Patrick Farrell’s life is complex, but under control. His work takes him through the streets of South London, repossessing credit cards and searching for missing debtors. And in the evenings he visits his schizophrenic brother, Mike, who stares out of his hospital room window, convinced he’s being watched. But when Patrick’s girlfriend introduces him to a new crowd with a strange interest in astrology and the occult, his world is thrown dramatically out of kilter. This is a tricky review for me to write, if I’m being honest I didn’t enjoy this novel. I tried to, I really did, but I just didn’t get anything from it. There were some things that I did like. The relationship between Patrick and his brother Mike came across well. The scenes where the brothers interact, or in some cases don’t, were actually pretty good. Sadly, none of the others characters felt anywhere as real to me. I like to feel something for the characters I read about, doesn’t matter if that feeling is negative or positive, but in this instance I didn’t connect. The writing is absolutely fine but I wish that the plot had been just a little bit darker. I appreciate that…

A story of survival and obsession in a world brought to its knees. When Jez White disturbs Rachel’s solitary existence she finds herself being drawn into a murky territory somewhere between stalking and being stalked. This powerful is by turns sensual and sinister, and conjures up an all-too-believable near future – of isolated communities, wild weather and strange allegiances. I Have Waited, and You Have Come is a character study that follows the life of a woman who shuts herself away from the world as it starts to fall apart due to global warming. As her story unfolds, I have to admit that I found my feelings towards Rachel changing on almost a chapter-by-chapter basis. She chooses to live an isolated existence, purposefully avoiding human contact whenever possible. The relationship she had with her previous partner ended badly, and this has undoubtedly left a mark. Her increasingly fragile grasp on reality and deteriorating mental state make her come across as quite abrupt and standoffish at times. There were moments when part of me felt sorry for the situation she was in, but another part of me couldn’t help but feel that some of her problems were due to her cutting…