Reviewed by: Corina
Genre: Horror
Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words
Availability
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appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
Bruce Blake
lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. He is on Twitter: @BruceABlake, and writes ablog. Blake has 3 other books of short horror
stories available, as well as a just-released sequel to the book in this
review: All Who Wander Are Lost.
Description:
Icarus Fell dies
a tragic death in the shadows of the Catholic Church where he was raised, and
then wakes to find himself in a hotel room talking to a man claiming to be an
angel. Charged with escorting the souls of the recently deceased to locations
where an escort will await them, Icarus has difficulty believing that his new
line of work is real. He escorts some souls safely, some not at all, and comes
to terms with his past, his personal hell, and his questionable future.
Appraisal:
I found this
novel dark, disturbing, and fascinating. After a beginning that was sad and
painful to read, I became engaged in the storyline and wondered what was going
to happen next. I didn’t always like the
main character, Icarus, or his decisions, but I found his motives
understandable. I was rooting for him through his challenges, hoping he’d make
better decisions with his second chance.
Blake’s writing
in this novel is dark and gritty, with elements of horror, but not every
character is painted with a dark brush. The author can bring out the voices of
lighter characters, which helps to make the story interesting.
The quality of
Blake’s writing is good, with only a few areas of roughness in the flow of the
action. I look forward to his evolution
as an author, and of the character of Icarus Fell.
I look forward
to reading the next book in this series.
FYI:
This author uses
British spellings and sentence structure at times, and I never felt that they
distracted or detracted from the novel or storyline. There is foul language used and there are passages
of violence and drug and alcohol abuse. I’d
recommend this novel for older teens and above.
Format/Typo Issues:
There are a
number of missing commas, which should not interrupt most readers’ enjoyment of
the novel. Only those of us who notice such things will be thrown off. :)
Rating: **** Four Stars
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