Residue: Paramentals Rising by John Harrison

A horror novel featuring some unique paranormal entities, John Harrison’s Residue is set in New York City, where the residents are living through the aftermath of an unexplained explosion that took out a large section of the city, allegedly releasing contaminants from a long-retired secret military facility beneath the nightclub that was at the center of the blast. Six months later, the neighborhoods around the blast area are still fenced off and guarded by military personnel and teams of men in hazmat suits. Often referred to as the QZ, the Quarantine Zone is now only home to groups of refuseniks that don’t believe the official rhetoric, live in hiding, and spend much of their time dodging the military drones and hazmat teams that are constantly hunting them.

Things aren’t that great on the right side of the QZ either. There’s a lot wrong with the New York City in Harrison’s novel. Since the “Catastrophe”, there’s been a rash of spontaneous acts of violence, unprovoked murders, suicides, and nervous breakdowns. There are also many reports of strange phantoms lurking around the vicinity of these incidents, seeming to feed off the negative energy or, possibly, helping to instigate the acts in the first place.

Although many New Yorkers still doubt the stories about the “paramentals”, and continue to believe the media propaganda regarding the QZ. a growing number of people do not, their views being championed by a mysterious blogger called Ominosity, who is on a mission to wake up the rest of the city and encourage people to remove the wool from their eyes.

Much of the story centers around Niki Preston, who has come to the city looking for her missing sister, Jennifer, and has made her base in her sister’s apartment. A talented photojournalist, Jennifer disappeared after she began digging into things that made her unpopular with powerful people. Now, Niki is unsure if her sister is dead or in hiding, but is determined to discover the truth.

Detective Levi Mathis is another key character in the story. He’s introduced in the second chapter, when Miki tracks him down at a local bar and pesters him for information. It’s obvious from the start that Mathis knows more about Jennifer’s disappearance than he is willing to share, but, as the story progresses, he and Miki become closer, and Mathis reveals a softer side when he opens up to her about the death of his daughter, who was inside the nightclub when it exploded. Now, like Niki, he’s looking for answers, while also trying to stay on the wagon instead of succumbing to his alcohol addiction.

There are a lot of interesting characters in Residue, and their paths cross in a variety of different ways. Willy G and Detective Freddie Pierce are a couple of notable examples. A street-smart criminal and important source of information for Mathis, Willy G has a unique set of ethics that sets him apart from other people who live on the wrong side of the law. He sees himself as a romantic rebel and is fiercely protective of his gang of proteges, which he calls his “crew”. He and “Fat Freddie” are poles apart. The corrupt police detective has no morals at all, and was instrumental in soiling Mathis’s reputation and ruining his career.

I enjoyed reading Residue. The early stages of the book raise lots of questions, such as what happened to Jennifer, who is Ominosity, what’s really happening in the QZ, and how do the paramentals fit into the jigsaw. My curiosity about these things encouraged me to keep on reading and, at times, when I only planned to read one chapter I ended up reading two or more.

If you decide to read Residue, you will find there’s a lot of depth to the story, along with some very complex relationships; and, although characters such as Fat Freddie are suitably loathsome, other characters, like Miki and Mathis are easy to like—the kind of characters you hope everything will work out okay for in the end. Residue: Paramentals Rising presents an interesting scenario, along with some unique paranormal entities. It’s a well-crafted tale that leaves no loose ends, yet still provides an opening for a sequel if that’s a route Harrison decides to take in the future.

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