After the Sickness has killed off her parents, and the bombs have fallen on the last safe cities, Monster emerges from the arctic vault which has kept her alive. When she washes up on the coast of Scotland, everyone she knows is dead, and she believes she is alone in an empty world. Monster begins the long walk south, scavenging and learning the contours of this familiar land made new. Slowly, piece by piece, she begins to rebuild a life. Until, one day, she finds a girl: feral, and ready to be taught all that Monster knows. Changing her own name to Mother, Monster names the child after herself. As young Monster learns from Mother, she also discovers her own desires, realising that she wants very different things to the woman who made, but did not create, her. Regular readers of The Eloquent Page will know I am a huge fan of all things apocalyptic. It may sound a little strange, perhaps even counter-intuitive, but I find this particular sub-genre to be oddly life affirming. The end of humanity tends to bring out either the best or worst in people. I appreciate that refreshingly brutal honesty. When you read apocalyptic…

Bodies are piling up with grisly messages carved into their chests. Rival gangs are competing for control of Glasgow’s underworld and it seems that Cooper, McCoy’s oldest gangster friend, is tangled up in it all. Detective Harry McCoy’s first day back at work couldn’t have gone worse. New drugs have arrived in Glasgow, and they’ve brought a different kind of violence to the broken city. The law of the street is changing and now demons from McCoy’s past are coming back to haunt him. But vengeance always carries a price, and it could cost McCoy more than he ever imagined. You can hire The waters of Glasgow corruption are creeping higher, as the wealthy and dangerous play for power. And the city’s killer continues his dark mission. Can McCoy keep his head up for long enough to solve the case? Bruised and battered from the events of Bloody January, McCoy returns for a breathless ride through the ruthless world of 1970s Glasgow. There is always a frisson of hesitancy when you start reading the second novel by an author whose inaugural novel is outstanding. There is that sense of worry that the first book was a one of and book…

You’re the last. I’m sorry. The end is coming. For two centuries Jacob Marlowe has wandered the world, enslaved by his lunatic appetites and tormented by the memory of his first monstrous crime. Now, the last of his kind, he knows he can’t go on. But as Jake counts down to suicide, a violent murder and an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life. I have to admit that I approached this novel with a certain amount of caution. I read one of the author’s earlier novels – I, Lucifer – a few years ago and didn’t really enjoy it. That said, I am always willing to give a writer the opportunity to win me over so I decided to take a chance and include The Last Werewolf during this month’s werewolf themed shenanigans. Jacob ‘Jake’ Marlowe is a fascinating character. He has lived as a werewolf for nearly two hundred years and is horrified at the prospect of living the same length of time over again. He has tried to make amends for the terrible things that does when he changes, but it has reached the point when he knows that this is no…