The Incubations

The Incubations

By Ramsey Campbell

Genre:-Thriller/Horror

Pages:-256

Publisher:-Flame Tree Press

Blurb:-"When a weight landed on his legs he raised his head from the violently crumpled pillow. The bed already had another occupant, and as Leo flung the quilt back so that it wouldn't hinder his escape the creature scurried up his body to squat on his chest, clutching him with all its limbs like half a spider..."

 The English town of Settlesham was twinned with Alphafen in Germany soon after the Second World War. During the war both towns were bombed, even though Alphafen seemed to have no strategic significance.

 To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the postwar reconciliation, pupils at the local schools were set to correspond with apposite numbers. Leo Parker has been in touch with Hanna Weber ever since but has never previously visited her. As an adult he's welcomed in Alphafen, but his stay seems idyllic despite the odd incidents-a local who blames him for a hostile letter a schoolmate of Leo's sent, a glimpse of an uncanny figure on an Alpine walk, a flapping intruder that seems to embody Hanna's night fears, an encounter in a mountain restaurant with an English tourist who turns out to be there for his own disturbing reasons.

 It's only after Leo leaves the town that the nightmares begin: an airport turns into a labyrinth, his own words become treacherous if not lethal, a family meal grows unnaturally active, and what are those creatures that have appeared in the photographs he took?

 The man he met in the mountain restaurant hasn't finished with him, and he has to deal with the town councilor who sent the warlike letter when they were teenage classmates. A local police inspector has reason to suspect his actions, even though the policeman is a friend of Leo's parents. Even the therapy Leo undertakes becomes a source of menace.

 In this bid to cement international relations, Leo may have roused the source of an ancient Alpine legend and brought a supernatural infection home with him.

 Even once he understands what has travelled with him, his attempts to overcome its influence may lead into greater nightmares still...

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My Review:-Leo Parker, who works as a driving instructor for the family and Hanna Weber's penpals, she's a local of Alphafen, Germany. Leoand Hanna's hometowns are twinned. Now years on Leo is welcomed to Alphafen by Hanna and her family. Not sure what has been happening to him while away, Leo was glad to back home, but not everything is that simple. What has he brought back with him, it's not just him, but also his parents are also having strange things happening to them. What is happening?

I have read other books by Ramsey, but I found this one different in many ways. I found the pace slow, but I think this added to the storyline. He knows how to pull you in and just as you think it's ok, that's when the horror side catches you.