing their Masters degree at a University in Scotland. They were drawn to Scotland after the death of their father, who they had a complicated relationship with. To be able to afford to stay in the country, they accept a position from a man online to ghostwrite a manuscript about the Devil. 
🇺🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Set along the California coast (where MC is raised) and in Scotland

🎧 Excellent narration. Immersive and expressive. Definitely give a listen if you can, even if you have the text. It felt like I was listening to a real life story. 

🐺🐕 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags: 
👌Well-written and captivating. We are reading Grayson's memoir found and prepared by an editor after his death, who compiled it along with interviews with family, friends, and professors to gain insight on his state of mind and motivation for the crime(s) he was involved in or committed. 
 
👌 During the memoir portions of the story we feel the fear and desperation of our MC as they begin experiencing events that they aren't sure how to interpret. The interviews and editors notes interspersed throughout allow us see those events through those present around our MC…how what he experienced wasn’t “true”. But because we read it and in were in his head, it felt true. Technically our MC is an unreliable narrator but it doesn't feel that way because he seems sincere about what he's experiencing. And maybe his POV is the true reality... 
 
🫣 My fav kind of cringe. I love plots and characters where we see someone slowly unravel and misread the room. Our MC is pretentious, lacking self-esteem, overbearing, and obsessive, which leads to this catch-22 of rejection that he keeps experiencing. The friendship and family dynamics felt so real. 
 
😈🧠🏳️‍🌈 I think that controversial and heavy topics were covered with empathy and sensitivity for the experiences of people with different religious beliefs and mental health experiences. 
If you are more spiritual or religious I think you can read this without feeling offended or mocked, and find symbolism and meaning in the story. Satan and religion wasn’t used as a gimic. 
And if you typically find religious, possession, demon creature feature plots lacking, I think you can enjoy reading this because it’s so open to interpretation. You could finish this book believing what happened was rooted in the supernatural, biological, nature vs nurture, neurological etc. Despite that well-crafted writing, we aren't left with an open-ended ambiguous conclusion either. 

Mood Reading Match Up: 
  • Literary mystery about why a seemingly 'normal' young man murdered his friend, but claims he was not in control of his body and mind at the time
  • Commentary on evil, the root of fear, the consequence of relying on fear and shame to “teach” children, and the resulting generational trauma 
  • Memoir style writing with true crime energy
  • Psychological thriller about the experience of mental illness, with touches of the supernatural / dark magical realism, and dark academia 
  • Slice-of-life new adult plots with relatable cringe, awkwardness, lust, longing, friendship and relationship drama, and self-discovery 

Content Heads-Up: Mental illness (hallucinations, delusions, dissociation, psychosis). Religious abuse. Homophobic friends and family. Sexual harassment and assault (male on male). Child abuse and family dysfunction. Demonic assault and possession. Parental rejection and emotional neglect. Sexual repression. 

Format: Scribd Audio 

🤩 In the running for Favourite Book of 2023