Just finished this doorstop of a novel. It’s a little daunting, weighing in at almost 600 pages, and the question is ‘is it worth investing my time in such a long book?’I wish someone had told me that back in February when I started reading it, because the honest answer is ‘no, not really’. The premise of the novel is quite straightforward – a serial killer is murdering people for the purpose of filming their deaths and incorporating the imagery into a new computer game that he’s creating. A local cop is assigned to the case, and he becomes romantically linked with a young expert on history who is asked to advise. Needless to say, things go bad, and I don’t think I’m giving too much away to say that this is standard thriller stuff – the literary equivalent of a Roland Emmerich film. It is, to its credit, incredibly readable; although some of the dialogue is appalling. It’s a thriller novel for people who don’t read many thriller novels.
FAVOURITE WRITERS
- Adam L G Nevill
- Alison Littlewood
- Allyson Bird
- Anthony Watson
- Barbara Roden
- Benedict J Jones
- Cate Gardner
- Christopher Fowler
- Claire Massey
- Conrad Wiliams
- Conrad Williams (blog)
- D F Lewis
- David A Riley
- Dean R Winters
- Ellen Datlow
- Frank Duffy
- Gary Braunbeck
- Gary Fry
- Gary McMahon
- Graham Joyce
- James Cooper
- Joe Mynhardt
- John Llewellyn Probert
- Kealan Patrick Burke
- Laird Barron
- Lawrence Dagstine
- M John Harrison
- Mark McLaughlin
- Mark Morris
- Mark Samuels
- Mark West
- Martin Roberts
- Matthew Fryer
- Michael Marshall Smith
- Neil Williams
- Nicholas Royle
- Nina Allan
- Norman Prentiss
- Paul Finch
- Peter Tennant
- Ramsey Campbell
- Ray Cluley
- Ray Russell
- Richard Gavin
- Rick Hautala
- Rio Youers
- Robert Mammone
- Ross Warren
- Shaun Hamilton
- Shaun Jeffrey
- Simon Bestwick
- Simon Clark
- Simon Kurt Unsworth
- Simon Strantzas
- Stephen Jones
- Stephen Volk
- Steve Jensen
- Steve Vernon
- Stuart Hughes
- Terry Grimwood
- Thana Niveau
- Thomas Ligotti
- Tim Lebbon
- Tony Richards