Purged by Peter Laws

This week's buzz is all about Possessed by Peter Laws, which has just been published by Allison & Busby. If you want to know more about Possessed, follow the #Possessed hashtag and visit @sjroth21 on Twitter (https://stephsbookblog.com) tomorrow.

Rather than read Possessed straightaway, I decided to visit this series where it all began - with Purged, the first Matt Hunter book.

Purged
By Peter Laws
Published by Allen & Busby

Publisher's description

Matt Hunter lost his faith a long time ago. Formerly a minister, now a professor of sociology, he's writing a book that debunks the Christian faith while assisting the police with religiously motivated crimes. On holiday with his family in Oxfordshire, Matt finds himself on edge in a seemingly idyllic village where wooden crosses hang at every turn. The stay becomes more sinister still when a local girl goes missing, followed by further disappearances. Caught up in an investigation that brings memories to the surface that he would prefer stay buried deep, Matt is on the trail of a killer determined to save us all.

My verdict
I love creepy crime fiction, and Purged certainly didn't disappoint. The book begins with a disturbing scene and a great introduction to Matt Hunter, a former minister who is now an academic and assists the police with crimes motivated by religion.

Purged combines horror and murder mystery in a small-community setting, a village teeming with religion. Two women have disappeared, followed by a third, and the local church is at the centre of the investigations.

The book is well written with a well-developed plot. The author uses his own experience as a church minister to explore what happens when religion is taken to extremes. But rather than take everything too seriously, there's an enjoyable mix of humour and darkness. While there's more crime than horror in Purged, it certainly has a creepy vibe to it, with some very visual - and often disturbing - imagery. Matt is not only likeable but also believable, a family man with tragic events in his own past. And he certainly makes a change from the flawed police detective found in many other crime novels.

Purged is a great first novel and I found myself racing through it to the end. I enjoyed it so much that I've already bought the next book in the series!

Read the series
There are now four books: Purged, Unleashed, Severed and Possessed. Here is more information on the other three.

Unleashed

Fifteen years ago, 29 Barley Street in Menham, south London became notorious as the scene of alleged poltergeist activity and then as a crime scene with the death of young Holly Wasson. The shadow cast by this episode is still felt in the town, and among the gang of friends who were caught up in the tragic events. That shadow looms larger than ever when one of the group dies in horrific and strange circumstances.

Matt Hunter, former church minister and now university professor, is called in to advise the police on the possible ritualistic elements of the death. And he is forced to ask himself, are forces beyond the grave at work or is a flesh-and-blood killer at large?

Severed

During a Communion service, the teenage son of the vicar brutally attacks his father with an axe in full view of the congregation. A frantic police search for the boy follows as rumours circulate that he was involved in devil worship. Atheist ex-minister Professor Matt Hunter is brought in to advise, yet he soon suspects the cause is far more complex than first thought.

Elsewhere, a ten-year-old boy, Ever, grows up in a small cult who believe they are the only true humans left and that the world is filled with demons. Harnessing the powers of a bizarre ritual they hope to bring peace and paradise to the world.

Soon the worlds of Matt and Ever will collide in one terrifying and murderous night...

Possessed

When an unidentified and blood-soaked man is discovered with the name Baal-Berith scored into his flesh, Professor Matt Hunter is called in by the bewildered local police. As an atheist ex-minister and expert on religion, Matt can shed light on the ancient Canaanite demon known as the spirit of blasphemy and murder, but as he's drawn into a frenzied murder investigation, a fury of media interest and a TV show documenting a mass exorcism, the situation follows a much murkier path. Striving to provide balance to the show's increasingly sensational tone and rational support for the vulnerable 'clients', Matt cannot leave, even as events get seriously out of hand...

The Taking of Annie Thorne by CJ Tudor

The Taking of Annie Thorne
By CJ Tudor
Published by Michael Joseph (21 February 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher 

Publisher's description

Then...

One night, Annie went missing. Disappeared from her own bed. There were searches, appeals. Everyone thought the worst. And then, miraculously, after forty-eight hours, she came back. But she couldn't, or wouldn't, say what had happened to her.

Something happened to my sister. I can't explain what. I just know that when she came back, she wasn't the same. She wasn't my Annie. 

I didn't want to admit, even to myself, that sometimes I was scared to death of my own little sister.

Now... 

The email arrived in my inbox two months ago. I almost deleted it straight away, but then I clicked OPEN: 

I know what happened to your sister. It's happening again...

My verdict
The Taking of Annie Thorne is creepy crime fiction at its best, from its compelling characters and strong sense of place to its fast-moving plot and action-packed ending.

Centred around a small mining village, the book is chilling from the outset, told through the mesmerising and often humorous voice of teacher Joe Thorne, who has returned to the place of his childhood. His little sister, Annie, disappeared for 48 hours when she was eight and was never the same again.

Joe is flawed and unreliable with an underlying vulnerability, haunted by memories of his dead sister and a creepy doll called 'Abbie Eyes'. The book swings between his past and present, as old mistakes, teenage rebellion and unfinished business gradually bubble to the surface.

The Taking of Annie Thorne is dark, shocking, atmospheric and entertaining, filled with elements of supernatural, horror and psychological thrillers. This is a book you'll want to keep reading well into the early hours - though that may not be advisable if you ever want to sleep again!

It made me nostalgic for my teenage years, when I was addicted to Stephen King and James Herbert books. And very soon, I'll be re-reading those books again.

Looking forward to seeing what's next from CJ Tudor.

Follow the Blog Tour

Changeling by Matt Wesolowski

Changeling
By Matt Wesolowski
Published by Orenda Books (Ebook - 15 November 2018; Paperback - 15 January 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher’s description

On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the Wentshire Forest Pass, when a burst tyre forced his father, Sorrel, to stop the car. Leaving the car to summon the emergency services, Sorrel returned to find his son gone. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.

Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel, his son and his ex-partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. He takes a journey through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there. He talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know where Alfie is…

My verdict
A missing child, a grieving father, a neglectful alcoholic mother, things that go tap tap tap in the night, local folklore, creepy forests... Plus gripping writing, authentic dialogue, heart-pounding tension and a final twist that I seriously didn’t see coming!

Yes, as you may have guessed, I loved Changeling.

I read this book in around 2.5 hours, unable to tear myself away. Pretty impressive, considering I was going through a major reading slump at the time, unable to find a book to maintain my concentration. It takes a lot for a book to 'scare' me so I don't have a problem reading these books alone at night, when everyone else has gone to bed. But Changeling is very very unsettling, and I found myself gripping the pages tightly as I read - and then jumped when a door banged somewhere in the house.

Changeling explores of the case of seven-year-old Alfie Marsden, who went missing in a forest in 1988, after slipping out, or being taken from, the car while his father investigated a strange tapping sound. The young boy hasn't been seen since, dead or alive.

Changeling is definitely my favourite of the three Six Stories books so far. I'm not sure if that’s down to the emotional subject matter, chilling storyline or overall creepiness of the prose. All three books feel very real, from the array of believable characters to the atmospheric settings. In fact, part of me is convinced that these are genuine cases and genuine podcasts and that Matt Wesolowski has a secret life as a crime podcaster (which means he IS his character).

To explain, if you haven't read a Six Stories book before, all three of the books are written in a unique format - six podcasts hosted by elusive online journalist Scott King who is exploring cold cases. The podcasts are all very dark, highly thought-provoking and intriguing, as each new character reveals snippets of information about the case, building the tension, intensifying the suspense and layering the mystery at the heart of the story.

You could easily read Changeling as a stand-alone. But I would recommend reading all three books anyway. They’re all brilliant, very different despite following the same format and prove that Matt Weselowski is one of the best emerging horror/crime writers in the present day.

Bring on the next one! (I hope there is a next one...)

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton

The Craftsman
By Sharon Bolton
Published by Trapeze (3 May 2018)

Publisher's description

Devoted father or merciless killer?

His secrets are buried with him.

Florence Lovelady's career was made when she convicted coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook of a series of child murders 30 years ago. Like something from our worst nightmares the victims were buried...ALIVE.

Larry confessed to the crimes; it was an open and shut case. But now he's dead, and events from the past start to repeat themselves. 

Did she get it wrong all those years ago? 

Or is there something much darker at play?

My verdict
The Craftsman was creepy and unsettling from the start. A combination of crime, horror and gothic mystery - a page-turning 'chiller thriller' - this is a throwback to Sharon Bolton's earlier novels (Sacrifice, Blood Harvest and Awakening), which I first discovered and fell in love with several years ago.

The book is set in 1969 and 1999. Assistant Commissioner Florence Lovelady has returned to Pendle Witch County to witness the funeral of the man she convicted of a series of child murders 30 years earlier - a case that not only consumed her every waking moment at the time, but one that nearly ended her own life. She's a wonderful character - quirky and feisty, courageous yet vulnerable, determined but soft-centred - with a highly compelling narrative voice. Needing to prove herself in a male-dominated environment in her early days as a junior detective, she was prepared to battle every step of the way to solve the case.

The Craftsman was a one-sitting read. I felt spellbound to keep turning the pages. The writing is suitably bare but beautifully descriptive, with realistic dialogue that keeps the plot flowing at a cracking pace. I really couldn't put the book down until I'd discovered all of its secrets. I did have an inkling about what was going on, and was right about a few things, but there were so many secrets to be discovered.

This is certainly one of the creepiest books I've read. Just holding the book makes my hands tingle with anticipation, as I know that I'll be diving into it again (at least once).