My Review (4 stars out of 5) When several British scientists turn up dead, Edwardian painter and secret agent Lucifer Box sets off across Europe to track down those responsible. Leaving his residence at 9 Downing Street, Box delves into all things seedy and debauched as he follows the clues and the dead bodies to…
Category: Fantasy
‘The Storms of Padstow’ by Joy Mutter
My Review (5 stars out of 5) This is the second book in the Nuru and his Crows series, another dark erotic thriller steeped in magical realism. Model Eloise Le Brun falls foul of African fortune teller Nuru and his two pet crows. As the magician’s weird spells start to work, Eloise finds her life…
‘The Small Hand’ by Susan Hill
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow gets lost on his way home from seeing a client. Discovering an apparently abandoned Edwardian house, he has a look around. In doing so, he experiences a strange sensation – the feeling of a child’s hand slipping into his own. Following a series of…
‘Just One Damned Thing After Another’ by Jodi Taylor
My Review (3 stars out of 5) Recruited to the mysterious St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, Dr Madeleine Maxwell finds that some historians don’t just sit on their thumbs and read about history, but actually go there. But History has rules and trying to outdo it can incur a serious risk to health and…
‘Stone of Fire’ by JF Penn
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Oxford University psychologist Dr. Morgan Sierra is thrown into a race-against-time quest when her sister and niece are kidnapped. Morgan discovers she must track down the twelve stone pendants once owned by the Apostles. Knowing she and her sister have two of the relics, Morgan will need all…
‘The Fog’ by James Herbert
My Review (4 stars out of 5) A village turns into a disaster zone when huge crevasses open up in the road, causing people and cars to tumble into its depths. But oozing up from the bottom of one of the chasms is a mysterious yellow fog. As the strange haze moves around the countryside,…
‘Things in Jars’ by Jess Kidd
My Review (5 stars out of 5) London, 1863. Female detective Bridie Devine is recruited to track down a stolen child. However, the child’s father seems unwilling to disclose all but the vaguest of details relating to the girl and Bridie finds herself thrust into the realm of freaks and medical misfits. Aided by her…
‘The Dead Zone’ by Stephen King
My Review (5 stars out of 5) With girlfriend Sarah in tow, Johnny Smith has a run of luck at the Wheel of Fortune, but after dropping his girl off at home, Johnny’s cab is involved in a head-on collision, killing the driver and leaving Johnny in a coma. Waking up almost five years later,…
‘Once Upon a River’ by Diane Setterfield
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) On the longest night of the year at the Swan Inn on the banks of the Thames, the regulars entertain each other with stories. But the storytelling is interrupted when a stranger bursts in carrying what appears to be a dead child. Summoning the help of local…
‘When the Children Return’ by Barry Kirwan
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Ten years on from the invasion of Earth by the Axleth, Nathan, Sally and the others, along with their AI pilot Ares, are heading for home. Intending to take back their planet whatever the cost, they soon encounter problems when they find the Athena is being tracked by…
Colin Garrow 