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Lovecraft in Catherine Cookson Country

Advantages: Superb Lovecraft / Cookson Hybrid
Disadvantages: None , for those who love this genre

Before I continue I've never read any Catherine Cookson books, but have seen the various TV adaptations. I know people who read Catherine Cookson and this book draws on her influence in the era and location of its settings, and the injustices perpetrated upon it's heroine. It mainly consists of the testament of Caroline Metcalfe , given to her doctor as an explanation of her state of mind and health. This is bookended by correspondence between Reverend ...
...I'll say no more of these two as they are involved as means to tell the story and to enhance it on true Lovecraftian fashion at the end of the book. Caroline was born into a well to do Newcastle family and had a happy childhood, with her younger brother Arthur. However when her died the family had huge debts and despite pleas to their nearest relations for help, end up in the workhouse where family is split up. Within six months Charlotte's mother ...

mikeydred 17.04.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Whispers in the Dark - Jonathan Aycliffe

A Web of Intrigue

Advantages: Ghosts, sinister goings on
Disadvantages: None

...THAT THIS IS NOT about the Keanu Reeves’ science fiction blockbuster. This is about the little known book written by Jonathan Aycliffe. We all have those authors whose books we try to seek out in second hand bookshops and Internet sites. Books that are either out of print or rare. Whenever I frequent a bookshop I always look out for books by Jonathan Aycliffe. Anyway, we were talking about the Matrix, weren’t we… In the Matrix, ...
...book of deception and horror. The plot slowly turns like a vice and you are engrossed as each twist and turn takes you deeper into the story line. Andrew Macleod, the lead character has recently been widowed. Unable to come to terms with his wife's death, he seeks solace in his research into the works of black magic and the occult. Taken under the wing of the devious Duncan Mylne, Andrew is drawn unwittingly into the world of the arcane and the ...

Borg 03.09.2002 · Read full review
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Review of The Matrix - Jonathan Aycliffe

Lost and Found

Advantages: Slow build up leading to horrible things. Gets nerves jangling.
Disadvantages: Too descriptive at times.

...a Draculian castle deep in the heart of Transylvania. He leaves behind his English mother, his friends and, most of all, his girlfriend in the hope of setting up an orphanage at the Castle. His early attempts to regain his inheritance appear thwarted with red tape, but he enlists the help of a young female lawyer and things start to get moving. The more time he spends in Romania, the more he starts to feel at home in the country. He changes his name ...
...day. Meanwhile, the female lawyer, Liliana, is hoodwinking him behind his back. She thinks of him as an easy to manipulate Englishman playing ‘Count’ and has other ideas as to what he should do with the Castle and this is to make it into a hotel. Back home, his mother and his girlfriend are having strange dreams, dreams that might be portents however Michael discards these theories. Other people are having them too, and at his old school people ...

Borg 15.10.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Lost - Jonathan Aycliffe

The camera never lies!

Advantages: Great story
Disadvantages: A bit disturbing and gruesome

...them was this book - Naomi's Room written by Jonathon Aycliffe. I don't generally read stories about ghosts but the synopsis on the back cover intrigued me enough to give it a go. The setting for the story are the leafy streets of Cambridge surrounding Trinity College and our main characters are Dr Charles Hillenbrand, his wife Laura and their 4 year old daughter Naomi whom they both adore. Charles works at the university and his wife is an art ...
...until a few days later Naomi's dismembered body is found in an alleyway in Spitalfields. Devastated by their loss it is soon apparent that this is no ordinary case, there was no sexual assault on the girl but curiously her limbs had been removed. Shortly after Naomi's death strange things start to happen in the house and as the events become more and more intense we wonder why, 20 years later our narrator is still in this same house, why he cannot ...

micksheff 16.11.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Naomi's Room - Jonathan Aycliffe

Sheer Hell at Holiday Home in Cornwall

Advantages: One of the best ghost / horror stories of modern times
Disadvantages: May be difficult to track down

The title of the book is “The Vanishment”, this is one that Ciao have got wrong. A “Vanishment” is a particular type of disappearance where not trace of the disappeared person is found and no apparent reason , and the assumption is that they have been abducted by malign spirits, fairies or goblins, never to be seen again. This was the first Jonathan Aycliffe novel I ever read, and the one that got me and several friends hooked ...
...me pick it up but I’m pleased I did, because it introduced me to one of the best ghost story / horror writers producing today. He also writes excellent political thrillers as Daniel Easterman, and I normally hate political novels. On of the problems with reviewing this particular book is how to make you want to read it without giving away the plot, but I’ll give it a go. Peter and Sarah Clare’s marriage is going through a bad time ...

mikeydred 25.05.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Books The Vanishment - Jonathan Aycliffe