The Militia House by John Milas
Henry Holt and Company (July 2023)
272 pages; $18.99 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Military horror. It’s a subgenre that doesn’t get enough love, but should, especially when in the hands of a writer who has lived the nightmare of war itself. John Milas’s debut, The Militia House, is a taut novel that walks the razor-wire between entertaining and uncomfortable in a gothic ghost story.
If that sounds like an intriguing combination, it is. Milas knows how to bring the terror of war into reality, the unease of the waiting game in a strange land straight into the imagination of the reader. Set in Afghanistan, 2021, Corporal Loyette has a duty that is not exactly thrilling. Loading and unloading cargo helicopters with a crew that’s holding onto sanity and motivation, he’s struggling to find himself in the middle of a hostile desert. He enlisted after his brother was killed and knows he’ll never live up to that memory. Add to that disciplinary action for writing blogs critical of the military action and he’s carrying an albatross that may never be shed.
He then hears a story about the odd building outside the gates of the base, An abandoned militia house previously occupied by Russian soldiers is talked up by the British soldiers before they are transferred out. For a crew whose lives are spent watching and waiting for something to happen, the allure is too much. Who wouldn’t want a break from the monotony and boredom? Loyette and his team sneak off and explore the titular building and find much about nothing inside. It’s still a break and they trudge back to the drudgery in the dusty hell they call home.
Yet, something has shifted in that hell. Loyette’s men have begun to act… different. Strange sounds and visions emerge to plague the crew. As the barracks grow emptier, as the commander and Brits have left, Loyette struggles to discern what’s real and what might be hallucination.
As the tension grows and nerves threaten to break, they realize the only way to end the horror is to head back to the source.
Milas has constructed a tight story that displays his military acumen without burying the reader in terminology and language that would alienate the average person. The experience he brings to the page is invaluable as the setting of the war breathes down the reader’s neck in dusty heat. The supernatural aspects are slight but effective — to start. It’s a successful juggling act to determine the difference between a haunting and the state of the characters’ mental health. The world Milas created was stifling enough. His grip on the narrative tightens page by page until claustrophobia sets in, resulting in a tense, effective read.
Recommended reading.
I might have to check this out. I love a good military horror.