Weed

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Pub Date 2 Feb 2021 | Archive Date 12 Dec 2020

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Description

Fortescue Hall - the palatial stately home of Lady Cynthia Fortescue and the hub of her global business empire. The Hall is a pressure cooker, simmering with the secret resentments of abused staff and her rival sons, Jacob and Herbert.

On her birthday, Jacob and Herbert vie for their mother’s favour with lavish gifts, one of which is a rare and unusual seedling. Pincher, Her Ladyship’s cannabis-cultivating head gardener, is fascinated by the new plant but it goes missing before he can inspect it more closely. Then people begin disappearing.

It soon becomes clear that Fortescue Hall is infected with a genetically enhanced parasitic organism – a species of plant which uses humans as hosts and food.

As the Hall is overtaken by sentient growth, the Fortescue's and their staff find themselves in a fight not only for their lives but for the future of the world. Could it be that mild-mannered Pincher is the only one who can save them all?

Fortescue Hall - the palatial stately home of Lady Cynthia Fortescue and the hub of her global business empire. The Hall is a pressure cooker, simmering with the secret resentments of abused staff...


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ISBN 9781910283288
PRICE US$3.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 17 members


Featured Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. What starts out as a Downton Abbey-esque character drama, albeit dripping with sarcasm, resentment and very dark humour, turns by the midway point into a hilarious, brutal and gore-soaked body horror novel, with some - ahem - memorable demises. Throw a little social commentary into the mix, along with Mr D'Lacey's fluid, easy to read and descriptive writing style and you end up with a truly enjoyable horror novel

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This ARC was provided to me in exchange for an honest review. Trigger warnings: body gore, rape, sexual themes.

This story focuses on Fortescue Hall in all its glory. The head of the family, Lady Cynthia Fortescue, is a ruthless business woman with a passion for plants. Then you have the sons: Jacob the “mama’s boy” and heir and Herbert, drunk, cynical and a bastard. You also get to meet all the staff of the imposing manor: Leabank, the butler that likes to be dominated; Miss Ketley, the domineering governess; Nora, the quiet maid; Julio, the Spanish chef; Sophie, the stable girl with a secret; and of course Pincher, the cannabis crazed gardener. The action ensues when a new exotic plant enters the Lady’s gardens and all is not what it seems.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It’s weird, spooky and has a gothic vibe to it. Maybe the trigger warnings put you off, but the book has actually some comedy about it, a bit of comical nonsense to it.The best thing about it was definitely the atmosphere. You could feel the weirdness throughout the book.

Secondly I really liked the characters, there’s quite a lot of them, but each and everyone has such a distinct personality and was presented to us in such a fun way that it would be impossible to forget any of them.

There is a lot of action, sometimes more fast paced than others. The only “major” fault were the sometimes long descriptions.

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A large estate housing Lady Fortescue, her two sons and the properties hired help, face an incursion worthy of a horticulturist worst nightmare. The wealthy manor encompassed by sex, power and domination is now infested with a parasitic vegetation. The only thing standing between life and death for the occupants is a terrifying undergrowth of the botanical kind.
Joseph D’Lacey breathes life into a rare species of plant life akin to the Venus Flytrap and other forms of greenery. This horrific botanical enhancement merits revulsion and dread not only for the individuals in this book, but for the reader as well. Building the plot around a house of hidden motives and desires while an ever growing menace endures and thrives are key elements to the success of this disturbing novel. With its lewd, crude and rude no holds barred approach, Weed stands on its own rootlet fictional foundation. A living pipework of infestation waiting for a human host from which to develop...think of The Ruins meet The Thing, and you have one heck of a creepy novel.
Not very many novels have grabbed me the way this edgy eco-horror novel did. Joseph D’Lacey has easily made this a top read of 2021. Be aware when reading Weed, not to fear those hair thin green capillaries beneath your skin slowly stirring. I’m sure they are only goosebumps. A five star must read recommendation from the Horror Bookworm.

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Good old fashioned horror with a dose of sex and drugs thrown in. For the full review go to https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/638786484735967232/weed-by-joseph-dlacey-is-perfect-lockdown

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The dumpster fire that was 2020 is over. And as we que up at the shops to return ill-fitting pyjamas and poorly chosen socks, we’re provided with time to reflect on what a turgid and trying year it was. However, 2021 is looking promising for dark fiction readers if Joseph D’ Lacey’s Weed is anything to go by. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

The Grim Reader remembers John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids fondly, even the BBC’s 1981 series was something I really enjoyed. However, The 2009 version was utter shite. When I stumbled across a review copy of Weed by Joseph D’ Lacey on NetGalley I grabbed it quicker than a new pair of briefs from the Boxing Day sale at Ann Summers.

Weed is described as Downton Abbey meets Evil Dead and The Day of the Triffids. If that doesn’t sell you then nothing will. A very colourful cast keeps things engaging with witty dialogue and humorous set-pieces in abundance. Weed is quite a lengthy book, and though it does take a little time for things to really ramp up, it’s well worth the wait. It also contains one of THE best kills I have ever come across in any book. Rest assured horror fans, Weed is well worth your time. And so…

4/5 twisted roots from the Grim Reader.

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Trigger warning: Rape, drug use, extreme violence

I was a little skeptical when I first started the story but ended up getting hooked on the book. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of gore and violence. It reminded me of one of those horror flicks that you just can’t stop watching. The descriptions in this book are so vivid I could picture the gore as the plants took over the humans. It was a little slow to start but once the action picked up it’s highly entertaining. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who loves horror stories.

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Although it was slow to take root and could benefit from a little pruning, Weed was a thoroughly enjoyable bit of horror that sprouted admirably in some surprising directions. Joseph D'Lacey has crafted a socially and ecologically aware story that sort of floats around in time, often feeling like something from the early twentieth century, but which is actually very contemporary.

Lady Cynthia Fortescue is a cruel, cunning businesswoman whose investments are a driving force in global politics. She's a woman who feasts off of famine and soars through market crashes. Her only escape from that high-pressure, high-intensity life is sexually abusing her cook, administering to the plants of her greenhouse, and grooming her oldest son to one day take over the empire.

Desperate for her attention and approval, it's her youngest son who brings the titular Weed into the greenhouse as a birthday gift. That tiny little plant soon proves to have a mind of its own, growing quickly, moving about of its own volition, feasting upon the mammals of the estate grounds, and infecting Lady Fortescue with its tendrils. It's a genuinely terrifying garden beast, but by the time anybody realizes that, of course, it's far too late.

As much fun as the plant horror is, it's the cooks, gardeners, housekeepers that make the book. They're a peculiar bunch, each of them with secret needs, hungers, and perversions, and the story really reaches its heights once fear for their lives overcomes that of the Fortescue family. There's plenty of sex here to accompany the violence, and while it may not be explicit, context and circumstances make it memorable. I can't say much without spoiling the story, but nature tends to mirror our basest impulses, and that leads to an erotically terrifying end for one character that had me laughing so hard I cried.

The Fortescue estate offers up some fantastic settings for the horror, from the wine cellar to the greenhouse to the pond, all of them examples of how what men and women built ultimately fails against the unconquerable force that is nature. Within that conflict, there's a thread involving the gardener and his predilection for a different kind of Weed, and it brings the story full circle. Not my favorite part of the book - I'd rather read visceral horror or extreme erotica than scenes of smoking, toking, or vaping - but it works.

There is human evil and cruelty to be found here, including rape and abuse, paired with natural (possibly supernatural) horror, but there's also deep roots of black humor that fertilize the story. A little pruning of the first and third quarters would have tightened the pacing, and the Weed saviorism felt a tad heavy-handed, but overall this was a fun read with a great cast of characters and some genuinely funny moments.

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If you like a bit of humor and fun served with your plant-based horror, be sure to check out Weed when it is released February 2021!   There are strange things going on at Fortescue Hall, and not just with the staff and family members.  An unusual plant is slowly taking over, devouring everything in its wake....    This is one of those books I can totally see becoming some cult classic horror film.  I cheered the demise of certain characters while rooting for the survival  of others; I didn't know whether to laugh or say "eeww, gross" at a couple of the more, er, unusual sex scenes; and since finishing this novel, I have developed a more wary relationship with my houseplants (I'm currently keeping tabs on one that seems to have started a bit of a growth spurt in recent days).  Good, horrific fun.   
Thanks to NetGalley and Horrific Tales Publishing for offering this ecopy for review!

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An excellent mix of horror and humour that sees Day of the Triffids meet Little shop of Horrors. A really fun read that doesn't take itself too seriously yet the comedy elements don't detract from the overall tale. Well worth a read.

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Holy Shiitake ! That was a family drama garden nightmare. This family are the rich and powerful but never feel they have enough. They are vile, ruthless, disgusting people who are not so different from the weeds.
The matriarch has her eyes on ruling the world and is training up her son to continue her vision. Well one of her sons. There are family issues, skeletons in their closets. They abuse, belittle, crush their staff, they are horrible.
The Deaths, whoah ! Seriously, demented ways of dying. The is one that was so twisted, I wanted to turn away in disgust and laugh at the same time. TWISTED !
The characters we are pretty unlikeable for me, some I cheered their deaths. This book has all the triggers, beware. this is true horror and it’s not all the weed doing the bad.
Did I like it ? I don’t know. Parts of it dragged on too long, the bad things were really bad. It was hard to read a couple scenes. It was what it said it was, horror. I’d give it 4 stars for being what it said it was and horrifying me.

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This such a crazy, fun read.  Described by some other readers as Downton Abbey meets Day of the Triffids or Little Shop of Horrors and even The Thing, I can confirm that I totally agree, and I would like to chuck a smidgen of Gardeners' World in to the mix too.  A very silly dysfunctional family drama and B-Movie horror with tons of imagination and fantastic characters.  A brilliant read.

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this was a fun read, the cover drew me in and I always enjoy the horror and comedy genre. The characters were great and it goes from one genre to another in a fast. I had a lot of fun reading this book and look forward to more from Mr. D'Lacey.

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