DARQUE HILL SYNOPSIS

THE HOUSE ON DARQUE HILL is a novel with mixed and foreboding genres: Gothic, Existential, and Mystery. It’s about a macabre and enigmatic story that essentially features only one principal, Leid Kamu, yet he thinks something or someone is tracking him throughout this suspenseful narrative. Imagine the quasi-darkness that marks the entirety of a momentous journey on a desolate road and landscape. And you’re locked in a vehicle you swear is a hearse and you can’t open the door or the window. This is what happens to Leid Kamu. All that he knows is that he’s being driven to a name of a place called Darque Hill, which he knows nothing about, much less why he’s going there. He’s groggy and thinks he had been in a deep sleep and can’t wake up. Puzzled by the phantom figure across from him, Leid is worried about the rough road and curves and how dangerous the driver is. Sensing imminent danger, when, for the first time, Leid speaks, he complains to the stranger and orders him to slow down. But the phantom figure continues driving fast and reckless. He also talks to Leid telepathically, and always in a derogatory manner. 

At times, Leid Kamu’s crisis appears more ludicrous than tragic; at other times he is beset by the most puzzling situation he has ever faced in his life or assumes he has ever faced since his past seems to be erased. He wonders if he was caught in an altered state of consciousness. Perhaps he was having a nightmare. Another question he poses is whether he was affected by the trauma of an accident, in which case he may or may not recover his lost memories? One thing Leid is certain about, however––he senses his life may be stuck in a hypnagogic state, but he can’t break its mesmerizing grip on his senses. The obscure destination and the mansion he travels to possibly hold the key.

Because Leid can’t remember anything about his past, much less the present or the future, he can’t retrieve any memories that might give him a clue to the mysterious and alarming situation he’s in, and who the driver is. Still, Leid has the feeling he has seen this stranger before and thinks the driver is not human after all. Rather, it’s a ghoul. Before long, a large, brooding house shows up in the distance. Leid figures that’s where the rough road will end. Watching the moon slip in and out of clouds, it appears a storm is coming. Feeling terrified, helpless, and unable to decipher anything about his past, the journey only gets worse as the miles pass. At times, he regains consciousness but then seems to pass out. When, at last, the driver misses a turn, and the vehicle crashes in a ravine, Leid finds himself standing outside for the first time, and he finally realizes he was inside a hearse all along. In places, the situation he faces is assiduously hostile. Leid's predicament is further exacerbated by the fact he senses there is someone or something shadowing him throughout the inscrutable gauntlet he is forced to walk or run. Climbing out of the ravine, he has an idea where the house is, but now he must travel on foot. He’s not sure if it’s an animal or the stranger that’s after him, but there is something in the fog and darkness traveling with him. Ahead, he sees a phalanx of dead trees and a gathering fog. Once through that thicket, the house is closer, but higher him. He will have to climb to get there. Then comes the cemetery laid out below the bluff. The fog is thicker, and he has to go that way to get to the bluff. Whatever followed Leid to that point now communicate with him, and he thinks it sounds like a wolf baying. The thought comes to him the high pitched sound he hears is that of a werewolf. At that point, Leid is in a state panic. Consequently, he runs toward the bluff and hears heavy footsteps following him. In effect, he senses he is running to save his life.

Eventually, Leid finds a way to scale the steep incline and is face to face with the horror of the mansion that seems to watch him. He doesn’t want to go inside now, but a storm is about to break loose, and the high pitched sound is closer. Leid realizes, once again, he has no other choice, and he must seek refuge in the house. When he gets inside, only then does he discover there is a predator in the house, and he’s the prey. The chase begins and whatever pursues him doesn’t care if it makes sounds and noises with its mouth. It just wants Leid to know he is trapped. and his life is in mortal danger. Without a clue how he got into his predicament, much less why he is targeted by some horrid creature, Leid Kamu finally realizes he is alienated from everything, and most especially with himself. The dour setting in this story is as cryptic as it is indifferent to Leid's concerns and needs. He plots to escape from the house but ends up trapped in a room with his adversary. About the only thing Leid gleans from the weird circumstances is that he was transported against his will to the House on Darque Hill. The destination also turns out to be a prophetic menace, for Leid finally realizes why he had to come here and confront the ghoul, his nemesis, and he had no choice, besides. To those who will someday read this story, the advice is not to read the novel alone or at night. It’s that creepy, disturbing, and sinister.


<<<approx. 300 pages>>>