The Toll is a Southern Gothic horror with an interesting premise but the plot drags and most of the characters are forgettable. I did not enjoy this book and I would not recommend it.

An effective and creepy horror novel. I thought it was longer than it needed to be and could have benefited from editing for length, but the Southern Gothic atmosphere is done well.

I love a good creepy southern story. Cherie Priest usually manages to surprise me with her endings. I really enjoyed this book. I have been telling everyone around here to check out this one because it's so different from everything I've read this year. I would recommend this one if you want a good book to tide you over until fall.

Thanks to Netgalley, Tor publishers and Cherie Priest. Despite my towering to-be-read pile, Cherie Priest is must-buy, must-read. She is one of my very favorite authors, and I think I have every book she’s ever written ! This may not be my favorite book written by her, but she still can never write a bad book, in my opinion.. As always, I love the way Priest writes. . A dialog with a southern flavor. Little twists are woven in so that they surprise but do not distract. Descriptions of the town and swamp also flow beautifully, never taking me out of the story. I also like that not everything is explained, but can still be understood by inference. If you like spooky, southern mystery /horror, this newest book is for you, and so should be this author. Reviews on Goodreads, Twitter, Amazon, FB, and my various book clubs.

The Toll by Cherie Priest is a disturbingly dark tale of the supernatural, tinged with gothic horror and eldritch elements. The story takes us to a tiny backwater town on the edge of the Okenfenokee Swamp in Georgia called Staywater, where every thirteen years or so, someone always goes missing. Their disappearance is usually preceded by reported sightings of a mysterious seventh bridge along the west-to-east route on State Road 177, though of course, only six bridges exist according to any map. Spooky!

On an unusually cool spring day, Titus and his wife Melanie are driving along 177 towards the state park where they will be spending their honeymoon, when they come across a one-lane rickety bridge leading into the swampy darkness. The next thing Titus knows, he is waking up on the side of the road, his SUV behind him is empty with its doors flung open, and Melanie is nowhere to be found. After calling for help and being told by the police that they’re doing all they can to find his wife, Titus accepts a ride to the nearby town of Staywater to find room and board. Filled with worries and unable to sleep, he heads to the dive bar down the street in order to drown his sorrows. There, the locals tell him not to worry, that most likely his wife simply lost her way in the swamp while trying to look for help. It happens often enough to the tourists and campers who come out this way, after all, and the police will certainly make sure Melanie comes home safe.

But in their hearts, the residents of Staywater know better. They all sensed the shift in reality when it happened, the first time in thirteen years. The swamp keeps what it takes, or rather, the thing that lives there does. The bridge has helped it claim another victim, and Titus will probably never see his wife again. No one knows this better than Claire and Daisy, two elderly cousins who have lived in Staywater their entire lives, watching it crumble and slowly die over the years. They thought they had put a stop to whatever was terrorizing the town, but apparently its connection to their world was too strong. And now, the cousins have even more to lose. The two of them have been raising a teenage boy named Cameron, who was left on their doorstep as a baby. No one knows where he came from, but Claire and Daisy knows that the thing in the swamp likes to take outsiders. All they want is for Cameron to grow up and one day escape Staywater, but until the problem in the swamp is taken care of once in for all, they know that things can never be safe.

To tell the truth, even though I thought The Toll was a decent read, it’s hard not to feel slightly let down by some of its incongruencies and flaws, especially in light of how much I adored Priest’s last novel The Family Plot. I can’t help but wonder though, if some of the constraints mentioned in the author’s acknowledgements—that she worked on the book in stages over a hectic period in her life or the fact that the manuscript had multiple editors—could have played into the novel’s overall sense of incompleteness and certain elements in it that felt out of place. For instance, despite its floundering status, Staywater is a town full of quirky idiosyncrasies that I would have loved to know more about: its resident ghosts, the old department store where the mannequins apparently come to life in the night, or the old blind dog in the tree. At the end of the day though, all these things felt like they were thrown willy-nilly into the story, with no intention to ever go back and explore them. Likewise, I felt the same way about the teases about Cameron’s origins, the real deal with the cousins, or what is truly going on with Jess. And those are just a few examples; scattered across this novel are a lot more of these poor orphaned threads that don’t seem to go anywhere or aren’t sufficiently explained. Like I said, it’s just disappointing.

The ending also felt a bit rushed, and really live up to the long and suspenseful build-up. To be sure, there’s a strong element of horror to The Toll, but at the same time I wouldn’t say it was particularly scary. Most of the story reads like a mystery, steadily paced while dropping delicious clues about the phantom bridge and what might have happened to Melanie. And I suppose that is also why the last section of the book felt so random when it switches tack and goes full tilt on horror and thrills, which made for some great reading. However, in terms of satisfaction, the ending might have missed its mark. Much of it felt like a copout, and as I said before, too many questions and conflicts were left unresolved.

Bottom line? I didn’t love this, but I didn’t hate it either. My experience with Cherie Priest’s work has been hit or miss in the past, but I still get that flutter of excitement in my chest whenever I find out she’s writing a new book. I went into The Toll with rather high expectations because of the story’s intriguing premise, but while it was well written and entertaining enough, in the end something felt missing. I guess I just expected a little more in terms of answers, cohesion, and horror.

Riveting supernatural novel with Lovecraftian overtones and alternate dimensions, THE TOLL is also suffused with deep character delineation and character evolution/devolution. Primed with surprising revelations and events throughout, the novel kept me glued to the page wondering at every moment "What could possibly happen next?"

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
A creepy story with a gothic feel.

Here's the thing. I think I have to be in the mood for this type of Southern Gothic horror. I prefer reading it in Fall when there is a chill in the air and the wind is gusty and eery. So, the first time I put the book down I figured it was because I hadn't expected needing a certain atmosphere to enjoy it -- my bad.

But, then I went into it again and was prepared for a more languid ride. I turned the A/C up and curled up on the couch for the subtle build up of tension. This didn't work. And while I still may partly blame myself (which is why I'm rounding up on Goodreads to 3 stars), some of it is the book not working for me.

Nowhere in the synopsis does it mention that this book doesn't just focus on the newly wed couple. In fact, the first chapter is about a nearby family unit and seems to bring focus onto the teenage boy. This would be fine, I'd get over it, but the differences between the two POVs are jarring to me. I also found the one about the teen to be plain boring. There is a lot of atmospheric-writing here, so perhaps if that was my jam I'd be more into it.
I can't say I truly enjoyed the newly-wed chapters either. In fact, the couple annoyed the heck out of me. Instead of being concerned about what was happening to them, I kept wondering why they were even together.

I'm a reader who 9 times out of 10 needs to like the characters I'm reading about, or find at least one aspect about them interesting. Not liking these characters just added to how slow this book felt.

If you like cryptic, slower-paced, and the nagging feeling that something isn't right in your books then perhaps you should give this one a try -- you might like it more than I.

*I received an e-arc from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This book truly had an identity crisis over whether it wanted to be a supernatural or sci-fi "suspense thriller". The beginning had some promise with it setting up the suspense and mystery of the story, but unfortunately did a poor job in its delivery as the story progressed. Ultimately, the book had too many plot-holes that were never addressed and had an ending that not only wasn't resolved but felt like it was slapped together at the last minute. If handled properly, I think the book would've told a more cohesive and arresting story but these shortcomings failed in delivering an actual thriller.

The Toll begins in Staywater, Georgia in the garden of Daisy Spratford and her cousin Claire at a house named Hazelhurst. They are strange old birds. Daisy with her gardening spade intermittently stabbing insects or maybe voles or mice along with the garden soil. Claire with her unceasing knitting. Daisy and Claire are godmothers to Cameron Spratford, a bored seventeen year old who is used to the complexities and strangeness of his godmothers. We then jump to an unhappy couple on a swamp seeing honeymoon, when something strange occurs and the wife disappears.

I struggled a lot with The Toll to start with. I will admit to a wandering mind when it comes to the way books are written. I don't enjoy dual plotted novels and for quite a while, it almost felt like two separate books were being written — that of Staywater's most peculiar residents and that of bewildered husband Titus. While the feel of the novel was certainly that of a spooky Southern gothic, I didn't care enough about the characters or the setting to really immerse myself in the story. The writing was interesting enough but I felt there were so many undeveloped ideas that it became encumbered with details.

I stuck it out and I'm so glad I did. I LOVED the last quarter of The Toll. I don't know how I could be so "meh" about the beginning and yet have the ending make me want to read it again. Daisy and Claire really got their time to shine and shine they did! They reminded me in a weird way of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible in Neil Gaiman's Coraline and the way they shed their skin to become the Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. The atmosphere was cranked up until you could practically feel the humid, swamp air on your face and sense the stare of something otherworldly on your back. Cherie Priest has a lovely writing style and if the ending is any indication, she is certainly capable of crafting a strong, evocative story. I'm just sad to say that I was underwhelmed by the beginning.

I was first intrigued by this novel's premise, the idea of a dark secret hidden in the swamp. Growing up in northern Europe, I am horrible unfamiliar with American swamps so they always sound mystical to me. They also sound like a place where I could absolutely not thrive. So of course I had to explore this Southern Gothic horror novel. Thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Most of my focus when it comes to studying or just reading literature has been on English literature, as in books written in the United Kingdom. As such, Southern Gothic is really unfamiliar to me. Doing some research into it, I discovered that many of the aspects I enjoyed about The Toll were elements of the Southern Gothic genre. The presence of horrific thoughts, grotesque characters and a deep sense of alienation, as well as, of course, a dark sense of humour. The genre looks at the dark tragedy behind the idyllic pastoral ideal, as well as the Freudian idea of the repressed. It is a very potent genre, one that has given us authors like Edgar Allan Poe, as well as Tennessee Williams.

The Toll starts with Cameron, observing his two god-mothers gardening. They're fascinating little women, and he is a very bored teenager. The plot of The Toll starts with Titus and Melanie Bell, fresh off their wedding, heading into the Okefenokee Swamp. Their bickering is just on the wrong side of constant, with some real angry undertones. They drive up to a suspicious bridge and before he knows it, Titus wakes up outside his car, having lost both time and his new wife. The rest of the novel takes place over the following few days as Titus encounters various inhabitants of Staywater in the search of his wife. The storylines of both Cameron and Titus are told alongside each other, but only entwine towards the ends. I would have loved to see more of the swamp, although the novel only truly moved there towards the end of the book. Overall, The Toll is an atmospheric tale that perhaps could have dug a little bit deeper.

I hadn't read anything by Cherie Priest before, although The Family Plot is on my list. The Toll is an interesting story but there is a lot going on with it. In general, the characterization is pretty on point. Cameron sounds like a seventeen year old boy, which means that at times he is very self-involved and annoying. His godmothers are lovely old women who are definitely hiding things. At times their sassiness is a little bit too much feeling more contrived than realistic, but I liked them anyway. Titus is a little harder to suss out as he is not really likable. At times the plot feels rushed, with not as much time spent on exploring motivations as just having them go through the steps. SOme really interesting ideas were underdeveloped, which was a shame. Sometimes The Toll really grabbed my attention and at other times I had to focus to stay interested. I wanted to like the novel more than I did, in the end, but there were some undeniably strong moments in this novel.

The Toll excels when it focuses on its folklore elements and lets the swamp do its work. The other elements of Priest's novel don't always work, but it does make for an interesting read. I'd recommend it to those wanting to dive into the Southern Gothic genre.

I love southern gothic with a dash of horror and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Cherie Priest so when I came across The Toll, I was curious. I ended up being disappointed. Maybe this book never stood a chance because I read it in the midst of an extreme book hangover from finishing Spin the Dawn but here we are.

For one, there are too many different POVs for my liking. Sometimes many POVs work, especially when distinguished. They were not distinguished in this case so the transitions were always sudden and it took me a bit to figure out who I was following. Honestly, it wasn’t until I hit the 33% mark that I was actually able to differentiate the names and the voices of the characters. So for about 100 pages, I was basically lost and confused.

The pacing was too slow for my tastes as well. The atmosphere is deliciously creeptastic but… there is literally nothing else going on. Titus’ wife goes missing and the town is sort of weird and there are weird things happening but only the first of those things is a plot point. There is an increasing tension propelling the plot forward but the book is fairly tame. I was not creeped out or concerned.

I also did not connect to any of the characters. Maybe except the old ladies who hate everybody because that’s a big mood. I don’t know. 336 pages is a lot to read when you don’t feel connected to anyone or that invested in the plot or really in anything at all.

So why did I keep reading? Maybe I just have issues and don’t like DNFing but honestly, the one good thing I can say for this book is that Cherie Priest is undoubtedly a terrific writer. This seems to contradict all of my issues with the book but also, I don’t know what else to say. Something kept me just invested enough to keep turning the pages and I think that for all these book’s faults, Priest is good at her craft.

The Toll is not the worst book I’ve read this year (although I cannot actually think what the worst book I’ve read is.) I think it just needed a lot more work to keep me invested. I think characters needed to be developed, voices distinguished and the plot needed to become more exciting. People who like slower books with that hint of horror sort of lurking in the background will genuinely enjoy this book. Simply put, I was the wrong reader for The Toll and all my love for southern gothic books cannot make up for that.

I enjoyed this one a lot. It's not a horror novel that's going to terrify you, I don't think, but it's a good creepy, very atmospheric story. I love the idea of a monster in the Okefenokee Swamp! That's just good fun, and I also love the humor that the older ladies provide throughout the novel. Overall, very nicely done and well worth the read.



Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

"You gotta pay the Troll Toll...If You Wanna Get Into That Boy soul,
You gotta pay the Troll Toll, To get in!"

Titus and Melanie are on the way to the swamp for their honeymoon. Minutes later, Titus wakes up in the middle of the road, with Melanie nowhere in sight.

Cameron is a 17 year old living with his ancient godmothers in the weird town where ghost and the very few townspeople intermingle.

The Toll is a weird, weird, Southern Gothic Horror novel with all kinds of weird elements that wrap up into a strange tale. I liked it. It was just the right kind of weird. The kind of weird I enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Cherie Priest has done Southern gothic before, but this is just deliciously weird.

The town is dying. Partially, it's just a dying town. Partially, most of its people have been eaten, over the centuries. Every 13 years, the toll must be paid...except the last time, two sassy cousins killed the Big Bad.

And now it's back. Dead, but back. The cousins' foundling is in danger, and unwanted attention is coming to the town as a result of the latest toll, some white lady from away--news shows up for that.

This is an excellent horror novel with a few hard-hitting moments, many of which belong to the brave, resourceful cousin spinsters. But that's not all that's happening here. There's a storefront window where the mannequins rearrange and recostume themselves when no one's looking. Dead Karl hangs out at the local dive bar. And the upstairs bedroom at the cousins' old house is used for storage...of an otherworldly nature. The central story is excellent, but it's the throwaway details that push this over the edge. This must be on your summer list.

3.5 rounded up.

The Toll is a creepy jaunt into the swamplands of the deep south.

Titus and his new wife Melanie are heading into Okefenokee swamp for a canoe trip while on their honeymoon. Just before they enter, they come across an ancient, narrow, single lane bridge. The next thing Titus knows, he is waking up outside the car, in the middle of nowhere, and Melanie is missing. He can't even see the bridge which was his last memory before waking up. When he calls the police to help find her, they tell him there is no such bridge on that route.

The locals have grown used to people disappearing into the swamp - especially Clair and Daisy - it seems to happen regularly...almost like clockwork They do what they can to protect their godson Cameron, but when he goes into the swamp, they have to pull out all the stops to try and get him back out.

Priest does an excellent job of creating the right mood for this book. Dark, oppressive, and creepy, you can almost feel the mood the way a person will feel the atmosphere before a thunderstorm.

One thing that didn't really work for me, was the concept of anybody choosing to honeymoon in a swamp - for any reason. This sort of got the story started on the wrong foot for me, and it took me a while to get past it. Once I was able to get over that initial hiccup, and immerse myself in the tale, the rest of the story was really quite good. If Titus and Melanie had entered the swamplands for any other reason than a honeymoon this story would have easily been at least a 4-star read for me.

Overall, a good, solid horror story with an almost tangible mood to it.

Happy Reading,
Christine

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2019/07/15/the-toll-by-cherie-priest/
The Toll is a tale of the supernatural full of gothic type goodness set in a swamp where more than alligators live. This is a story of ghosts and hungry creatures waiting in the dark. To be upfront about it – this didn’t scare me, which I think I was expecting after being chilled to the bone by The Family Plot, but, nonetheless it was a good read with an intriguing mystery at its core.

We start the story with an introduction to Titus and his wife Davinia. They’re on their way to honeymoon on the Okenfenokee Swamp – and they’re arguing, chiefly about who had the big idea to go canoeing on a swamp in the first place, it certainly doesn’t sound romantic, then they come across a single lane bridge that looks a little bit menacing. They’re reluctant to cross to say the least. Visibility is poor and the aspect is ominous but eventually they set off, with misgivings. Unfortunately their gut reactions, that were trying to get them to turn back and run, were only too right. Titus wakes up in the middle of the road, the car stands vacant and his wife is missing. Eventually he calls the police who, when they arrive, are adamant that there is no seventh bridge and seem to be taking Titus and his tale with a pinch of salt. Although there is a good degree of eye avoidance suggesting that Titus and his disappearing bridge are already a known element.

So, welcome to Staywater, a place where people quite often become trapped. They come for a holiday and stay for life – although it’s more out of necessity than love of the place. This is a place where people are haunted by memories, by missing people and by the strange occurences that everyone just ignores. Staywater is a dying place. The number of residents has been in decline for years – of course persistent floods and whispers of a serial killer could explain some of the ways in which the population have been decimated but deep down everyone knows that something is fundamentally wrong in this place.

In terms of the characters. Titus is the main character, he’s joined by a number of the residents, the local barkeep, a young man barely grown into his own moustache called Cameron and his aunts, Claire and Daisy. Claire and Daisy are two old spinsters living out on the edge of the swamp. Everyone fears them, even the ‘thing’ that can’t be named. They have their own brand of magic and I confess that they were my favourite element to the story. One thing about Cherie Priest. She has a wonderful way of drawing a character and making them appear quite easily in your mind’s eye. Alright, she doesn’t really try to avoid any tropes here but there is a lovely, almost tongue-in-cheek style that makes the familiarity seem fresh.

In terms of criticisms. It’s difficult to pin down why The Toll didn’t completely blow me away. There are so many elements to this story that are without doubt my cup of tea but there’s a vague feeling of things being incomplete. I want to know more. More about Cameron, about the two cunning aunts and more about Staywater. I think in some respects this almost feels like a short story somehow and yet at over 300 pages that really isn’t the case although it does testify to the quickness of both the read and the pacing. I can’t put my finger on anything specific to be honest. I wouldn’t say this was a scary read and perhaps that was something that I felt the lack of – maybe because I went into the read expecting to be given a serious case of the heebie jeebies. I loved the gothic feel and the whole mystery element but I think in a nutshell this lacked that certain something that would have really given me the chills.

On the whole though, well written and enjoyable and certainly a place that I would be curious to read more about.

I received a copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I initially found Priest because of her Clockwork Century series, and I've read pretty much everything else by her since that I could get ahold of and I've never had cause to regret it, least of all with this latest book.

The Toll is an amazing story, it practically filled out the copyright and trademark on the word "atmospheric." Priest is such a strong, stylistic writer, I sometimes felt compelled to reread passages because they were just so right, and they just worked so well. The story was also the exact right amount of horrifying and creepy.

Other things that I loved were the old ladies' granny magic, especially the knitting magic - and really, everything else about the old ladies - and the fact that Cameron likes to read romance novels.

All in all, this book pulled me out of my reading slump, pulled up my grades, and cleared my skin.

Best enjoyed on a hot, humid day with a cool glass of iced tea and a sense of mystery and a lot of patience.

Titus and Melanie Bell are on their way to their honeymoon in the Okefenokee swamp when they reach a strange bridge that is entirely out of place. In trying to cross the bride, something strange occurs and Titus wakes up in the middle of the road and there is no sign of his new bride. With no recollection of what happened beyond the strange trip over the bridge, Titus must stay in the nearby and strange town of Staywater while the local police try to piece together what might have happened to his wife. However, Titus wants to figure out the strange occurrences that have taken his wife from him as well, and the residents of Staywater know more than what they are telling him.

Although the story was alright, there were some spots that were so slow that I really considered DNFing it, but I was determined to know the answer to all the mysteries. The town of Staywater itself was a neatly situated intersection of the supernatural, paranormal, and forgotten, dying backwater town. The characters were interesting and had depth, especially the witchy cousins. There were so many main characters and stories going on at once, though, that at times it was enticing and others it was way too much and it felt like the wrong stories were being focused on. Although I was glad I stuck around to the end and the ‘final showdown,’ it still felt sort of lackluster and unsatisfying to me.

Not everything about it was unreadable, though. The best part of the book were the parts with the cousins. I really wanted more of them. Their banter was great, their history was pretty cool, and they reminded me of the mythological Fates from Greece. The town was also very cool, especially the abandoned places and the part of the story regarding the ‘dollhouse’. I felt more could have been done with it. The majority of the other main characters weren’t very likeable and with the exception of Dave, whom I grew to like a lot more as the story progressed. Cameron was mostly a whiney teenager, though I did enjoy his evolution near the end. Titus kind of sucked and I definitely didn’t get the feeling he liked his new wife, let alone cared if she showed back up. It seemed like it was more of an obligation than anything else. I was really hoping he would show more depth and feeling, but by the end I just kind of hoped he would get taken by whatever was controlling the bridge.

Ultimately, the real stars of this book are Staywater, Daisy, and Claire. The rest is just background noise.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley and Macmillan TOR/Forge in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I knew the minute I saw that Cherie Priest was having another southern gothic horror novel come out, that I had to read it. And just like with Four and Twenty Blackbirds (the start of her Eden Moore series), I absolutely loved The Toll. I love the way Priest is able to convey such a creeping sinister vibe in her horror novels, it’s exactly the kind of aesthetic that I can’t get enough of! That might not be for everyone, but it most certainly is the kind of disturbing that keeps me reading!

The Toll takes place in and around the small, dying town of Staywater right outside the Okefenokee Swamp. Staywater doesn’t have many long term residents, or accommodations; it’s a one bar, one bed and breakfast type of town. When a young couple, Titus and Melanie Bell, are driving through on State Road 177 to get to the Okefenokee Swamp and get stopped at an old and decrepit one-way bridge, something strange happens. And when the husband wakes up, his wife is nowhere to be found and the bridge has disappeared. What follows is equal parts mystery, horror and downright strange as Titus begins to realize that there’s something a lot more sinister going on in Staywater and on State Road 177.

There are many different characters that feature in this story, most are residents of Staywater, but there is also Titus and his wife, and the very town of Staywater itself becomes a sort of character throughout the story. I love the way Cherie Priest uses the setting of her horror stories to really influence the creepy vibe and let the location speak for itself. Growing up in the south, I’ve seen firsthand how sometimes certain places here can carry their own distinct “feel,” and sometimes, more often than not, that influences the spookiness that many places in the south are famous for.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story, and the secrets about them that we find out as the story goes on, but most of all I just really enjoy the way Priest tells her horror stories. If you are into creepy, slow burn southern gothic stories, definitely check The Toll out! And also go look for her Eden Moore series, because that’s just as good!