BOOK BLURB:The figure in the mask stumbles bleeding through the streets, his pursuers closing in. They also wear masks, but they don't stumble. They stalk. They carry machetes, clubs and knives. And they know how to use them ...Who is kidnapping seemingly random victims and then slaughtering them in an elaborate game of cat and mouse? And why are these murders being streamed over the internet? Watching the horror unfold at New Scotland Yard is Detective Inspector Joe Chapman who searches for clues, hints - anything that might tell him where and when this savage hunt is happening. He'd give anything to know. But DI Chapman is about to learn that you should be careful what you wish for. Very soon, he will be closer to the blood-letting than he could have imagined. Forced to fight for his life and the life of someone he holds dear, the only way out looks to be to rack up the biggest body count. But even that might not be enough.
REVIEW:
Shaun used to one of my top five favourite authors and with his earlier works always fulfilling my reading need his work ended up at the top of my TBR pile.
However recent releases have seen him slipping further and further down my favoured list until now he's clinging on by his fingernails.
This opinion of him isn't improved with his latest offering in which a Policeman who whilst searching for his runaway daughter gets thrown some bizarre cases that seem to defy logic. The fact that the victims are all criminals make ie even more incredulous but what really took the biscuit was how this aged, unfit copper was able to become more than human as he leaps trashed cars like a proverbial superhuman. As with most writing I can accept the improbable but the impossible really does take the mick. A great shame to be honest, although the main pleasure I got out of this book was to envision the protagonist as Philip Glenister's DCI Gene Hunt. However, Shaun is going to have to reinvent himself as I wonder how many fans he's not only losing but how many are thinking of constructive ways to plot their revenge for another poor release.
BOOK BLURB:Almost beaten to death by a gang of violent teenagers, schoolmaster Peter Mason wants nothing more than to escape the simmering violence of London, his broken marriage and the memories of his daughter's death. The perfect chance comes in the form of a position at a prestigious boarding school in the heart of the Buckinghamshire countryside. But the past is always lurking in the background. Not just his own past but that of the school and its former staff. Mason becomes obsessed with discovering what became of his predecessor. The man's mysterious disappearance remains unexplained, leaving a chilling legacy behind. Mason finds that there are strange events occurring at the school - violent and sinister events that have happened before and will, if he cannot stop them, happen again ...
REVIEW:
If there’s one thing that Shaun always does well its pick a role that not only fits well within the situation to which they’ll find themselves but also find a way to twist the readers perspectives allowing them to see the heroism of the common man depicted in its greater glory. Here the character is a teacher who after suffering emotional and physical trauma seeks to find a new life. Having talked to his ex-wife he is persuaded to find a new position away from the place where the attack took place and manages to get a teaching placement at a private school that comes with the added bonus of a new home.
Whilst looking round the cottage he finds disturbing images of his predecessor which leads him into an investigation, during which his colleagues are all closed lipped about the events. Help comes in the form of the female member of staff with the relationship developing as events unfold. Things in the classroom aren’t going as well, as he finds that there is a small click amongst his pupils that know more about him than he’s revealed which leads to paranoia that escalates after his love interest ends up missing.
The book itself is unfortunately tedious with very little happening as if the author had a good idea for a novella that had to be stretched to accommodate a novel brief. Add to the mix Shaun’s almost superstitious usage of certain words within the text and it does leave you wondering if he’s had his day. However, what really got to me was that after so many carefully created plots that he turns out a novel that felt too much a cross of the “Wicker Man” and “Class of 1984” which sadly had none of the originality of either. For me Shaun really has lost it and I only hope that at some point he’ll take a long hard look at what he’s been releasing and asks the fans what they want rather than relying on his name to sell an inferior product.
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