All That Is Common To Man, by Hiram Foster
The Book
Synopsis:
Sins don't stay hidden forever. Still reeling after his wife's suicide, Nathan Stevens' life feels as empty as his house. Left with only his grief and a growing stack of funeral expenses, he winds up at her childhood front door - and the secrets hidden within the vast halls of Thurman Manor. It’s not long before he suspects there’s more beneath the surface, and Nathan will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. Even if that means confronting forces that neither he, nor his late wife’s family, have any understanding of.
Before it’s over, Nathan will challenge what he thinks he knows about his wife, her past, and the dark history surrounding Thurman Manor.
The chilling debut novel from Hiram Foster.
My Review (3.75 out of 5 )
All That Is Common To Man is an interesting horror thriller, and it's the debut novel from Hiram Foster. We are going to be following Nathan, a husband experiencing grief after the recent suicide of his wife; and who due to the necessity of help to cover the funeral expenses will be forced to enter into contact with his wife's family, a part of her life that was secret until now.
Nathan thought they were happy, so receiving this kind of news hurts and shocks him, as her life with her wife was good. As funeral expenses are more than he can afford, he contacts his wife's family, a part of her life that she always kept secret; and they invite him to pass some days in Thurman Manor while they organize the funeral. What he didn't expect is all the things hidden in the Manor.
As it happens in several horror novels, the investigation of the past and what in reality happened with Nathan's wife will take him to discover some secrets of the inhabitants of the Manor; showing how sometimes the worst monsters are human.
Thurman family takes most of the time the spotlight, showing that keeping some secrets implies a high cost. Some of them are more remarkable than others, especially because the mother goes in the shadows most of the time; certainly, the brothers catch our attention during most of the time.
While there are more horror elements of human nature, there's still a certain component of cosmic horror in the own Manor, something that gets hinted at by the behaviour of the service, and that our main character will be able to experience in his own flesh.
The pacing is quite decent, but I feel it drags too much at the start, being the first introductory chapter too long in my opinion; especially when most of the narrative weight falls in the second half of the book. Still, once we get to Thurman Manor, the book is quite hooking.
If you like horror with a certain investigative component, All That Is Common to Man is a good title for you. Thriller horror tends to always hit the nail for me, and in this case, it certainly did.
