Review: The Last Motel - Brett McBean

Brett McBean is a Melbourne based author whose fiction has appeared in publications such as Asylum Volume 3: The Quiet Ward, Dark Discoveries, Post Mortem, The Rising: Necrophobia and on Horrorfind.com. The Last Motel is his first novel.

Brett McBean’s debut novel is a raw, uncompromising and unforgiving ride into the darkest pits of human survival.

Set in the remote wilderness of the Victorian mountains, the novel tells the story of a group of characters, each unknowingly linked through a series of macabre events, that spend Halloween night at an out of the way lodge on the outskirts of Melbourne. Their plans are simple, bunk up for the night and avoid the authorities. But as darkness descends on the lodge they realize the law is the least of their problems – to make it out of this one they are going to have to survive each other.

Written with a cinematic feel that mirrors ‘70s horror films such as Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, McBean creates a gritty, atmospheric ride that takes the reader into the darkest depths of human nature – the part where emotion is forgotten and primal urges and the need to survive dictates above all.

The prose is sharp and sparse and focuses on action rather than overlong descriptions of setting and character. That’s not to say that the characters aren’t well developed – McBean is able to make us grow to love them, but just like film he reveals them through their actions and not descriptions. The characters reactions and actions are real and plausible, which makes the story much more disturbing and powerful.

The violence in The Last Motel is gritty and real, and not unlike Laymon, McBean isn’t afraid to go the extra mile to instill a sense of horror in the reader. The book’s rape and torture scenes, of which there are many, are detailed and uncompromising and not for the faint of heart.

McBean also demonstrates a real understanding of how to build tension and delivers the story at a crack-neck pace. Information about the characters is only revealed when it’s needed creating a mounting sense of suspense that finally explodes in a gripping climax of blood and violence.

The novels only weakness, and it’s a small one, is its dialogue, which at times slips out of character to reveal a plotted piece of information – but even these “slips’’ are rare and easily forgivable and something I suspect that will be weaned out as McBean continues to develop.

Overall, The Last Motel is one of the finest and most promising debuts to hit the horror genre in the past five years and well worth the effort of ordering it from its US publisher Biting Dog. It’s just a shame it’s not as readily available on our own shelves.

And as for McBean’s next foray into the genre, whatever that may be, all I can say is bring it on!