A Troubled Young Woman Enjoys A Dark 'Reunion' In Alana K. Drex's Latest Novella

Nature versus nurture. It’s a debate as old as humankind: What exactly is it that makes us who we are? Are we born akin to unshaped clay and molded by life’s experiences into the individuals we will eventually become? Or is there truth to the idiom that biology is destiny, that regardless of environment the innate qualities within anyone will inevitably present themselves, for good or ill? Or, as still others contend, does the reality lie somewhere in between?

Countless medical, psychiatric, religious, and philosophical volumes have been penned throughout the centuries favoring one side of the argument or other. In fiction, too, much has been made of the subject, and from Robert Louis Stevenson’s horror masterwork The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to the whimsical fantasies of Harry Potter, examining the origins of our inner selves is as fascinating as it is inexplicable.

One creator unafraid to ask questions concerning humanity’s nature is indie author Alana K. Drex, whose newest novella, Reunion, plumbs the depths of mind, body, and soul in search of answers.

In 1994, twenty-three-year-old Raven is returning to the small town of Hollow Ivy following an eight-year incarceration for murdering her teenage love, Annie. Accompanying Raven on the trip is her best friend Jenny, a special effects makeup artist who was one of the few people lending support to Raven during her imprisonment, and one of the fewer who believed Raven’s claims of amnesia regarding the night of Annie’s murder. Despite Jenny’s comforting presence, however, Raven is anxious about reuniting with her cold-hearted psychologist mother, Dr. Wendell; as a baby, Raven was abandoned on Dr. Wendell’s doorstep, and the doctor’s dismissive attitude and clinical approach to child-rearing drove a wedge between them long before Raven’s sentencing. Their relationship is no less strained now that Raven has come home, and that difficulty is only compounded by the unusual happenings around town. For over a century, Hollow Ivy has been haunted by the urban legend of a sinister yellow-eyed entity that allegedly drags unsuspecting townspeople to their deaths in an ancient well hidden deep in the wilderness. Two of Hollow Ivy’s residents have already disappeared, and as Raven is drawn deeper into the mystery, what she ultimately uncovers will forever alter the way she sees herself, her family, and unveil the truth of what happened to Annie that long ago fateful night.

Unlike many of her recent works such as Oops, I Killed My Boyfriend and the outrageous Fridge Goop, Reunion largely dispenses with Drex’s usual horror-comedy antics to adopt a splatterpunk’s gleeful mix of unabashed eroticism and intense violence (one scene in particular detailing the grisly effects of a pressurized air hose on the human face will make even the staunchest gorehound squirm). At a sprightly 123 pages, Reunion is a quick read, but it would be a mistake to assume the novel is merely fevered blood-and-boobs titillation (though there is thankfully plenty of that). In addition to the overarching nature-versus-nurture theme, Drex offers serious ruminations about trauma, memory, generational sin, the intensity of first love, and the joys of embracing one’s true self. Any author runs the risk of alienating their audience by making their protagonist a convicted murderer, but Drex pulls of such a feat masterfully, not only engendering sympathy for Raven, but casting doubt on her guilt. The budding romantic entanglement between Raven and Jenny is also a boon, and watching their unconventional courtship unfold in all its complicated, lusty glory provides a welcomed dose of emotional payoff.

For the horror crowd, though, it’s all about the spookiness, and here Drex pulls absolutely no punches. Demons, ghosts, spectral birds, shapeshifters, torture, reincarnation, revenge, nightmarish imagery—all get their turn by the book’s astonishingly dark denouement. While the nature-versus-nurture question may never be conclusively answerable in real life, with its strong characters, subversive humor, Gothic trappings, engrossing plot, unflinching gore and uncompromising finale, readers in search of above-average chills will find this one Reunion worth attending, and it’s for those reasons that I feel compelled to give Drex’s latest a solid 3.5 (Out of 5) on my Fang Scale. As one character notes early in the novel, ‘Evil is waiting for you. IT’S GOING TO GET YOU!’