You may have noticed that there are a lot of book reviews coming up on my blog at the moment. That's because I love using my holiday time for catching up with my reading by the poolside or during the heat-busting early afternoon naps. I also love taking advantage of my dark sunglasses to have a sneaky look at what everyone else in reading on the sunloungers and there was one man reading a thriller who kept making me smile because he kept pulling wide-eyed looks of surprise as he read - always the sign of a good book !
Well, when Alexandra Sokoloff sent me through a copy of her book, The Book of Shadows, she wrote on the enclosed card "Hope I scare you !". Well ... she did ! Not in a sleeping with the lights on kind of way but in a "oh my goodness, what's going to happen next, if this was a film I'd put my fingers over my eyes but I can't do that with a book or my reading will come to a standstill" kind of way !
What I love, and what I also find extremely clever, is that the book can be read on a number of levels, depending on the beliefs you bring to it as a reader. The plot focuses on a series of gruesome murders with elements of Satanism that are being investigated by two Boston cops, Carl Landauer and Adam Garrett. As their investigation progresses, they come across witchcraft and devil worship but, as they also come into contact with hallucinogenic drugs such as belladonna, it's entirely up to the reader to decide if they are encountering truly paranormal phenomena or if the drugs explain away all of the spooky stuff. It's purposely ambiguous and the detectives involved in the case are also unsure of what they are witnessing so it will appeal to both supernatural believers and sceptics alike.
It has some gruesome horror moments, some scary spooky bits, a cracking police investigation and so much suspense, you'll be reading way past your bedtime because you just can't bear to put it down until you find out what happens next.
Alexandra Sokoloff is a Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of five traditionally published adult supernatural thrillers and an indie-published YA thriller, as well as a produced screenwriter. I will definitely be looking out for her other books to find out if they are as good as Book of Shadows.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £25.99 (but available for much less on amazon)
- Hardcover: 312 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (8 Jun 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312384718
- ISBN-13: 978-0312384715
Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.
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I shall be looking out for this one, it looks like my sort of book
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read, thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteSounds good x
ReplyDeleteAlways on the look out for more books, ones that will get my attention. This looks just up my street x
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