Barry Litherland

Shifting Sands is an engrossing mystery-thriller that revolves around a strange clinic with powerful and ambitious hands behind it- a bunch of people who would go to any extent to implement their crazy plan. The clinic and the research centre behind it is upto something big and dangerous, but Phil Tyler, an ordinary journalist and Liz, his grumpy editor are determined to unravel the mystery. Threats and dangers keep heading their way but 'giving up' doesn't exist in their book.

(Warning: Contains mature language. Not recommended for kids under 15)

As I mentioned in the brief introduction, the novel is quite engrossing, and it keeps getting better as you proceed. The thrilling experiences of the narrator can keep the reader hooked to the book till the end, and the humor is icing on the cake. There are savage exchange of words in conversations, and even regular narrations that are bound to make you break into a chortle. The author has done a wonderful job with the characterization. Their actions and dialogues give us a clear image of their personality. Each and every character in the story sounds quite natural; they are all the sort of people that roam around us. The ending is pretty intriguing, it's the kind of thing that makes you think and think and think but you simply can't reach a conclusion.

There isn't much criticism that I can offer in this case. I think the narration could be better in the initial chapters. The improvement in the style is noticeable as the story proceeds. At some parts, the story sounded a bit like a excerpt from a personal diary, but I bet there are many readers out there who won't mind that.

Loved the story, loved the twists, loved the ending!… (más)