South America, 1990. Ben Ronson, a British police officer, arrives in a mysterious forest to investigate a spate of killings of Duendes. These silent, vaguely humanoid creatures - with long limbs and black button eyes - have a strange psychic effect on people, unleashing the subconscious and exposing their innermost thoughts and fears.
Ben becomes fascinated by the Duendes, but the closer he gets, the more he begins to unravel, with terrifying results...
Beneath the World, A Sea is a tour de force of modern fiction - a deeply searching and unsettling novel about the human subconscious, and all that lies beneath.
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The figure of the Palido appears in village folklore across the entire Submundo Delta. THE CORPSE SERVANTS
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(@CorvusBooks, 4 April 2019, 289 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I'd never heard of the author before. I decided to check out his work because my digital library added a bunch of his books to their catalogue and the covers are gorgeous. This is science fiction but very different than other novels in the genre. It reminds me a lot of the work by John Wyndham. I prefer science fiction set on Earth in a recognisable world. I can connect with the characters and events much more. At times, it didn't feel like I was reading science fiction. I forgot the Duendes weren't human. That's how good the writer is, how effortless it was to get caught up in this book. The book has various narrators including Ben and the chapters bounce back and forth between them all. I like books that use the device as it makes you read on to see how it all comes together. I loved the setting as well, very vivid. I forgot it was set in South America and at times it felt like reading about an alien world. I will definitely read more books by this author.
