“Ararat” by Christopher Golden

Pub. Date:  April 18, 2017

Publisher:   St. Martin’s Press

This novel originally caught my eye because the famous mountain located in Eastern Turkey has long been known for the place named in the Book of Genesis where Noah’s Ark came to rest after the great flood (Genesis 8:4). As the product of a Catholic school, how could I resist a novel with all sorts of biblical suggestions?  However, the main characters in this eerie tale are of all religions with diverse backgrounds.  I knew from the blurb that I was going to be reading a horror story.  Early into the book’s chapters, I was delighted to learn that the novel is well written.  I would say this is a literary horror tale (if there is such a genre).

The premise of the novel is that after an earthquake, on the top of one of the mountain’s sides, there is now an opening showing “something.”  There is a race between scientists, historians, religious leaders, and filmmakers all rushing immediately to Turkey.   They all want to be the first to explore the opening that just might lead to the famous ark.   Our protagonists are an engaged couple (one a Jew and the other a Muslim) who take on the dangerous mountain climb with the intention of co-writing a documentary.  They already had a bestseller on another one of their adventures together.  From the start of their climb up the mountain, there are tensions among the multi-ethnic crew with their different beliefs.  When the explorers, with their guides, arrive at the opening in the mountain they do discover the remains of an ancient ship that may or may not be Noah’s Ark.  In this cave-like ship, they discover many skeletal remains of humans and animals, as well as an ancient tomb with writing that dates before Jesus Christ.  On this expedition, a Catholic priest argues that they need to open this tomb because it just may be the greatest connection to biblical history ever found.  The Father’s suggestion is a big mistake because inside the container lays a 5,000-year-old horned cadaver, and once released all hell literally breaks out.  Think of the novel “The Exorcist” by William Peter Blatty.  If you didn’t read the book, I am sure you saw the movie.  Around this point in the novel, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up.

The author does a wonderful job of making the reader feel as if the characters are the last people on earth, I could feel the cold and frostbitten body parts, see their teeth chattering, sense their claustrophobia and paranoia as they desperately try to rid themselves of the supernatural creature that they seemed to have awoken.   The atheists and the religious come together to help one another escape the cave inside the top of the mountain.   They make their descent during an out-of-control blizzard.  In a way, “Ararat” reminded me of the 1970s escape-disaster movies (“The Towering Inferno” or “The Poseidon Adventure”) where the protagonists try to save lives, subdue panic and escape a burning building or a ship’s watery grave knowing that only a few or possibly none will survive.

I started reading the book on a drive up to rural Vermont.  I decided to stop so I could finish when I arrived at my destination, which is a cabin on a mountain in what could be a scary environment.  I wanted to make the most of this tale.  To read it in the cabin at night, with the wind blowing, and the coyotes howling which I knew would enhance my goosebumps.   I enjoyed my goosebumps.  The author did what he intended: he scared the bejeezus out of me.    Yet, finishing the story, cuddled up under a blanket, in the pitch black darkness of a rural area while listening to the rain pound the cabin, I found myself disappointed with the ending.  Oh, I most certainly felt scared, but I expected more.  I felt that the ending became a familiar plot where a beast can assume the shape of its victims.   This is a story that has been told hundreds of times on cable TV shows aimed at an audience that cannot get enough of Zombie stories. I would have preferred an ending that relies less on monster movie gimmicks and more on reality-based, catechism-induced horrors.   However, the writing is so super in this book I have to recommend you give “Ararat” a spine-chilling try.  The author will give you a harrowing look at battling ancient evil forces and demand that the reader questions the existence of God, Michael the archangel (found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), as well as the fallen angel, known as Lucifer.  Be prepared to be terrified.

Find all my reviews at https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4793025-martie-nees-record?shelf=read