The second story in Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands (see the previous post) takes us back in time to the Seventies. A girl called Amanda and her little brother Euan live with their wealthy father in a country house. A succession of nannies look after the children while dad spends his time exploring the limits of consciousness via chemical means. Then some new friends of Amanda's father arrive, and things take a distinctly unpleasant turn. No spoilers, here, just a warning that this story offers the opposite of nostalgia.
The adult Amanda tells this tale by a campfire. We know she survives, and soon after we can deduce who does not. The arrival of the ghastly Alge - a kind of poundshop Aleister Crowley, but with more depraved habits - heralds the end of childhood and a disaster that will wreck what little family Amanda has. The slow realisation that Alge is not merely a threat but has some dangerous occult knowledge is handled in an excellent, low-key manner. There are passing nods to (I think) Hartley and de la Mare. The final scene reads like a sober updating of many a camp horror film conclusion, complete with a mob of villagers and a fire raging out of control.
As always, Steve Duffy sets a very high standard and more than delivers on the promise of the opening few lines. I will be pleasantly surprised if any other contributors to the anthology can top this.
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