Introducing The Overview, a round-up of short reviews of movies, books, and everything in between.
The Notch by Tom Holland *** out of *****: Tom Holland, the Master of Horror behind Fright Night (1985), Child's Play (1988), Thinner (1996), among others, makes his fiction debut with The Notch, an entertaining if unremarkable novel of speculative fiction, about a ten year-old boy who appears out of nowhere, has the ability to heal and bring the dead back to life, and seems to have brought an apocalyptic plague with him. The high-concept plot starts promisingly enough, but soon falls into a kind of rhythm that is less than compelling. The large cast of characters is adequately drawn, but none are memorable, and the story doesn't really go any place special. But Holland is a born storyteller, and his short chapters keep one reading till the satisfying conclusion. But fans should know that, what The Notch isn't is a horror novel.
