Empty Smiles
The Small Spaces series, Book 4
Katherine Arden
G. P. Putnam's Sons
Fiction, MG Horror
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Last autumn, Ollie, Brian, and Coco first encountered the terrifying entity known as the smiling man, devious player of games and captor of the unwitting, on a school field trip to a farm near their small Vermont town. In winter, they had their second encounter at an empty mountain lodge. Three months ago, in spring, the smiling man made yet another play for the children... and, this time, Ollie struck a terrible bargain to save the lives of her father and her friends. Now, nobody but Brian, Coco, and Brian's friend and fellow survivor Phil remember anything about that terrible time on the island in Lake Champlain, where they faced ghosts and the legendary lake monster Champ itself. Even Ollie's dad thinks she drowned in a "boating accident", and doesn't recall how she leapt into the waters to free them all. But part of Ollie's bargain was that her friends would get one chance to win her freedom. Though they've watched and waited, there has been no sign of the smiling man - until, one hot August day at the local swimming hole, a terrified boy stumbles up the creek babbling words that seem like utter nonsense to everyone but the three kids. They know just what this means: the next game has begun. Only they don't understand the rules or the cryptic clues about missing keys, and time is already against them.
In the clutches of the smiling man, Ollie finds herself aboard a train that periodically transforms into a traveling carnival - but, as with all things related to the evil entity, the carnival is not at all what it appears. People have a way of disappearing at this carnival, and sinister beings stalk the midway after sundown. The smiling man keeps trying to convince her that her friends have given up on her, that there is no way out, but she cannot let herself believe that... nor can she sit idly by waiting to be rescued. The more she investigates, the more she realizes just how much trouble she and her friends are in, how much darker and more terrible this fourth and final "game" with the smiling man will be. This time, if Ollie and her friends lose, it's not just her own life that'll be forfeit: he'll take her friends, their families, their entire town, and maybe more.
REVIEW: The fourth and final volume (for now) in the deliciously creepy Small Spaces quartet pits the original trio of kids (and Phil, a relative newcomer to the group who was pulled into their circle during the events on Lake Champlain in the previous installment) against the smiling man and his minions in one last grand and terrifying game in a story that draws inspiration from Ray Bradbury's classic Something Wicked This Way Comes and elements of the cult-classic horror film (that's very much not a children's movie) Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Things start at the tail end of August, where the three remaining kids have become further withdrawn, further alarming parents who already were growing concerned with their children's odd behavior. Coco's mother and Ollie's father have no recollection of the supernatural aspects of their lake disaster in spring, only "remembering" that Ollie drowned after their tour boat "sank", even though Ollie's dad still has the scar from the venomous sea monster bite that nearly killed him. All they know is that their once happy and outgoing offspring are acting like they're terrified of something and won't tell them... but people who are told about the smiling man don't tend to fare well, and all too often the smiling man has ways of manipulating memories. Still, Coco grows desperate enough to consider breaking their unofficial vow of silence on the matter; things have gone too far, and maybe the grown-ups can help somehow. Brian still advocates secrecy, terrified of losing his own family, while Phil still feels a bit like a third wheel in their group, the "lesser Ollie". When the smiling man sends his message that the new game is afoot, it comes via a boy who was reported missing from a carnival at a nearby town - a boy half-insane from what he's been through. The kids are both relieved and frightened by his words, even as they realize that, yet again, they're in way over their heads in a game they do not understand and with rules that always seem to favor the monster.
Ollie, meanwhile, must deal with the consequences of her bargain on the island, and days spent in the company of the smiling man. He can be disarmingly charming and almost normal, enough that she sometimes almost forgets how empty and amoral he is inside, how devious his mind is, and how often he seems to be playing one game but is actually playing another altogether. No passive, swooning girl in distress, she sets out to find her own way out and solve the riddle of the three keys that will let her escape the monster's clutches. This time, instead of stalking scarecrows, ghostly minions, or monstrous serpents, she faces grotesque clowns whose very touch has horrible consequences. She also faces the smiling man's persistent gaslighting and manipulations, making her question her own convictions, memories, and reality itself.
As fitting for a finale, the stakes are higher and more personal, the challenges more daunting, and the climax more tense. Given the darker tones of the series as a whole, and how much trauma and lasting consequences were woven into the whole story - they all still have nightmares going back to their first encounter with the smiling man -, I thought some elements of the wrap-up felt a bit clean and neat, but it's a decent enough place to leave things (and there's just a hairline crack in the door in case Arden ever wants to revisit).
You Might Also Enjoy:
Small Spaces (Katherine Arden) - My Review
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury) - My Review
Full Tilt (Neal Shusterman) - My Review
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