HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: The Devil's Beat - Robert Edric

Release Date: 01/03/12

SYNOPSIS:

'We must prise opinion from fact, belief from supposition and guesswork from whatever evidence must exist...'

It is surely a simple case of hysteria. Four young women allegedly witness a terrifying apparition while walking in the woods. Has the devil really revealed himself to them? Are they genuine victims of demonic possession? Or, as most suspect, is their purpose in claiming all of this considerably more prosaic?

The eyes of the country turn to a small Nottinghamshire town, where an inquiry is to be held. Everyone there is living through hard, uncertain times. The king is recently dead. It is a new century - a new world looking to the future. But here, in the ancient heart of England, an old beast stirs...

Four men must examine the substance of the girls' tales and decide their fate: a minister, a doctor, a magistrate, and Merritt, an investigator - a seemingly perfect blend of the rational, the sacred and the judicial. And yet, as the feverish excitement all around them grows ever more widespread and infectious, there is both doubt and conflict among the members of this panel.

The Devil's Beat explores the unforeseeable and unstoppable outcome of this inquiry during an alarming and unsettling time, when the whole of that small world seems in turmoil as, one after another, hitherto dependable natural checks and balances, beliefs and superstitions are challenged and then shattered.


REVIEW:

Originally when the book arrived I was really looking forward to it as it had a hook that really appealed to me, the meeting of old and new ideal’s as the Victorian factual way of life was challenged by a medieval spiritual belief. It was fascinating and with such an interesting premise how could it go wrong?

Sadly for me that’s exactly what happened as I found that way too much time was spent on chatter that really felt more like padding than anything else. Add to this clichéd characters, some poorly concealed plot devices and overall I found this title a real struggle to make my way through. Sadly this is one of those books where the blurb reads better than the title.