The Toll by Cherie Priest
Newlyweds Titus and Davina Bell are traveling along the State Highway headed for a camping honeymoon in the Okefenokee swamp. They come across a rickety one-lane bridge which they take as a shortcut to their destination. This is where everything starts to go all wrong in the gothic tale The Toll by Cherie Priest.
Titus wakes to find himself lying in the middle of the road next to his still idling car. Davina is nowhere in sight. The sheriff and a tow truck show up but Davina still can't be found. Titus decides to stay in a nearby town while they continue to search for his wife. The one-horse town is home to a bar, a motel and little else save for the strange inhabitants who call it home. Among these are a pair of old ladies and the young boy they care for. The ladies are an especially eccentric pair of sisters who are rumored to be witches and are wise in the ways of the swamp.
The tension in the story comes more from the moody atmosphere than any actual action. An attractive waitress and her bartender boyfriend are among the other interesting characters. They and the sisters are the best parts of the book. The problem with the book is the amount of time spent with Titus. Titus is a thoroughly unenjoyable and unsympathetic character. He appears to be intentionally written that way however it doesn't make spending time with him any easier.
T. Ryder Smith does a good job with the narration. His tone fits the southern setting and the accents feel of the time and place. He does a particularly good job with the elderly sisters who are my favorite characters in the book. This is an interesting tale of gothic suspense which would rate much higher if not for the character of Titus and the amount of time spent with him.
The Toll will appeal to fans of gothic suspense and light horror. The audio version is very well done.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.
Listen to a sample:
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