Horror
1940s
Scotland
Newly widowed
after her husband, Gordon, has been killed during World War II, Annette and her
eight-year-old son Duncan leave blitz ravaged London to revive Gordon's
inheritance, a rundown hotel in the wilds of Scotland. On the train they meet
an old man who befriends them and then turns up at their new home looking for a
place to stay, just for a short while....
He is The
Clockmaker, a man who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis and even drew the
attentions of Hitler himself. But don't waste any sympathies on him - we know
almost immediately that he's a wrong 'un. For in Duncan he has found what he
has been waiting for for many centuries.
While Annette
makes friends in the village, the old man is shunned for being a foreigner. And
soon the killings begin.
Atmosphere is
everything in tales of horror – and The Clockmaker has bags of it. There is
surprisingly little dialogue and, in truth, it doesn't really need it. The
thoughts of the main characters are delivered in a short, staccato style and
descriptions of locations or weather are minimal yet so precise.
There were a
couple of things, though: it sometimes took a few lines at the start of each chapter to establish just who was doing the thinking and whose POV you were reading. And
the authors acknowledge the illustrator (and her picture appears at the front
of the book with those of the authors) and yet my mobi. version had no
illustrations at all, so are they there in e-book versions? I don’t know.
A chilling read
with an ending that will leave you guessing and may – or may not – lead to a
sequel.
© Richard Tearle
click here to
return to home page 'Bookshelf' then scroll down for more items of interest
I don't generally read horror, but I have to say that this one intrigues me!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Stephanie!
ReplyDelete