Tuesday 5 March 2013

CRIME REVIEW: White Bones - Graham Masterton

Release Date: 01/03/13
Publisher:  Head of Zeus

SYNOPSIS:

One wet November morning, a field on Meagher's Farm gives up the dismembered bones of eleven women. In this part of Ireland, unmarked graves are common. But these bones date to 1915, long before the Troubles. What's more, these bones bear the marks of a meticulous executioner. These women were almost certainly skinned alive. Detective Katie Maguire, of the Cork Garda, is used to dead bodies. But this is wholesale butchery. Her team think these long-dead women are a waste of police time. Katie is determined to give them justice. And then a young American tourist goes missing, and her bones, carefully stripped of flesh, are discovered on the same farm. With the crimes of the past echoing in the present, Katie must solve a decades-old ritualistic murder before this terrifying killer strikes again.


REVIEW:

As a fan of Graham Masterton’s I always loved the details he worked into his horror stories, they gave a real sense of history weaving mysticism, urban fantasy in with a cast of characters that reads route for throughout. So when I heard that he was bringing a Crime title to the fore, I really couldn’t wait but there’s always a bit of apprehension when a known author changes tack as well as genre, that they won’t please you as much as they have done previous.

What Graham brings to the reader is a cracking tale of murder, with some sleight of hand, top notch characters and when you also get the added bonus of Irish slang which gives some authority to it all, really makes this something special. Finally throw into the mix great prose, some wonderful turns of phrase and of course dialogue that just melts into the imagination, all round made me a very happy reader.




1 comment:

Danielle La Paglia said...

This sounds fantastic. Thanks!