United by destiny, they must stand together to face an ancient evil…..
Ceri Edwards and two school friends lift the lid on an ancient book of recipes belonging to Betty Williams, a volunteer at the local hospital in Pontypridd, South Wales. Two Kansas City cops step off a flight at London Heathrow and one of them falls to the ground with a painful conviction that there’s something evil in the air.
United in their destinies, Ceri and the police officers are drawn into a world where prophecies are pitted against invisible forces planning to raze London to the ground and bring down the Royal Family.
It all rests with Dai Williams, recently knighted MI5 agent and reluctant hero, to bring some order to the improbable events and to ensure that afternoon tea at The Ritz continues for another hundred years.
A great cross between Kim Newman and Ben Aaranovitch and a thrill for any fan of contemporary urban horror.
‘Transatlantic horrors don’t come much better than this one by David Graham.’ – Nooks Books N Crooks
"This will probably appeal to YA paranormal readers more than horror as, despite the promising start, there's little here to provoke a truly visceral reaction."
Reviewer: Reader for Bookangel.
This had a really great premise: wireless technology was causing brain lesions and psychosis so different countries have reacted in different ways - the UK have shut down cellphone networks, the USA are locking up the victims and denying there is a problem... In areas where it is turned off, a side effect has arisen, as it interfered with psychic abilities. In the same way someone wearing weight packs builds up strength when they take the weights off, strong psychic and magical abilities emerge. This effect and its consequences are explored throughout the book, and are probably the best part of it.
This book isn't really horror. It is closer to urban paranormal, with a dose of dark humour that makes it difficult to take seriously. Despite the promising start and all the dire threats of magic gone wrong by loc 2600 of 4000 I was still waiting for this to earn the tag of horror, rather than an interesting paranormal mystery.
While I appreciate good world-building, it started to feel like I'd been reading for a while. I was stunned to see I was over halfway through the book and it still felt as though the plot hadn't really begun. Rather than a building menace, there were a serious/of isolated events, happening and dealt with separately. There was rarely a feeling that the protagonists were in real danger, more that they had been inconvenienced, and no one died making the enemy lack real threat.
The use of her Majesty the Queen as a major character throughout is interesting. It does push it towards real-person fanfic, especially given her prominent role in defeating the plot, although I would love to know what she thinks of this sort of thing.
It is a three. This will probably appeal to YA paranormal readers more than horror as, despite the promising start, there's little here to provoke a truly visceral reaction. Rating:3
Ha, I would be curious to see how her Majesty the Queen feels about that as well! Although I must admit that does sound intriguing - perhaps the most intriguing thing about this book. It's a shame that all of the antagonistic devices were isolated events; I usually find these books to be too scattered for my tastes.
It doesn't sound like this is going to be a truly great read, but I absolutely love anything to do with the paranormal and I'm willing to sit through this. I'll be back to let you know what I think after I've read it.
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