Jesús Diamantino’s Novel “Rural”: Terror as a Human Language

Horror, as a fictional genre, not only has a very wide range of development, but also, today, seems to be in very good health, as novels, films and television series continue to appear, something that those of us who are horror fans cannot help but celebrate (even with the diversity in the quality of the material).

“Rural” (Planeta, 2024), the new novel by Jesús Diamantino, reflects this good health and for many reasons.

First, I believe that with this new novel, we can witness the development of what we might call a “genre author,” because “Rural” is not only Dimantino’s second novel, but also accompanies other previous publications linked to the author’s horror genre: a volume of short stories, a study book, and multiple specialized articles. In other words, we are faced with a writer who has a developing line of writing, focused mostly on a particular language.

For this reason, it is fair to say that, compared to her previous novel called “Those Who Whisper Under the Earth” (Zig-Zag), this new installment represents a step forward. “Those Who Whisper Under the Earth” is a remarkable text, about which I wrote a review in this same space, but “Rural”, from my point of view, shows a step forward in literary terms in several senses.

“Rural” tells us, in general terms, the story of Julieta Valdés, a woman who carries the weight of old pains linked to her family, tragedies upon tragedies that besiege her and that, in addition, have forced her to participate in pains, so to speak, greater: historical pains. Julieta, at some point, was forced to work with the CNI and, from there, pain, guilt and horror become part of her personal world. The novel moves in the world of folk horror, paganism and national and European traditions, in addition to taking up the idea of ​​political horror that Diamantino has already worked on in his previous texts.

Certainly, the plot, or in less technical terms, the story, is better drawn than in his previous works, the different plot lines are not only very well configured, but also elegantly intertwined. The characters emerge naturally within the narrated events and are very solidly treated, which gives a force of verisimilitude to the world proposed by Diamantino in the novel; this is usually difficult to achieve, but the author here achieves it in an exceptional way, perhaps for the same reason, when the supernatural emerges in the story, it does not seem out of place and the impact it causes is, so to speak, deeper.

It is also worth mentioning that Diamantino’s style, his pen – which is perhaps something very complex to review due to the particularity of each author – is of a very high level, because it combines a certain lyricism in certain images and in his narrative-descriptive phrases within the text, which are beautiful, but at the same time, with a conciseness and cleanliness of the sentences that gives a captivating reading fluidity.

One cannot but celebrate that this type of novel is published, that publishers take the risk of putting fiction in bookstores (even more so if it is a work of a “subgenre”). In fact, it is also pertinent to value that the book object, from the cover, the paper and the typography, are very well cared for.

In my opinion, “Rural” is a must-read novel, both for those who are horror fans and for those who are not. It is an interesting, fluid book with various components (folkloric, political, reflective) that make it much more than pure entertainment.

There is nothing left but to wait for a new installment of Diamantino.