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Reader Reviews | |
Review by A. W. Colclough (310316) Rating (8/10) Review
by A. W. Colclough Better known as a writer of horror fiction Graham Masterton has undergone a late(ish) career switch to a new genre, on the strength of this first novel in the Katie Maguire series the transition has been a success. His writing is every bit as gruesome as the work of younger writers, but Masterton due probably to experience understands the benefits of rationing out the gore. This book contains some scenes that are genuinely horrific, clever pacing gives them an impact that might have been reduced had he chosen to follow fashion and ladle blood over every other page. Masterton puts the experience of having lived in and around Cork for a number of years to good use, showing a strong feeling for the beauty, remoteness and link to the uncanny of the Irish countryside, this, he suggests, really is a place where the fairy folk might be up to no good around the next corner. As a central character Maguire has the right mix of steel and vulnerability with a back story that gives options for the series to take any number of different directions as it progresses. This stylish and frequently unsettling novel marks a confident change of genre for a veteran writer who is still firing on all cylinders. |
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