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Post by Dr Strange on Feb 21, 2011 11:37:45 GMT
Hodder Paperbacks 2011
Julian Creed is an ex-special forces soldier who saw some especially nasty action in the Falklands, and who has somehow found his way into a TV career as a (entirely fraudulant) "ghost hunter". He's now been asked to do some highly paid private investigations for a retired rock star, who thinks there is something nasty lurking in a derelict Edwardian railway waiting room located on his country estate...
After spending a couple of nights in the waiting room Creed is now a confirmed believer in the supernatural - what started off as a vaguely felt "atmosphere" and fleeting glimpses of "something" out of the corner of the eye culminated in a full-blown ghostly manifestation of a crying woman that is much, much more convincing than anything he'd ever cooked up for his dodgy TV programme. And a bit of digging into the history of the waiting room by his researcher Elena suggests a likely link to an asylum that specialised in the treatment of "shell-shocked" WW1 soldiers... which, in turn, leads to a mysterious secret society called "The Night Brotherhood" that had existed in the "decadent" years just prior to the Great War, and to an obscure 16th century German alchemist who was burned at the stake for witchcraft.
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 8, 2011 11:13:07 GMT
Well, I finished this and (actually, not for the first time) I'm not sure just what to make of how Cottam decided to end it. It's... different, but (for me) not entirely satisfying. Still, I will read his next one too no doubt. If his weaknesses are slightly unsatisfying denouments (plus a tendency for some rather clunky and unconvincing dialogue along the way), his strengths more than make up for it - he is particularly good at the "past evil deeds echoing through time to the present" stuff, and his writing really steps up a notch in style and quality when he is giving you some historical background (as it turns out, he has a history degree - so that's only to be expected I suppose). If you want a recommendation, I'd say start with House of Lost Souls and if you like that then move on to Dark Echo. After that you'll know one way or the other whether to try the others.
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