A Peculiar Peril is a head-spinning epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying, from the Nebula Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer.
Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather's overstuffed mansion - a veritable cabinet of curiosities - once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon discover that the house is filled with far more than just oddities: It holds clues linking to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley has stormed back to life on a magic-fuelled rampage across a surreal, through-the-looking-glass version of Europe replete with talking animals (and vegetables).
Swept into encounters with allies more unpredictable than enemies, Jonathan pieces together his destiny as a member of a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora. But as the ground shifts and allegiances change with every step, he and his friends sink ever deeper into a deadly pursuit of the profound evil that is also chasing after them.
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The strange things started happening as soon as Jonathan Lambshead walked into his grandfather's estate and only got worse. CHAPTER ONE, A MARMOT AND A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN
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(@MacmillanAudio, 7 July 2020, 22 hours 19 minutes, audiobook, bought from @audibleuk, read by @raphaelcorkhill)
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I've read a few of the author's books now and have become quite a fan. His work is very different, in a good way. This is very different than other books I've read which have been heavily sci-fi focused. Here he touches on horror and the macabre to create a bizarre yet endearing and enthralling book. This is a looooooonggggggggggg audiobook and took almost three weeks to listen to because I can only manage a couple of hours a day. I was engrossed every time I continued listening. The author puts an original spin on the well-worn haunted house story; in this case, the house is host to Crowley's creepy, murderous minions. This is a very dark and sinister book at times, but well written, and engaging with great characters. I loved it.
