Author: Alan Golbourn
First Published: 2024
Contains spoilers
The Blurb: BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER
A missing brother … An imminent phenomenon …
Award-winning comic book illustrator and artist Jimmy Cochran is also a freelance reporter in New York City, specialising in the supernatural. Upon hearing that his estranged brother, Quentin, has gone missing with his best friend over in Germany, Jimmy becomes concerned — unable to shake off the feeling of foreboding and dread. Things worsen when he quickly learns that the missing two are in great danger from an unequalled evil, which is connected to an upcoming, ominous and phenomenal event.
A mysterious ‘man’ with a terrifying tale …
With time running out, Jimmy investigates further, in spite of the strong warnings and the danger to his own life — particularly after he is contacted by a peculiar and mystifying man with a horrific, nefarious past of his own, linked to old Serbian and German folklores and a sinister, secret brotherhood.
The review: I received this novel by Alan Golbourn for review and, honestly, my take is mixed. On the one hand it is a really interesting story and races along at the end of the novel at a breathtaking pace. However, there are issue with the prose, specifically around the dialogue.
So, we have a character Jimmy, an Englishman in New York who is estranged from his brother, Quentin, due to missing the other’s wedding (for medical reasons). Yet, following a call from their mother, suggesting that Quentin and his friend have gone missing in Germany, he begins have a feeling of intense foreboding. He has also had an accidental meeting with a psychic, and their subsequent association convinces him something is very wrong. He travels first to England and then Germany.
Quentin has been embroiled with (and kidnapped by) a vampire cult and the author’s choice of lore was really quite interesting. He based the cult on the history and folklore around Arnold Paole, as well as the Germanic Nachzehrer, bringing in the shroud eater aspect, but making them much more active and purposeful than suggested in Bane, who posited that it “remains in its grave during the day not because it is harmed by sunlight but rather because it chooses not to confront the living who would without a doubt try to destroy it.” Bane’s entry suggests they are more an astral creature that devour life (energy) but the author has taken the name and myth and created a physical, deadly adversary who are looking to perform a ritual to increase their powers. The author genuinely looks to make the vampires here a thing of nightmares.
The first half of the book paces steadily as we get to know Jimmy – the author has added an afterword about the character, explaining some of his foibles for those who believed he made a strange protagonist, but I never thought negatively of the character – and start placing the pieces together. The pace ratchets up when he travels to Germany and starts trying to investigate the disappearance himself. The author carries the reader with that vastly increasing pace. I mentioned an issue and it is within the dialogue which often feels unreal – with a formality in the phrasing that just didn’t feel natural. The author contacted me as I was reading through the volume and I mentioned this to him, he suggested that this had been said on an occasion before but felt it was the way his mind works, which is fair. It is also true to say that dialogue writing is, to me, one of the hardest parts of authorship and one that develops over time. As mentioned, the formality in some phrasing was the main issue but also, occasionally, a non-British character would use specifically British idioms, which was also noticed whilst reading. However, I must stress that the story and the pace kept me engaged. It is those elements that suggests to me as 6 out of 10 being fair with a thought that Alan Golbourn’s writing can only go from strength to strength.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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