Michelle Herbert reviews The Damned by Andrew Pyper…
The Damned focuses on Near Death Experiences (NDE’s), the story follows Danny growing up in Detroit and how his NDE at the age of 16 affected his life. This is also a book that looks at the past as Danny re-lives the experiences that led up to the event and the loss of his twin sister Ash. Danny wrote a book called The After about his experience and due to this gained some notoriety after the book was published. Although this is Danny’s story Ash is an ever looming presence haunting Danny from beyond the grave.
In The Damned NDE’s are different for everyone, but for most people and in Danny’s case he suggests that his NDE was a repetition of the best day of his life. The success of Danny’s book leads to groups forming to share their stories. Although in this story most people experience pleasant NDE’s Danny soon realises that not all NDE’s are pleasant ones, sometimes it feels like you have been given a glimpse of hell. Danny has a hypothesis that this is due to the malicious intent of the already deceased not being able to let go of the living.
As the protagonist of the story we follow Danny’s journey towards self discovery, as a character he is quite weak and doesn’t seem to have much of a life or a personality. Whilst growing up he was always in the background overshadowed by Ash. Ash should have been the girl who had it all; she had brains and beauty and could get almost anything she wanted from anyone. Ash looked like a girl who wouldn’t hurt a fly instead she is someone who does what she wants when she wants and manipulates people even when her actions hurt them, which makes Ash a very determined sociopath who is malevolent in her determination to destroy people’s lives.
Danny realises that he is being haunted by Ash, in a typical ghost story he tries to work out what she wants from him; thinking as they are twins that she wants him to solve the mystery of her death. Ash even in death though isn’t letting go of her hold on Danny, after years of isolating him, Danny finally meets someone he cares for and for that Ash becomes a far more dangerous threat. I did enjoy how Danny even though he remembers how terrifying Ash was in life still tries to understand her motives and this drives the story that however bad Ash was Danny still feels loyalty to her.
At the heart of The Damned is a story about family, what family means to Danny in the past and the present and what he will sacrifice for those he loves. Danny’s family was fragmenting and deteriorating from the moment he could understand that Ash was the monster no one ever wants to bring home from the hospital. In this it is slightly reminiscent of the earlier scenes in Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, where the parents can see that something isn’t right with their child. Although Danny’s family did try to find ways to help her, Ash never went out of her way to makes things easy on her family. Danny, their Mum and Dad were the playthings on hand trapped in Ash’s machinations.
The Damned is a haunting story, there are a lot of thrilling moments where you wonder what will happen next and will they even be survivable. It is an interesting twist on what happens after we die, but if you do not enjoy stories with a supernatural twist then this isn’t the book for you.
Buy The Damned by Andrew Pyper here.
Michelle Herbert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&v=qqtW2LRPtQY&feature=player_embedded
Originally published February 12, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
