As an award-winning creative director of an advertising agency, Tan Jit Seng started out his passion in writing as the co-creator of Malaysia's first English comic book, Heroines of Darkness, and as a children's book writer, before publishing a compilation of short stories titled Get Spooked: Terrifying Tales Untold.
He then published Abandoned Gods in 2022, and followed up with his latest novel, Horror, He Wrote a year later.
In this novel, Tan offers the readers a chilling fusion of murder mystery and horror fantasy based on his imagination.
With his penchant for ghostly tales, Tan manages to create a story that intertwines themes of love, betrayal and redemption, offering the readers a darkly compelling story that keeps them on the edge.
Horror, He Wrote centres on the brutal murder of Chang Hong Lian, nicknamed Red Lotus, whose body is found in Taiping Botanical Garden lake.
Her death mirrors a plot from a bestselling book written by her twin sister, Chang Pai Lian, also known as White Lotus. This intriguing twist further intensifies the mystery by blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality in an engaging way.
The story kicks off with Ernest Maxwell Graves, a struggling writer who is facing multiple professional setbacks. Just as he contemplates ending his life, a ghost appears and intervenes, offering him a way out of his predicament but with an ominous payback.
Just as Graves has been ghostwriting to earn his keeps, the ghost who identifies itself as the White Lotus, offers to write a revealing story on the murder of her twin, Red Lotus and also reveals the killer in the story.
This twist adds a gripping dimension to the book. Readers will find Graves’ journey from despair to a haunting form of salvation especially appealing.
The book also explores profound themes of human desperation and the sacrifices made for redemption. Readers are advised to put aside their sense of logic in the revelations of the spiritual world as they delve into the realm of the twilight zone.
One area that Tan can vastly enhance the story appeal is to avoid the staid conversations between Graves and the White Lotus spirit by injecting more lively and interesting dialogues between them as well as with Inspector Abdul Rahman. This will keep readers engaged and move the story to another level.
Also, the frequent switches between the murder mystery and supernatural elements are occurring too sudden in the story. Moving from detective work to ghostly encounters interrupts the story flow, which might make it difficult for some readers to stay fully engaged.
The ghostly presence of White Lotus, who died under the same bridge as her sister, brings a chilling dimension to the story. Her sister was murdered and she herself committed suicide at the same location. While her love for Adrian Holmes and her narrative from beyond the grave add an eerie and poignant layer to the plot, the fact that White Lotus has now decided to reveal it all in the book she's writing for Graves, who's recuperating in Taiping Hospital after a team of doctors had fought to save his life, is indeed touching.
Tan must be commended for adeptly weaving her tragic tale in the murder mystery, besides offering the readers an insight into the Chinese culture and the myths of the Underworld. Hopefully, readers will be entertained and intrigued with every twist and turn as they navigate through this ghostly tale.