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SUMMARY: Before she died, Cole Nightshade’s grandmother taught him how to keep his demons from coming out of their hiding places and wreaking havoc. But none of Nana’s lessons have prepared him for Saint Edwards Mental Asylum, where he’s landed after a foster-care placement gone wrong. Saint Edwards has a history of abuse and death that makes itself known to Cole in alarming ways.
The BookViral Review: Genre – Horror
Haunting and emotionally complex Hains leads us through a novel that keeps us on edge from beginning to end. He’s a writer who has a feel for shock rhythms, and as with his previous releases, he is skilful when it comes to keeping us guessing. Spinning his story across disparate time frames whilst chipping away at reality piece by piece as fear and tension mounts. He wants to evoke a sense of terror and he does it on multiple levels.
With the dark undercurrents of classic noir horror novels, everything is brought together into a disturbing foreshadow of dreadful secrets as young Cole comes to understand the full extent of his abilities and the ominous portents they herald. The atmosphere is palpable and with an eclectic cast of supporting characters, they all have unsettled issues and buried traumas.
On this level Nightshade’s Requiem is original and accomplished, with plenty of vivid and scary moments but it also works as a portrait of individuals living in a mental asylum. Pulling us in with smooth assurance without drifting into trite genre clichés.
Atmospheric and genuinely chilling with a twist you won’t see coming Nightshade’s Requiem proves a powerful start to the Nightshade Chronicles and is recommended without reservation.
A book comprising of the ‘Facebook Blog’ meanderings of Bridgette Campbell, Denham Hall is an amusingly wry observation of the upper class, seen through the eyes of an oestrogen-fuelled pubescent teen. A tale of English snobbery at its best, this collection of mini-stories makes for a refreshingly unique tongue-in-cheek read.
Barr’s narrative is sophisticated. Treating his story’s religious overtones with the utmost sincerity whilst exploiting the best-loved tropes of the Occult Horror and Thriller genres to deliver a novel that is by turns dark, mysterious, and chilling.
As the years advance, I have lost count of how many books I’ve read but on reflection, it hardly seems relevant. What is truly noteworthy is how many leave a lasting impression on us.
Whilst the issues of prejudice and discrimination are multi-faceted and complicated beyond belief, a key moment for me was the day I picked up ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Harper Lee implicitly drilled down the relative unfairness of human existence into my 12-year-old brain, creating a sense of outrage that has stayed with me throughout my life.
As inconceivable as it seems, the ‘man’, Jeff Bezos himself, has predicted the demise of Amazon. “Amazon is not too big to fail … In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail,”
Having a strong relationship with Europe has allowed British publishers to enjoy the financial benefits that come with exclusive English-language rights to books sold continent-wide. Britain risks losing these benefits post-Brexit.
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