Book Review: Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett

By Carlotta G. Holton

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, unemployment and homelessness ravaged the social and economic landscape. Many traveled westward across America's heartland to find work at migrant camps. Within this vagabond lifestyle, legends were born. Perhaps the most chilling among these is that of “Mr. Shivers” – death personified. He's been around since Father Time, the workers used to say, and no jail cell can hold him. “He has a train made of night that rides straight to hell,” writes Bennett. And he hurts people.

In this well-written story, Bennett effectively depicts the landscape of the Great Dustbowl of weary wanderers, reminiscent of Steinbeck. He draws his inspiration from this tragic era in which hopelessness was as palpable as the dry red earth. The promising tale depicts the journey of Marcus Connelly, a young father from Tennessee, who endlessly seeks Shivers to exact revenge for his murdered daughter. “Someone has to put this world right,” Connelly decides. Amidst the sound of wailing trains, hobo camps and cheap carnivals he encounters numerous failures as Shivers manages to elude him.

Along the way, Connelly meets three quasi-religious characters who join him in his quest to find and kill Shivers. There is irony in one of these men, Pike, who seeks revenge though he is a former preacher. He asserts that there must be revenge for “those he has taken from us and for those he's taken from others. It will end in blood.”

Despite the presence of these characters, it is Connelly who is the most developed and who transforms. He effectively propels the story forward while experiencing his own metamorphosis as he determines how far he will go to attain revenge.

Tension builds as Connelly nears his prey. There is no ray of sunshine in this story. Omens abound. When the teenaged psychic at the carnival predicts the end before a new beginning, the theme becomes apocalyptic. Rebirth – be it of an individual or a nation – demands a death.

Mr. Shivers is a fast-reading, compelling story that depicts not only the soul searching of men during a devastating time, but also the individual who must suffer in order to move forward. The book's darkness is at times uncomfortable, but it is very worth the read.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact, Touching The Dead and Vampire Resurrection, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.