BOOK REVIEW | SALTBLOOD | T. C. PARKER

BOOK REVIEW | SALTBLOOD | T. C. PARKER

ABOUT THE BOOK

A remote island. A group of prisoners. And an evil as old as time.

Robin didn’t mean to break the law. Didn’t know at first what law she’d broken. And now she’s on her way to Salt Rock - a new-model prison for a new kind of criminal, way out in the remote Northern Isles of Scotland. On Salt Rock, she'll meet other prisoners like her – men and women from all over the world, spirited away from the lives they knew for crimes they didn’t know they were committing. She'll uncover the complex web of conspiracy that connects them all, confronting some of the darkness of her own past in the process. And she'll come face to face, finally, with an evil as old as the land itself.

It’s hell in those waters.

REVIEW

On an island off the coast of Scotland, a multinational company has built a new type of prison. One that houses prisoners that their new algorithm identifies as outraging the public and cancels them to this remote corner of the globe. 

Robin finds herself transported there. She is told that she has done something wrong, and is subsequently tried and then detained. 

Cut off from the outside world, she starts to make a new life for herself. However, she stumbles on the body of an ex television presenter. She soon finds herself entangled in a mystery that will lead to an evil as ancient as the sea. 

Part Black Mirror dystopian thriller, part folk horror. T.C. Parker’s creature feature has all the trappings of eighties horror that was typified by the likes of the great Graham Masterton.

The mashup of genres works really well in Saltblood and the mixup of dystopian thriller works well with the creature feature storyline. 

The characters are believable and Robin’s arc is thoroughly engrossing. Not only do we get to see her solve the mystery of why she is there and why the main cast of characters are being detained, but we also get an underlying folk horror, complete with scary locals. 

The pace of the novel is fast and draws the reader in from the first page. The supporting cast of characters are well drawn and play their part equally.

Saltblood is a highly enjoyable read that hooks the reader in from the very start and keeps them guessing till the very end.