The horror of commercialism - "The Mall" by S.L Grey

I picked up this book on a bit of a whim over the summer. As my profile admits, I am a horror geek and the author blurb sold me within seconds: “S.L Grey is a mysterious, genderless persona who savours the adrenaline rush of writing and reading cutting-edge horror.” Apparently S.L also has an M.A in vampire fiction and has animated horror films. Brilliant.

I’ve since found out that S.L Grey is in fact a writing duo, Louis Greenberg and Sarah Lotz from South Africa. The book is written in alternating chapters from the points of view of the two main characters; Rhoda, a spiky, British black girl and drug addict and Dan a wiry , middle class, white Afrikaans underachiever. Dan works in a bookshop and spends his days wondering why girls don’t like him and feeling superior to his customers. Rhoda has a massive chip on her shoulder, and a big problem in the form of a missing child who she was watching when she decided to take a trip to the mall to meet her dealer. This is where the story begins. 

Thrown together, Rhoda drags Dan into her mission to find the missing kid and the two of them sink, drawn by mysterious text messages, deeper into the bowels of the after-hours mall. The book then descends into a series of weirder and weirder events as it becomes clear that Rhoda and Dan have moved beyond the reality of the mall into something darker and distinctly more disturbing. What they find at the end of the tunnel is a consumerist nightmare which is one of the most original premises I have read in a horror novel. 

It is testament to the great characterisation in this book that two, frankly unlikeable characters greeted me at the start but I found myself increasingly fond of Rhoda and Dan as their journey progressed. Part of the charm of these characters was their humour and also the way their individual stories unwound as they pressed on through the mall. The setting of Johannesburg really informs the story as well as commenting on post-apartheid South Africa.  

What is most striking about this book is that the horror is created without a single vampire, zombie or other classic monster in sight. The horror is what lies behind the bright lights of the shopping mall, it is born of those familiar brands and logos that fill our vision each day and the unspeakable possibility that the rot lying beneath is preferable to the glossy deception. The world created in The Mall is simultaneously familiar and strange; it is nauseating, abhorrent and yet oddly logical. It is by turns fascinating and terrifying. 

The Mall is funny, clever, imaginative and most importantly stays with you long after the last page. All in all this is a great horror and I will be watching keenly for the next offering from S.L Grey.