William Hussey (1)

Scott Jericho, one time detective, has just been released from prison and is living with his fairground family. When a series of gruesome murders comes to his attention which appear to be linked to a tragic event that occurred a century ago, he decides to investigate the case.

Roll up, roll up for the magical murder mystery tour! A real rollercoaster of a ride and a trip to the chamber of horrors. This a dark and twisty thriller where I never knew what was going to happen next. It’s very different and the ending was a complete surprise. I liked the character of Scott Jericho, he has a tough shell but a soft centre. I look forward to reading more of his adventures. A well written page turner which kept me on the edge of my seat right until the end.… (mehr)

2.5 Stars

CW: an off page suicides as a result of online bullying, violent physical attack and online attacks

Well that was quite heavy handed on the whole 'social media bullying is bad' message.

I liked the concept of this reimagining but at times it felt like a hot mess. There were so many threads throughout the story and I don't feel like William managed to tie them all together in a smooth way. There is a lot of violence which gave the book a gritty feel which may appeal to some Readers.… (mehr)

This book is stuffed full of classic horror themes and this is why it appealed to me. The first half of the book deserved 4 stars: it was full of intrigue, suspense and grim tidings.

The book is written very well: I really like Hussey's style of writing. It did have a few issues for me though.

As I said, I thought the first half of the book was much better than the last: the way the story and characters were built up was great. However, the narrative in the last half got swallowed up in backstory. I know this was all relevent to the plot, but it came in chapter upon chapter and took over the book, and made the story unbalanced. And the ending was really disappointing (I read it twice and I was still confused) and there were a good number of loose ends that weren't tied up.

Another distraction I found throughout the book was that almost every name bagan with a J - Jack, Jamie, James, Jonathan James, Jarski - I don't think this was in any way significant but it was very noticeable.

Overall I thought this book was good but my interest waned towards the end.



… (mehr)

Set in a future world where the Outrage has happened in England - an indiscriminate large scale bomb blast - that has turned the politics and society morals back over 100 years so that gays and anyone who isn't white is banned, imprisoned or worse. (Think Nazi Germany at its height). IN this world of fear lives Gabe who is gay and in a relationship with Eric, the son of one of the leaders of the hate regime. The book opens with a snap inspection in a classroom where Gabe has a contraband video disk in his bag from a hidden cache that he discovered in an abandoned library. He visits the Library with a gang of friends who all have secrets to hide - and they band together to help divert attention away from Gabe. This is a novel where you know its all going to end badly as Gabe and Eric are captured after trying to steal the disk back late one night. Gabe is tortured and imprisoned by Eric commits the greatest sin - he tells the authorities that Gabe forced him into a relationship. This all happens in the first half of the book. What happens in the second half of the story is unexpected.
At times a very gritty, gut-punching novel but I found the premise of the ultra conservative movement gaining so much momentum from one incident a little far-fetched...I think the author should have come up with a more plausible reason for the country turning back on the steps it had made to be more inclusive and diverse. I also found the ending a bit too convenient.
Nevertheless, an engrossing story of forbidden love and living under a totalitarian regime.… (mehr)