Review | The Toll by Cherie Priest (ARC)

A couple on their way to a honeymoon in a cabin by the swamps find themselves lost. They reach a bridge; old, covered by trees, with no end in sight. Deciding to go through, the man then wakes up in the middle of the road, his memory gone and his wife missing. There is no sign of a bridge. As he is brought to the nearby town of Staywater, he realises that everyone seems to be hiding a secret. Can he find his wife before it’s too late?

He was staring ahead, trying to see past the moss, the shadows, the looming shrubbery and the interlaced canopy of the trees. No matter how hard he squinted, he couldn’t tell what awaited over there. 

First of all, I love the cover. What a creepy, inviting image! I honestly think people shouldn’t underestimate the power of a great book cover – a perfectly chosen one matches the content of the book and makes you feel the way you’re meant to.

The book opens with a young man and two old ladies who are obviously family. While they give him pearls of wisdom, the young man, Cam, feels more suffocated than grateful. He leaves to go into the nearby town of Staywater, where everything is empty and lifeless. He meets other characters and we see that everyone seems to be in a similar state of desolate. Meanwhile, a bickering couple on their way to a honeymoon encounters problems as they approach a bridge. When the man, Titus, wakes up and finds his wife, Davina, missing, it marks the moment his path will cross with the people in the town.

The characters are disappointingly thin. They feel like stock characters – lonely young man, pretty waitress, bland sheriff, crazy old lady – everyone behaved the exact way I expected them to throughout the book. Even the reveal of a character’s secret is already hinted from the beginning so there isn’t much of a surprise. There are also parts which felt repetitive – like the husband’s search for his missing wife which goes round and round, and a young man’s crush on an older woman. The phrase ‘True Love’ kept being thrown around to show a character’s thought process which feels like a shortcut to actual character development.

What I liked though is the atmospheric setting of a broken down town surrounded by swamps. The details in the descriptions made me feel as if I was there. Southern gothic horror only works when the setting is right and this book has got it down. There is the casual mention of ghosts and spells which makes the place feel lived-in, an entirely different world from outsiders. The history surrounding the bridge and the town’s past are interesting. I thought the dialogue is great and kept my interest. The ending is bleak but real. I just wish the actual story is built better.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Toll is out on 9 July.

About the author: Cherie Priest

Photo by Matthias Oberholzer