Nana by Mark Towse

Nana by Mark Towse
Published by D&T Publishing LLC on 26 March 2021
Genres: Horror, Novella
Pages: 120
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased Book
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Nana: a term of endearment used in some countries for one’s Grandma. Some say the title is derived from the Italian word for Grandmother, Nonna. Another theory is that it stems from the word Nanny; i.e., someone who takes care of children.

Meet Olly’s nana, Ivy. It takes more than clean dentures, brandy, and bingo night to keep this one happy! Nana Ivy lives in Newhaven Crescent, where most of the other residents are past their expiry date and all kinds of batshit crazy, the kind of place where you hang your sanity up at the door.

Being the matriarchal type, Ivy cares for the other residents as though they were kin, so of course, it’s of enormous concern when their veins begin to blacken and they start shedding skin, not to mention the glistening things crawling out of their hair.

They’re pushing their luck, and Nana Ivy knows it.

Did I mention she has a dark secret?

Young Olly doesn’t know what to make of it when he comes to visit, but he’s about to find out there’s more to his nana than cough drops and slippers. Oh yes, he’s in for a long night.

Nana is seriously original. A beautifully dark rush of a novella. Perfectly pitched, brutal and viscerally entertaining.

Nana’s can be full of wisdom and knowledge, but Nana’s can also be deadly.

Having read so many horror novella’s, the content can be completely hit or miss for me, it usually doesn’t take long to work out if a story is going to work for me. Mark Towse made that decision easier, the first paragraph, hell, the first sentence reeled me in, like a hook in a fish. The seatbelt was engaged, and I was ready for the G-Force to strip my bones dry!

A sense of dread, all encompassing tension made sure that the pages flew by along with the minutes. The characters were introduced, and I had red flags appear clouding my vision, all I could see was red, so would I pay attention or would I say screw it and continue anyway. Red flags be damned, I was a bull, and I was going headfirst!

Mark Towse leads us up an unsuspecting garden path – a beautifully painted front door, window flower boxes with fragrant roses. Little do you know that behind that perfumed scent is the indistinguishable stench of rotting flesh and putrid ooze. It drips from your Nana, her friends and all the old people who live down an unsuspecting street. Mark Towse knows them, is on a first name basis with them, soon you will be too. The real question is though, will you get on Nana Ivy’s goat too?

Olly is preparing to go and visit his Nana Ivy. He is dreading it, to put it mildly. She stinks, she hates modern technology and isn’t a fan of his mum. I mean he isn’t much of a fan of his mum either at the moment. Olly found evidence of his mum cheating on his dad, and he is fuming. He longs for the closeness that he once shared with her – those Saturday afternoon’s spend baking. Now they spend more time avoiding each other. But visiting his Nana should sort everything, or so his dad tells him.

Newhaven Crescent houses a community of old age pensioners that appear to look out for one another. They know everyone’s names, their hobbies, their inside leg measurement. But underneath the friendly surface lies something altogether more sinister. Why is the missing persons connected to the community rising?