Fiend by Alma Katsu
Many thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Penguin Random House, and
NetGalley for allowing me to preview Alma Katsu’s excellent new book Fiend.
I was really excited to see this book available since I have a few of Katsu’s
books on my to be read shelf. This opportunity to preview the book would propel
her book further up on my list and allow me to read one of modern horrors most
popular writers. Although Fiend differs in setting from some of Katsu’s
other books that often take a historical perspective on horror, this book set
in the modern corporate world has plenty of intrigue, suspense, and a few
brutal kills. What I enjoyed most about this book was the narrative propulsion,
and how quickly the book moved. The chapters were brief, but full of character
development or key action, and helped to move the story forward by creating
these complex characters who were motivated not only by family and tradition,
but also by power and their own desires. Katsu created some complex characters
who I both felt sympathy for and questioned their motivations and behaviors. This
kind of character development kept me reading to see what would happen next. Although
Fiend is a horror book, it also reminded me a lot of the show Succession,
where siblings vie for the affections and attention of the family’s patriarch,
whose focus on family seems to blur with the family’s namesake company, Berisha
International. Katsu has developed some amazing characters who are unique, and
represent different ideals for the company: Dardan, the reluctant first born
son, Maris, the bold middle daughter, and Nora, the neglected youngest, all
have different ideas about the direction the company should pursue as their
father, Zef, a hardnosed Albanian immigrant, continues to blend strategy with
morally questionable methods. I loved how different chapters focused on
different siblings, exploring their relationships both in contemporary times
and occasionally alternating with experiences from the past. This kind of
narrative structure with chapters labeled “Now” and “Then” was a great device
that Katsu uses to give some backstory to the siblings’ complicated
relationship with their father and better understand why Zef decided it was
best to move out of the house, but still have dinner with the family on
Sundays. Beyond Succession, the book’s narrative structure focusing on multiple
complex characters and occasionally shifting between present and past reminded me
of some Stephen King novels, where we see how past events and traumas can
affect characters’ behaviors and how they treat one another in the present.
One of the other elements of this book that I loved is how
Katsu blended a kind of folk horror/folklore and mythology with a modern corporate
story. I don’t want to give anything away, but as Albanian immigrants, Zef and
his wife Olga have decided to maintain some of the traditions and practices
from the old country. This leads to some tension with their first generation
children who were born in America, and struggle to understand some of the
unreasonable expectations around marriage choices and lineage regarding the operation
of the family’s company. Fiend features many plot twists and turns,
revealing some unexpected events, yet Katsu provides a slow burn as the
children’s memories of strange events from their childhood eventually lend
credence to the forces that have made Zef such a feared and powerful CEO. This
was a fun and exciting book to read, one that I highly recommend. It’s a
propulsive read that kept me engaged, wanting to keep reading to find out what
would happen next. It’s also a timely read that calls into question the nature
of corporate behavior and ethics, making me wonder at which point do we
question profits over people. While Katsu doesn’t propose any solutions or
preach any answers, she does present an entertaining parable about the desire
for power and the irony of enjoying leadership and responsibility. Highly
recommended!
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