Neil Carstairs

This supernatural thriller was a terrific read. Author Neil Carstairs takes you on dizzying twists and turns, from secret military installations being savaged by alien creatures described down to the last wonderfully chilling detail to a frantic car ride across isolated rural America where a mother and daughter understand nowhere is truly safe and are being hunted at every turn.

Wonderfully atmospheric and brilliantly paced, as the story is slowly revealed, we learn analyst Ben Scarrett has been coming up with theories to explain a rash of unexplainable “appearances” of supernatural creatures who slaughter everything in their path. Joanne Kramer is the Army officer tasked with helping him—after having witnessed the slaughter of her entire unit in a scene early in the book that will have you on the edge of your seat. Some hints at a romance subplot between these two, which are sure to play out more in upcoming books.

Together they’re trying to get to 10-year-old Emily, a pre-cognitive psychic whose ability to predict the attacks threatens the plans of the demon wreaking havoc on mankind and could hold the key to saving the world. The author has a knack for writing good military and action scenes which were one of my favorite aspects of the novel. This was twisty and brilliantly plotted. Everything is building up to a stunning battle royale with angels and demons as good battles evil—and you have no idea how things will turn out. A thrilling ride!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
… (más)

Fast-Paced and Gory, but with a Somewhat Arbitrary Feel

Hinterland is the story of an old man, Aref, who brings a demon back from the Hinterland, a place between life and the afterlife. But when the demon brings friends with him, and they get out of control, no place in London seems safe.

For those of you who prefer your ghost stories fast-paced and gory, Hinterland will be to your liking. I’m not sure there’s one death in each of the 30 chapters, but it certainly felt that way. And some chapters, of course, have many more than one. Generally, that style worked, but there was a section near the middle where characters seemed to be introduced, merely so they could be killed in some new, gruesome way. Those chapters felt a bit forced. I would not necessarily expect character development to be strong in a book that features this much action, but several of the characters (JJ, Harry, Elaine, Sural, and even Sean to a degree) were likeable, and by the end, I was pulling for them. (Of course, you need to be careful forming ties to characters in a book when they are dropping like flies.)

To my tastes, there were a few issues with the writing. I some places, to evoke a feeling, the prose seemed a bit strained. Part of this may be due to the differences between British and American use of words or scenes, but some of the descriptions seemed odd. To say that the shadows of blowing trees looked like ‘demented cheerleaders at some nightmare game,’ for example, does not particularly engender dread in me. Second, while several characters were well developed, I had trouble understanding Aref. He did not seem bitter enough to unleash a demon on London just from spite. But if not spite, why? The loss of a few hundred or a few thousand of your neighbors is not going to endear you to those that are left. And finally, stories of the supernatural will always progress of their own logic – that’s the definition of supernatural, right? But some of works in this genre seem to establish bounds, or rules if you will, about the strengths and weaknesses of the foe. In this book, these bounds seem ephemeral, as prayer sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t, or light killed one type of demon but not another. Unfortunately, the somewhat arbitrary feel to the story is reinforced by the ending, which seems like it could have happened any time after the demons arrived.

For a fast-paced and somewhat gory ghost story – although not necessarily that scary – give Hinterland a try.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest, nonreciprocal review.… (más)