1952. On a school trip to France teenager Dominic Sheldrake begins to suspect his teacher Christian Noble has reasons to be there as secret as they're strange. Meanwhile a widowed neighbour joins a church that puts you in touch with your dead relatives, who prove much harder to get rid of. As Dominic and his friends Roberta and Jim investigate, they can't suspect how much larger and more terrible the link between these mysteries will become. A monstrous discovery beneath a church only hint at terrors that are poised to engulf the world as the trilogy brings us to the present day...
***
Some of the memories are like a hook in the guts, but at least that means they're entirely mine.
***
(@flametreepress, 16 February 2021, 256 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 25 February via @RandomTTours)
***
***
I read some of the author's work a few years ago and didn't like it very much. Sorry, to nay hardened fans out there. My reading tastes have changed a lot since then and I've enjoyed his work in recent years. This sounded like a good read and I'm delighted to take part in the #BlogTour. This is the first in a trilogy and I will likely read the other two books at some point because I really enjoyed this. Apparently some aspects of this book are autobiographical but as I'm not a die-hard fan I have no idea what these are. I really enjoyed the world-building in the book and the way the author brings 1950's Liverpool to life in a very enjoyable and vivid way. This is the kind of horror novel I like, slow-burning menace and unease rather than in-your-face OOT gore which I hate. There's something very unsettling going on here and look forward to the next segment in the trilogy.
