Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully: The Great Gatsby meets Hellraiser, Book Review

Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully

A Horror Book Review by Cat Treadwell

Described as ‘The Great Gatsby meets Hellraiser’, Below the Grand Hotel is unlike any book you’ll have encountered before. What starts as a simple heroine’s journey of a poor country girl seeking fame quickly transforms into a twisting race to not only save one life, but the lives of every soul captured within the titular Hotel itself.

There are so many reasons that this book is one of my Best of the Year already. I was lucky enough to read an advance copy months ago, and have been basically sitting on my hands since then while wanting to write this review. Where to start…!

First of all, the protagonist. Mabel Rose Dixon has layers. By which I mean she can be full of charm one minute, a total bitch the next. Her ultimate goal for most of the book is survival – from life on the winter streets of the big city to fighting for her soul. And she’s not always successful.

The joy of Mabel comes from the fact that she is so multifaceted. She’s one of the most real characters I’ve ever read, and while I wanted to slap her occasionally for being such a little cow, I also found myself secretly jealous of how strong she is. Mabel is many things that I was never brave enough to be at her age, and as the book progressed, I found myself wondering at various key points whether I’d be able to manage as well as she does. She’s as fallible as any of us, but she learns, grows, yanks herself up by her glittery shoestraps and fights.

It also struck me how unusual she is as a heroine. Whatever the rulebook is for How Women Behave in Books, Cat Scully either hasn’t read it or threw it out of the window, because Mabel takes the floor in her own way through every single scene.

The men in the book try to pigeonhole her as a cute flapper, gold-digger, girl-in-need-of-saving and various other stereotypes, but she is none of these – or she uses them to her advantage to get where she wants to be. There’s one other strong female character here too, and it’s fascinating to see the contrast between a more mature woman and our young Mabel; if she turned just a few steps in another direction, they could be the same.

Next, the Hotel itself, because it absolutely is a character. With every ‘ping’ of the elevator, a new floor and new horrors are revealed, and this space is a lot bigger on the inside. Stretching as far as its tenants’ imaginations, Mabel journeys both up and down like a mad Dante questing through far more layers than he ever anticipated, before finding herself back at the door of her own room. Escape? Nope. If you signed the register, you stay. 

That’s not to say this is necessarily a bad thing. In several places, the Hotel seems to be ‘true neutral’, as it gives everyone who walks through its doors precisely what they wish for… but we all know how well that can go if that wish wasn’t well thought out. This is where the evil stems from: consequences. 

The twists and turns come thick and fast, and there’s various points in the story where I simply couldn’t see what would happen next. In any other book, several places would be the end. I’m not saying that this is drawn out, far from it. Mabel just refuses to lie down and submit in any way, and so the story continues (to my immense pleasure). 

Oh, and the ‘Hellraiser’ analogy? It’s accurate. This Hotel can be bloody, vicious (and viscous) and there’s a reason nobody wants to work in the laundry room. Guests are heading to their own private hecks in gilded handbaskets, and it sure ain’t pretty. As I said, Mabel’s fighting spirit is remarkable in places where I may well have turned up my toes. 

‘Below the Grand Hotel’ is everything that ‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ wanted to be and so much more. Oscar Wilde would adore it, Clive Barker likely has the penthouse booked out, and I’d go so far as to say that Shakespeare probably visited once or twice. The imagination on show here is spectacular and I think I’m overdue for a revisit.

I honestly cannot wait to see what Cat Scully writes next, because the bar has been set at the Pearly Gates (not featured). 

If you like your horror smart, original and unafraid, check in now. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully

The Great Gatsby meets Hellraiser.

Mabel Rose Dixon will do anything to become a Ziegfeld girl—including picking the pockets of the wealthy NYC elite to fund her way to stardom. When she picks the wrong pocket, Mabel loses her soul to a hotel run by demons and tumbles into the world of The Grand Hotel, a place where any artist can make it big.

Mabel’s greatest wish to be famous is granted. Every night, she performs as the starring act to a crowded theater and finds she is never without patrons. But Mabel quickly learns that losing her soul to get everything she ever wanted comes at a much steeper cost than what she bargained for. She must steal her soul back before the Grand’s annual May’s Eve Ball or become a demon herself forever.

With stylish art deco design and beautiful illustrations by the author, this stunning debut novel by renowned New England artist Cat Scully is a crown jewel for the dark gothic horror lover’s collection. Welcome to The Grand Hotel. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Further Reading

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