It took me around 30 seconds to become hooked on this book. I devoured it in two sittings. From the evocative opening description of the Cornish landscape to the very last page.
I instantly connected with the lead characters and felt compelled to read more to discover more about them.
Tom is a believable and likeable character, dislocated and never really “belonging” who is desperately trying to move on or hide from his past in a crumbling and decaying backwater Cornish village. Trouble arrives in the shape of a teenage girl “Lila” who is obviously distressed and running from something or someone and Tom decides to try and help...”sometimes helping a stranger is the last thing you should do”
The location keeps the cast of characters small and adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere often felt in small communities.
The location also serves the plot well in terms of how isolated/abandoned communities can develop peculiar idiosyncrasies and superstitions unique to that particular location.
Make no mistake that this is as far from your Cornish summer holiday as it’s possible to be: exploring a darker side of Cornish folklore, superstition, traditions and history, intertwining that with current political and social issues adds real meat to the bone here.
Would highly recommend this book to people who like the noir genre but are perhaps looking a new angle or approach to it.
I instantly connected with the lead characters and felt compelled to read more to discover more about them.
Tom is a believable and likeable character, dislocated and never really “belonging” who is desperately trying to move on or hide from his past in a crumbling and decaying backwater Cornish village. Trouble arrives in the shape of a teenage girl “Lila” who is obviously distressed and running from something or someone and Tom decides to try and help...”sometimes helping a stranger is the last thing you should do”
The location keeps the cast of characters small and adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere often felt in small communities.
The location also serves the plot well in terms of how isolated/abandoned communities can develop peculiar idiosyncrasies and superstitions unique to that particular location.
Make no mistake that this is as far from your Cornish summer holiday as it’s possible to be: exploring a darker side of Cornish folklore, superstition, traditions and history, intertwining that with current political and social issues adds real meat to the bone here.
Would highly recommend this book to people who like the noir genre but are perhaps looking a new angle or approach to it.