Coal Gets in Your Veins is a contemporary urban fantasy with cosmic horror overtones, from one of my favourite indie authors, Cat Rector. This time, she is taking on the theme of generational trauma, as experienced by a small Canadian ex-coalmining community. The families of the town have kept their secrets and lies to themselves for decades, ignoring how their lives have been shaped by trauma that happened long ago.
Rector incorporates true stories of abuse, gender dysphoria, alcoholism and much more that she has collected from members of her own community. There are a lot of trigger warnings that readers should be aware of if they are not prepared to read about the gritty secrets hidden in a small town. Everyone knows each other and often turns a blind eye to reality. At first, I didn’t see how these stories tied in to the narrative arc of Laurel and Spencer, since their incorporation appeared a little disjointed. However, I appreciated their inclusion, but at the end of the novel, they were pulled in, and the whole concept made a lot more sense to me.
In Rector’s small town of Penny Harbour, in addition to generational trauma and the horrors people are driven to, there are also paranormal horrors hiding, including a vampire who is running from his own unbearable grief, and sentient coal dust which insidiously makes its way inside everyone living there via the water and the air. Penny Harbour is presented to the reader like a main character in its own right, with labelled sections in most chapters. Something is very rotten at the heart of Penny Harbour.
The other main characters are Spencer, the previously mentioned queer vampire and a woman named Laurel who is trapped in an abusive relationship. She eventually has a choice to make between her monstrous husband and the blood-drinking monster she falls in love with:
“But I needed to protect myself too. Which fucking blew, because it wasn’t the literal bloodthirsty man down the road I was afraid of. It was the one asleep in the bedroom.”
Spencer and Laurel’s love story is endearing and highly enjoyable for the irony of the situation. Spencer’s chapters are delivered in a light, conversational tone as he recounts his hunger pangs and the inconvenience of ruining one’s expensive clothing with blood stains. His obsession with his wardrobe, collecting cassette tapes and books distract from the fact that he is literally a murderous monster. He drives to another town in order to kill and drink from his victims in order to avoid accidentally killing anyone Laurel knows and loves.
Laurel’s inner monologue is more cautious, tenser than the other points of view. She is used to walking on eggshells to protect herself. Both of these characters develop through the novel due to their influence on each other. Rector’s character work is extremely powerful in this novel, as always.
Laurel’s lifelong friends, new Mum and psychology student Emma and bisexual Mary-Jo are wonderful side characters with so much depth and layers. They will do anything for Laurel and have been trying to get her to leave her monstrous husband for years. When they learn the guy they persuaded her to have an affair with is an actual monster, their reactions are priceless. However, they soon come to realise that there are way worse things around than someone who adores their friend and will do anything in his power to protect her. I enjoyed the frequent nods to popular culture peppered throughout the novel, including one of Laurel’s friends asking Spencer if he sparkled, on discovering his true nature.
The final standoff in the story is a total change of pace from a slow-burning romance in the first half of the book to a violent battle, and it had me on the edge of my seat. Coal Gets in Your Veins is a real page-turner that had me sucked in right from the beginning!
