BOOK REVIEW | THE BLACK LORD | COLIN HINCKLEY

 

Welcome to the blog!

Today’s review is a look at The Black Lord by Colin HInckley, a synergy of folk and cosmic horror that works really well. I loved this crossover of two genres and am definitely on the look out for something similar. 

I had never heard of this book and it wasn’t on my TBR and nowhere near my radar. I came across it purely by chance coz I was bored when my Mrs was watching her soaps and I couldn’t be bothered to do anything except scroll on my phone. 

I love it when this happens, it’s like digging in the dirt and finding treasure.

If you are a fan of weird fiction then you may like this one (or not!). I certainly did.

ABOUT THE BOOK

There’s something knocking on the window.

 Eddie’s parents may be arguing about the disappearance of his infant brother Danny, but Eddie’s facing a terror all of his own. There’s a strange figure outside that claims it has Danny safe and sound—all Eddie needs to do to get his brother back is open that window.

 Eddie’s father is filled with guilt over his relationship with his own lost brother. His mother has been abandoned to navigate her grief and terror alone. His grandmother carries with her a disturbing and all-too-relevant truth about their shared family history. As minutes tick by and hope for Danny grows ever smaller, the very fabric of their world disintegrates, welcoming eldritch terrors of unspeakable provenance to their doorstep.

 The family is losing a decades-long struggle against an entity that is not of this world, and its hunger threatens to swallow them whole.

REVIEW

Eddie’s baby brother has been missing for a week. Taken from his cot.

His father has been drinking more and more, and his mother is left to cope on her own.

The whole family is in a mess.

This is a book that I came across purely by chance and decided to buy it.

The story is a multiple point of view story, cycling through each of the differing views of the members of the family, each time learning a little bit more about the events that have led up to the incident of the missing child. If you have seen the film Weapons that has been out recently, it’s a similar story telling method.

It’s best to go into this story blind not knowing anything about the story.

Blending elements of folk and cosmic horror, there are some genuinely creepy moments in this book.

Hinckley carefully layers on the atmosphere and dread of the story in an elegant way that disorientates the reader until the final moments of the story. And then he writes a massive crescendo of weirdness that will surely delight fans of cosmic horror/ weird fiction.

Well worth a read.