Christmas Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley

From malevolent snowmen to Father Christmas - with a difference ... Chris Priestley is on absolute top form in these atmospheric, clever and thoroughly chilling stories. Add a new kind of thrill to the fluffiest of seasons with seven brilliantly conceived examples of why you'd better be good at Christmas time. For stories which can be enjoyed by the whole family, unwrap these perfectly formed festive tales of terror, each with a gripping yarn and genius twist.

Singing carols may never seem quite the same again ... especially after dark.

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Ever since I cracked open Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror back in 2008 I've been a fan of his blend of the macabre and sinister, and since I'm a sucker for all things Christmassy, there was no way I was going to miss this one. The question I needed answering was whether he was going to maintain the high standard I expect from him or if the edginess of his work was going to be eroded by a capitulation to popular sentiment. CToT -currently only available as an ebook-features seven short stories, opening with 'The Green Man'.

The Green Man tells the story of Stephen Levenson, home for the christmas holidays and trying avoid arguments with his mother. What he finds this year though is that his mother has embraced a spirit of change and has had his stepfather gather armfuls of holly from the ancient hill on their lands, a hill that his father had taught him never to trespass on. His intention to avoid arguments crumbles as he tries to fathom why she would do such a thing, but for the sake of a good Christmas, he grits his teeth. But the fear and respect his father treated the hill with weren't misplaced, and when night closes over the house there's more than Santa's generosity to worry about. The twist left me staring at my kindle mouthing 'whoa' for a moment before I greedily tabbed into the rest of the stories.

Trying to decide which of the seven was my favourite has been far harder than I thought it would be. Each has so much going for it and the quality of the writing and the sheer macabre wonder of the twists in each is consistently high. After annoying Liz by thinking out loud (aka arguing with myself like a madman), I've decided on "In the Bleak Midwinter" for the sheer tragic horror of it. It's also, now that I think about, the only one of the stories that doesn't see any of the characters dying..! 

Midwinter starts off nice enough, with choirboys from the local church out carol-singing to raise money for repairs to the church roof, and quietly skimming a small percentage off to divvy out amongst themselves. Amongst them is Simon, who unfortunately owed the local bully a wad of cash after succumbing to the recent craze of playing cards. When the others decide to call it a night, Simon argues for them to do a few more houses, but is outvoted and they start heading back to the village, guided by the light of their sole lantern and singing for the fun of it. It's then that one of the other boys says that they shouldn't be singing in a graveyard. Of course, in the way of boys around the world, they immediately begin to sing louder.. and soon discover that they should've listened to their friend. What follows is so wonderfully chilling it makes me weep to think that of the drivel that the BBC is wasting money on instead of bringing stories like this to more people. 

Suffice to say I should never have doubted that Priestley would deliver anything less than a smorgasbord of dark delights. Do what you must, but buy a copy of the Christmas Tales of Terror for whatever e-reader you have. Read them to your kids or save them for yourself. You won't be sorry.

You can visit Chris's website here or visit his blog here.

Outpost by Adam Baker

Kasker Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home. But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands.

The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way..

Outpost was one of a handful of books I picked up after Christmas courtesy of some very welcome gift vouchers. I like dystopic/ apocalyptic stories, and the premise was an intriguing one (the great opening line helped too) and while it took me longer than expected to get a chance to read it, in retrospect the timing was good as I finally got stuck in as an unexpected cold snap hit us.

Outpost opens with a suicide bid by what will be one of the main characters, and the tension begin to trickle in almost immediately afterwards as news of the worldwide pandemic finally filters through to the rig. The information that comes through is sketchy, and not knowing what is actually happening out there keeps you from pigeonholing the story and adds to the atmosphere.

Suffice to say that things start going awry sooner rather than later, more often than not due to very real, very human fears, all accelerated by dwindling food supplies and the first terrifying and bewildering encounter with the reality of what is waiting out there. Hard decisions need to be made as conflict tears the crew apart, and while there are some solid action sequences, the real impact comes from the conflict between the characters and the slow implosion of their hopes and dreams in the face of the utterly bleak and alien future that awaits them.

Outpost surprised me at several turns, evolving as it did from the expectations of a survival-horror into the sinister lovechild of The Thing and 28 Days Later. As a debut novel it punches way above its weight, and Adam Baker is certainly someone to keep an eye out for in the future.

Liz says: I read this one before Mark and was smitten by the slow creeping horror of the story, about how this handful of survivors would survive. It's a slow burning psychological thriller that freaked me out. In fact, it took me ages to finish it, after the initial rush of reading more than two thirds of the book in a day. I wanted to believe that everything was just an awful dream. Needless to say, it wasn't. Adam is definitely an up and coming horror writer and one I'm looking forward to reading more, specifically in Juggernaut, his 'prequel' to Outpost.

You can visit Adam's blog here.

Viking Dead by Toby Venables

Northern Europe, 976 AD. Bjólf and the viking crew of the ship Hrafn flee up an unknown river after a bitter battle, only to find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence. The dead don’t lie down, but become draugr – the undead – returning to feed on the flesh of their kin. Terrible stories are told of a dark castle in a hidden fjord, and of black ships that come raiding with invincible draugr berserkers. And no sooner has Bjólf resolved to leave, than the black ships appear... Now stranded, his men cursed by the contagion of walking death, Bjólf has one choice: fight his way through a forest teeming with zombies, invade the castle and find the secret of the horrific condition – or submit to an eternity of shambling, soulless undeath!

Viking Dead opens with a young boy named Atli reluctantly making his way home, knowing that all he has to look forward to is a lecture and a beating from his abusive and small minded father. But then the mist rolls up the river, and through this veil emerges a dragon. And so we meet Bjolf and his crew as they prepare for what should be just another raid on a small village.

But the raid doesn't go to plan as they're ambushed by their bitter rival Grimmsson, and they're chased out into a storm wracked estuary, where they escape Grimmsson and find Atli stowed away. Fog follows the storm, and they gratefully head towards the first land sighted, however gloomy and unwelcoming its appearance. It’s here that they encounter the first of the walking dead that plague these lands, and they quickly flee the madness of that shore, but what lays before them is far darker and stranger than they could imagine.

The imagery in Viking Dead is strong, and builds a convincing and claustrophobic world around Bjolf and his men, who are likeable, normal guys (by Viking standards) who’re just out there trying to make a living. They aren’t out to be heroes, but as they begin to realise their predicament and are pushed to the brink by the horrors they are forced to confront, their uncertainty and fear turns to anger. Rather than find a way to escape the horror, they turn to confront it, to cut their way to the source of the taint. It’s a hard fight right to the end, a struggle that sees them coming up against several diehard zombie favourites as well as several new twists on these, including a truly diabolical use of zombie ants- a stroke of macabre genius I would love to see translated to the big screen one day.

Viking Dead was as much fun as I expected it to be. Come on, its Vikings and zombies! What makes it work once the initial novelty wears off is that their world has a very normal, Viking -era feel to it (no doubt a product of decent research) and a firmly grounded cast of characters which keeps it from straying into the realms of silliness. Bjolf is a great character, and the switches between his and Atli's perspectives work to create a nice picture of life as a warrior in his crew. The villain gets some attention too, though not as lavish, but it helps to provide some background.

The pace is good and while there's plenty of chaotic action, it's gritty and real rather than an over the top gore-fest. The ending might divide opinion, it worked for me.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill

And on the third day things did not get better. The rain fell hard and cold, the white sun never broke through the low grey cloud, and they were lost. But it was the dead thing they found hanging from a tree that changed the trip beyond recognition.

When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise.

With limited fitness and experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. And as the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn there are some things worse than death…

I started reading this while we were en route to Paris, courtesy of Eurostar, and by the time we hit the Channel I was profoundly glad we’d chosen to go on a city break rather than go camping.

By the time we got to Paris I was promising myself I’d never set foot in a forest again.

The Ritual starts off with a familiar enough premise, that of a small group of old friends going hiking together (happily, there are no virgins or teenagers in sight) but the tension is there from the get-go. Things go downhill faster than a suicidal lemming as the characters head off the beaten track in the vain hope of finding a shortcut to ease the strain being felt by those too unfit and unprepared for the planned hike, let alone the creeping terror that awaits them.

Adam evokes the oppressive, claustrophobic feel of the ancient, primal forest in vivid detail, bringing it to life and making it an utterly believable backdrop for the horrors to come- the first night at the abandoned house is a masterclass in creeping horror. The characters’ plight, particularly that of the main character, Luke, is made all that more desperate because they’re fleshed out enough as things progress for you to care about them. Their problems are problems we can all relate to- there aren’t any outlandish I-was-a-SAS-commando figures here, just four guys with contemporary problems and who’ve grown apart under the pressures of life.

Adam took the second half of the book in a direction I certainly wasn’t expecting, and while this is no bad thing, is did feel like it took a few chapters to find its pace again. But given how fast it reads, and the truly chilling content packed into it, it’s not anything to complain about. Bleak and uncompromisingly creepy, this was made to be read on a dark and stormy night. If you dare.

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley

Michael Vyner recalls a terrible story, one that happened to him. One that would be unbelievable if it weren't true! Michael's parents are dead and he imagines that he will stay with the kindly lawyer, executor of his parents' will ...Until he is invited to spend Christmas with his guardian in a large and desolate country house. His arrival on the first night suggests something is not quite right when he sees a woman out in the frozen mists, standing alone in the marshes. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself as he is kept from his guardian and finds himself spending the Christmas holiday wandering the silent corridors of the house seeking distraction. But lonely doesn't mean alone, as Michael soon realises that the house and its grounds harbour many secrets, dead and alive, and Michael is set the task of unravelling some of the darkest secrets of all.

Dead of Winter starts with an introduction by the main character, Michael Vyner, as he sits down to record the strange and terrible events that shaped his life. Thereafter it shifts into the past, and we meet Michael as he stands at his mother’s freshly dug grave, his only companion the stiff-backed lawyer handling their meagre estate. There he’s given the news that he is to be taken in by the aged benefactor whose support his mother had reluctantly accepted after Michael’s father gave his life to save in a past conflict.

Michael’s understandably less than enthusiastic, and sets off into the bleak, fog drenched fenlands that surround his new home with a heavy heart and no little foreboding. Matters soon take a turn for the strange in Chris’s distinctly gothic manner, and from thereon in Michael’s world becomes one of disembodied whispers, shadowy apparitions and a growing sense of dread as Hawton Mere begins to relinquish the secrets buried within its walls. Michael is a conflicted character, haunted by the grief of his mother’s recent death, plucked from everything familiar and thrust into a strange new world presided over by his even stranger benefactor, a man he can’t help but resent for what he represents. His loneliness and fear are offset by his awkward but genuine interactions with the staff, and the scenes amidst the warmth and bustle of the kitchen contrast starkly with the subtle malevolence that grips the rest of the house and each is enhanced by the other. It’s cleverly done and very effective.

Dead of Winter is a delightfully dark gem and reaffirms my opinion of Chris as a masterful storyteller. His voice is very distinctive and like his previous works, it begs to be read aloud on a dark and stormy night - an audio version would go on my wishlist in a heartbeat.

Zombie Britannica - Thomas Emson

In 2009, Canadian researchers warned that a zombie plague would wipe out civilisation.. unless we were ready. We weren't.

As temperatures reach unprecedented levels, the dead rise- and eath the living. There is no warning. There is no time to prepare. And with tens of thousands dead or infected, another waking nightmare comes to terrorise the survivors- the victims now rise up, a new wave of zombies hungry for human flesh.

As the nation teeters on the edge of extinction, those who survived the onslaught fight for their lives, and for the lives of their loved ones..


When Thomas Emson’s zombie apocalypse hits the UK, sweltering in the hottest summer on record, it hits with a bang. It hits the ground running, the Usain Bolt of apocalyptic visions. By the end of the second page the body count is in the hundreds, and the zombie tide is flowing unchecked through the capital cities, a tsunami of gnashing teeth and spurting fluids.

ZB begins with working mom Carrie’s story as she sets out to make her way back home, where her young daughter is hiding from the dead and her good for nothing father and his newfound hunger for living flesh. Her story is the central theme but it shares ZB with two other windows into the apocalypse.

In Wales, the initially surly and emotionally stunted Vincent, struggling to connect with the girl he fancies, reluctantly shows her around the local castle, unaware that its walls will save their lives long before their first kiss.

On the congested highways outside of Glasgow, a dysfunctional argues their way to the airport, heading for a traffic jam that will see them lose far more than their seat on the ‘plane.

ZB reads at a ferocious pace, reflecting the pace at which the apocalypse spreads. This is no gradual rising; all around the country the dead erupt from the earth, hungry for flesh.

It’s a classic scenario and one that lets Emson explore the effect the psychological trauma of seeing a horde of ragged, decomposing cannibals feasting on the living would have on people; there’s no mistaking the dead for any kind of rampaging drug addicts or mysterious infectees here. As it would, the reaction varies from person to person, from group to group depending on the brand of psychosis hidden deep beneath the skein of their mundane, everyday selves, brought violently to the fore as their minds try to process armageddon. Sure, it calls for you to take a leap of faith on a few points, but if you enjoy this genre then you would most likely understand that civilisation is a veneer, and one that gore encrusted nails would quickly scratch away.

Zombie Britannica is an incredibly easy and more-ish read; fast, edgy and bloody good fun.

By the way, the 2009 study into a zombie attack that the blurb (italics above) refers to can be found here if you're interested.

The Dead - David Gatward

Lazarus Stone is about to turn sixteen when, one night, his normal life is ripped to shreds by a skinless figure drenched in blood. He has a message:

The dead are coming.

Hell is full, and they have found a way through to this world.

Now Lazarus is all that stands in their way. To fulfil his destiny, he must confront not only the dark past of his family, but horrors more gruesome than even hell could event – with only a winged angel and his best mate to help him. And it all begins with the reek of rotting flesh...

Poor Lazarus.

One ordinary night he’s at home chatting to his mate Craig, whinging about his dad being away from home yet again, making plans for a few days away in Craig’s parents’ caravan. A bit dysfunctional, but otherwise blessedly mundane.

By the time the sun rises though, he will have come face to face with a blood drenched fallen angel, had everything he’s ever known thrown into doubt and seen hell ripped open in his lounge.

And from there things only get worse as the truth about his absent father comes to light, sending Lazarus and Craig are thrown into a desperate flight to find his father and stop the dead from punching through into our world, with only an apparently alcoholic angel to guide them.

Lazarus is a likeable character: a normal, reluctant student who’s desperately trying to cling to the life he’s always known, flawed as it might be; it’s a vain attempt though as Gatward quickly drags him into a hell tainted reality.

Clocking in at 230 pages, The Dead is a quick read but it packs mean punch between the covers, creating a clear sense of Lazarus’ life diverging from normality, a journey punctuated with some truly terrifying imagery and magnificent gore. Equal parts terror, splatter and fun, The Dead’s a great read and I look forward to the second instalment in the series (The Dark, due in October this year).

Find David's website here. The dead arrive 1st July 2010. Are you prepared?

Witchfinder : Dawn of the Demontide - William Hussey

Jake Harker is an outsider, a loser whose nose is always in a horror comic. That is until horror stops being fiction and the Pale Man and his demon Mr Pinch stop Jake on a dark, deserted road. That night, under a tree called the Demon's Dance, Jake will learn the true meaning of terror . . .

Jake Harker’s always felt like an outsider, a socially awkward boy labelled as creepy because of his love of horror books and comics. His life isn’t perfect, but he gets on with it, blissfully unaware that his world is about to brutally and irrevocably collide with a centuries old battle between good and evil, courtesy of the sublimely terrifying Messrs. Quilp and Pinch. The time of the Demontide is fast approaching, a time when all the demons of hell gather together to try smash through the ancient seal that is all that stands between the world we know and hell to earth.

The battlelines become blurred as Jake beings to comprehend the scale of the conflict and the terrible reality of belief in the greater good. There’s little respite as the time runs out, and he has to swiftly come to terms with several nasty truths and use every ounce of his wits to not only try thwart the ruthless coven seeking to facilitate their dark master’s ascension (including himself) but to simply stay alive.

It’s a dangerous path, and with the memory of the books shocking opening in mind, it’s one whose destination is never a cut and dried certainty.

Witchfinder sports some wonderfully dark imagery and a cast of ruthless, utterly creepy antagonists set against a likeable, balanced main character and his mismatched friends. Even better is that the bad guys are allowed to be Bad- self serving, sworn to the forces of darkness and addicted to their demon-granted powers, it’s refreshing to see them acting accordingly and justifying the epithet of ‘evil’.

Witchfinder could have benefited from a bit of a nip and tuck in places, and no doubt the final version will have been trimmed accordingly. However, it doesn't detract from it delivering some haunting chills, wrapped up in a smart, punchy story that keeps you turning pages long after you should’ve turned the lights off.

You can find more info and cool stuff on the Witchfinder website.

The Enemy - Charlie Higson

They’ll chase you. They’ll rip you open. They’ll feed on you.

When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician – every adult- fell ii. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry.

Only children under fourteen remain, and they’re fighting to survive.

Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city -down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground- the grown ups lie in wait.


The story starts with a bang, a daring daylight raid by a posse of diseased and animalistic adults that sees them make off with a small boy for the larder. It’s a dramatic start that sets the tone for the rest of the story and cleverly slips in a whole bucketful of background info.

By the time we join the story, the mysterious plague has already wreaked its havoc on the adult population and the city; the kids who are still around have already learned hard lessons and are, in the most part, veterans of their apocalypse. Their position is precarious; while their current hideout is secure for the moment, it isn’t sustainable; there are too many mouths to feed and resources are rapidly running out.

While not a wholly original concept, what makes The Enemy stand out is the constant feeling that a big brown comet is about to hit the fan; it’s a relentless tension uniting the escapades of the various characters as time runs out and the adults start displaying symptoms of a cunning, feral intelligence. It’s really one of those ‘missed-my-station’ books- it’s hard to tear yourself away once you get into it. Charlie doesn’t pull any punches on the violence either, an important consideration that prevents anything from being taken for granted and makes for scenes of exquisite tension, because there’s never any doubt what is at risk.

The principal characters are well drawn and convincing; their bravado and desperation is underpinned by sometimes poignant reminders that these are, after all, otherwise normal kids who’ve been plunged into a world where everyone they’re supposed to trust is trying to eat them.

I’ve not read any of Charlie’s previous offerings, but if they’re anywhere as gripping, tense and more-ish as The Enemy then I’ve done myself a disservice.

You can visit The Enemy website here and read an extract here.

The Harrowing - Alexandra Sokoloff

Baird College’s Mendenhall echoes with the footsteps of students heading home for Thanksgiving break and Robin Stone, who won’t be going home, swears she can feel the creepy, hundred-year-old residence hall breathe a sigh of relief for its long-awaited solitude. As a massive storm approaches, four other lonely students reveal themselves to Robin: Patrick, a handsome jock; Lisa, a manipulative tease; Cain, a brooding musician; and Martin, a scholarly eccentric. Each has forsaken a long weekend at home for their own secret reasons.

The five unlikely companions establish a tentative rapport, but they soon become aware of another presence disturbing the building’s ominous silence. Are they the victims of an elaborate prank, or is the energy evidence of something genuine - something intent on using them for its own terrifying ends?

There's nothing quite like the inherent creepiness of a large, dark building when you're all alone.. when you sit there convincing yourself that the creaking noise behind you is simply the house 'settling for the night'.. that the movement you just caught out of the corner of your eye was really the cat coming in.

Now hold that feeling, and transpose it to a motley collection of college students marooned in an otherwise empty residence, watching as a storm rages outside, the only consolation the fire licking away in the fireplace. It's a classic setting, and a ripe environment for what the old ouija board unlocks.

It takes a couple of chapters for the story to find its stride, but after this initial stutter, it all starts to come together much more fluidly. The characters are a bit archetypal, but their interactions hold up enough to compensate for this. The chill factor is always there, lurking in the background, gathering itself for the moment when it slips its mask and, like the characters, you realise that things are not quite what you thought they were.

It's a truly interesting hook that Alexandra has used as the core premise of the story, a little nugget that makes you think, an echo of the story that bounces around in your thoughts long after you've slid the book back onto the shelf.

Wow!

Isn't this an absolutely amazing cover? Getting shivers. It's promising to be a good read too. Rubs hands in glee. (watch this space for the review in early 2009!)

Check out Joseph D'Lacey and Bill Hussey's blog to be kept up to date with all things horror!

House of Lost Souls, F G Cottam

I was utterly charmed by this lovely looking book from Hodder.

Little did I suspect the cover hid one of the scariest books I had ever read. I briefly spoke to one of the girls at Hodder shortly after I started reading it and she sagely warned: "Don't read it at night."

House of Lost Souls is the kind of book that stays with you purely because it has all the elements of amazing storytelling: an intricate involved plot, damaged dark characters struggling to do the right thing, swathes of paranormal incidents handled with an adept skill that makes it a pure pleasure to read. Even if I read it with all the rights on!

Synopsis

The Fischer House was the scene of a vicious crime in the 1920s - a crime which still resonates as the century turns. At its heart was a beautiful, enigmatic woman called Pandora Gibson-Hoare, a photographer of genius whose only legacy is a handful of photographs and the clues to a mystery. Paul Seaton was lured to the house ten years ago and escaped, a damaged man. Now three students will die unless he dares to go back. But this time he has Nick Mason at his side, and maybe Mason`s military skills and visceral courage will be enough.

We pick up the story at a funeral as Nick Mason is making use of his camouflage skills to spy on his sister attending the sad occasion with her friends. The same friends who had gone with her to Fischer House as part of their University studies and who had come back so severely damaged by what they experienced, there were incidents of attempted suicide, with one of the girls succeeding, hence the funeral. It really is a very powerful scene, as it is familiar, sad and has enough strangeness to it, to set the tone for the rest of the book.

We also meet Paul Seaton a bit later on - he had survived a visit to Fischer House many years ago. He had not come away unscathed from the encounter and is doing his best to get on with his life. He is asked by a friend to help these girls as something seems to be stalking them. He is initially hesitant, until he goes to meet Nick and sees his sister in the grip of something that is not of this world. Paul and Nick join forces and decide to try and put whatever lurks in Fischer House to rest.

The book makes full use of intricate backstories, a mystery surrounding a famous photographer from the 20's, appearances by people from the era such as Alistair Crowley and Goring which add to the menace of the storyline, sat beside beautiful writing revelling in the use of sensory description. The fact that this reads like a literary novel rather than something a lot darker is where the pure shock value of the story lies. It delves deep into the unpleasantness of human sacrifice, magic and the summoning of grim entities that stalk through the Fischer House. I don't think it has been packaged as horror. And to be honest, I've not ever read a horror novel quite like this - it is lyrical and insidious and deliciously dark. The characters are compelling and I particularly found the photographer's diary entries to be incredibly touching.

The author worked hard threading the vein or darkness through the novel and it works because all your senses are engaged. It is an enjoyable book, not to be read in the dark (!) and written with great skill by a very talented author.

Hodder sent me two copies of House of Souls - yay! - so there is a freebie up for grabs. I'll let the comp run till next week, so do email me with your name and postal address - again, I'm happy to post Internationally. Please make sure that you put House of Souls in the subject line. I will do a random selection and announce the winner next week Friday, 24th July.

Gods End: The Fall, Michael McBride

Michael McBride’s first offering "Gods End: The Fall" has all the boxes ticked to make it a classic apocalyptic novel with clever twists. It’s a clever novel, playing on current events, in the Middle and Far East, the general worry gnawing away at everyone’s minds – what happens if there is a large scale attack, or more scarily, what if it a nuclear attack? Michael McBride is a very clever manipulator, as most authors have to be, weaving fact, fiction, fantasy and religious tones into a very scary novel.

From Michael's Website

The fledgling democratic state of Iraq is invaded by Syria, triggering a series of events leading to the brink of World War III. Unbeknownst to the recently redeployed American troops, the Middle Eastern countries have formed a secret alliance, baiting the armed forces into traps both in the Persian Gulf and the now-defenceless United States. As the world speeds toward its demise, fulfilled prophecies give rise to the physical manifestations of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who usher the earth into its next phase of evolution. Pestilence's mosquitoes and Famine's locusts spread genetic mutations that alter man and animal alike, creating War’s fearsome reptilian army, The Swarm.

Faced with imminent annihilation, those who survive mankind's own extinction agenda must find each other across a rapidly changing landscape to rally their numbers in the face of Death's legion of genocide. Will humanity prove itself worthy of surviving to usher in a new era of life on earth…or will it succumb to God's End?

The novel is written very cinematically. Fantastic descriptions are used, but not flowery prose, I hasten to add. The surviving characters are interesting and well drawn. There are some very vivid and startling scenes that stayed with me after I read them and I would say that if you are a fan of the horror genre, you will be able to pick out the influences immediately. There is definitely Hitchcockian overtones with a bit of Poe and Stephen King mixed in. What is interesting is to follow the group of survivors and see how the author manages to bring them all together and then rudely leave us at the end of the book in a worthy cliff-hanger.

I get the impression that the first book was written in a burst of writerly creativity and it is going to be interesting to see how the story progresses into the next two books. I am pretty certain that he’s honed his style on this one and even though there are a few rough edges, which can be forgiven as it is quite a difficult thing to write, bringing a handful of character successfully together, the next two books in the series will be more slick.

A worthy edition to any horror / sci-fi / futuristic reader’s shelf.