Gothic
Note: This review is for the 2025 updated edition of Gothic. I have not read earlier editions, so I will not be comparing/contrasting, just sharing my thoughts on the work as it stands in the new edition.
Anyone who writes anything for any reason has experienced the dead stare of a blank page at some point, and some of my favorite fiction has explored that feeling.
Though comparisons to Stephen King will surely be made by any horror fan - Philip Fracassi himself peppers allusions to King and his works within the novel - Gothic is more than a “man with writer’s block becomes unhinged” story which is obvious right away when the opening chapter is dedicated to the search for the artifact which is the catalyst for said writer’s madness.
The bulk of Gothic’s pages are dedicated to Tyson Parks, a horror writer past his peak, who’s spent his advance and is behind on delivering his new novel - but doesn’t sell well enough anymore to get much goodwill for it. When he’s gifted an antique desk to replace his 40-yr-old relic from his college days, his troubles seem to be over as he is reinvigorated and finishes a new novel nearly overnight. So what if he can’t remember writing it or what he wrote and that it comes with dark, violent impulses? How high is too high a price to pay to recapture the creativity from - or beyond - his prime?
The pages which detail the dark and bloody history up to the current day of the relic which became his new writing desk are full of rich detail, and I could read a lot more about that - or even about the next poor soul who ends up with it.
There were some bits in Gothic I could do without- in particular references to SA - but I enjoy Fracassi’s writing - smart language without being obtuse, scattered with self-referential humor, and full of gruesome, gothic imagery with engaging (if not always likeable) characters and a thrilling plot.
Thank you to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the advance copy for my unbiased review. Pub. date: 11/11/25
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