Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he’s right? The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn’t appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage. Dubbed ‘The Three’ by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children’s behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival… It’s the bane of a reviewer (well, this particular reviewer at least) – so many books, so little time. When The Three was originally released back in 2014 it almost completely passed…

Deep in the heart of history’s most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world – a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London’s grimiest streets. I was fascinated by the premise of this novel as soon as I first heard about it. An alternate history, told as a story within another story. I was right to be intrigued. A Man Lies Dreaming is a provocative, mesmerising experience. I finished the book earlier this week and I’m still pondering it now. The scenes featuring Shomer in Auschwitz are heart breaking. His entire life has been utterly destroyed. His family and friends are gone, and now he only exists in his own personal hell. It feels almost like events occur in a bubble, there is no past or present for Shomer, the camp is in a state of constant now. The only time when he is not controlled is when he is unconscious. Shomer’s mind uses…

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left. Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable – and inhabited – for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought. Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield – and Darrow isn’t the only student with an agenda. Pierce Brown has created a stark vision of the future in Red Rising,…

Bobby Dollar has a problem or four of epic proportions. Problem one: his best friend Sam has given him an angel’s feather that also happens to be evidence of an unholy pact between Bobby’s employers and those who dwell in the infernal depths. Problem two: Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell, wants to get his claws on the feather at all costs, but particularly at all cost to Bobby. Problem three: Bobby has fallen in love with Casimira, Countess of Cold Hands, who just happens to be Eligor’s girlfriend. Problem four: Eligor, aware of Problem three, has whisked Casimira off to the Bottomless Pit itself, telling Bobby he will never see her again unless he hands over the feather. But Bobby, long-time veteran of the endless war between above and below, is not the type of guy who finds Hell intimidating. All he has to do is toss on a demon’s body, sneak through the infernal gates, solve the mystery of the angel’s feather, and rescue the girl. Saving the day should just be a matter of an eon or two of anguish, mutilation and horror.  If only it were that easy.  Are you sitting comfortably? Good. I have a question….

Time for another guest post from my better half. It’s werewolf related so I kinda had to let her read it. She is the expert after all. So without further ado over to @MadNad and her thoughts on Red Moon… Every teenage girl thinks she’s different. When government agents kick down Claire Forrester’s front door and murder her parents, Claire realises just how different she is. Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and, hours later, stepped off it, the only passenger left alive. A hero.  President Chase Williams has vowed to eradicate the menace. Unknown to the electorate, however, he is becoming the very thing he has sworn to destroy.  Each of them is caught up in a war that so far has been controlled with laws and violence and drugs. But an uprising is about to leave them damaged, lost, and tied to one another for ever. The night of the red moon is coming, when an unrecognizable world will emerge, and the battle for humanity will begin. In this alt-history, Lycans have co-existed with humans for hundreds of years, but they are segregated and discriminated against by their human neighbours and…

THE OUTBREAK TORE THE USA IN TWO. THE EAST REMAINS A SAFE HAVEN. THE WEST HAS BECOME A RAVAGED WILDERNESS. THEY CALL IT THE EVACUATED STATES. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace. Now Homeland Security wants Marco, for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again. But in the wastelands of America, you never know who – or what – is watching you…  When it comes to zombie fiction, I’ve now reached the point where I’ve read quite a lot. Some may say too much? So much so in fact, that I have been actively trying to avoid reading any of late. I’m worried that it’s only a matter of time before I pick up a zombie novel and I’m going to absolutely loathe it. I’ll have reached saturation point and I just won’t be able to take anymore. The good news, however, is that The Return Man by V.M. Zito is not that time. Henry Marco is a bit of an enigma….

Please note that The President’s Vampire is a direct sequel to Blood Oath and that this review may contain some minor spoilers. Got it? Good, now on with the show… For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President’s Vampire, sworn by a blood oath to protect the President and America from their supernatural enemies. Cade’s existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens can only dream of. When a new outbreak of an ancient evil – one that Cade has seen before – comes to light, he and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To ‘protect and serve’ often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a century-old predator can. A couple of weeks ago I happily devoured Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth. Politics, vampires and the seriously-deranged mad scientist proved to be a real winner. I enjoyed the novel a great deal, so much in fact that I decided that I needed to read the sequel as soon as my schedule would allow. Events pick up about a year after the…

We are a house divided when it comes to classic apocalyptic fiction. I’m a huge fan of Swan Song by Robert McCammon while Mrs Cheesecake just can’t get enough of The Stand… First came the days of the plague. Then came the dreams.Dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil. His time is at hand. His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse looms. When Pablo Cheesecake said his annual October theme month was going to be apocalyptic fiction in honour of 2012, my mind immediately fell to The Stand, probably the first piece of apocalyptic fiction I ever read. For those that know me, they will probably not be surprised by this fact, as I am known to be a fan of Mr King. Originally published in 1978, and widely considered a masterpiece, The Stand was not the first Stephen King book I read – that honour goes to Christine. It probably does remain the largest book I have ever read. The 1000+ pages can be somewhat daunting, and even when I did eventually…

For centuries, their race has lived beneath the earth, emerging only at night, to feed quietly on the dregs of society and slip back into the shadows. But now their time has come – their time to rise up from their hiding places and take back what is theirs. San Francisco homicide detective Bryan Klauser is supposed to be hunting a serial killer. But a serial killer couldn’t be responsible for the seemingly impossible DNA evidence the crime-scene techs keep finding – or for the gory, strangely prophetic dreams Bryan keeps having. And what about the connections he keeps finding to a century-old cult – and his superiors’ sudden reluctance to give him the answers he needs about cases that should be dead and buried? Ultimately, Klauser’s investigations will reveal a race of killers who’ve long lurked beneath San Francisco’s streets – and are preparing to take back the city. Klauser is the only man who can stop them, because . . . he might not be a man at all. It’s a constant surprise how much external forces influence the enjoyment of my reading. Nocturnal is a perfect example of this. I recently started watching The Wire (I know, I know,…

They searched for GOLD. They found DEATH. Iraq, 2005  Seven mercenaries journey deep into the desert in search of Saddam’s gold. They form an unlikely crew of battle-scarred privateers, killers and thieves, veterans of a dozen war zones, each of them anxious to make one last score before their luck runs out. They will soon find themselves marooned among ancient ruins, caught in a desperate battle for their lives, confronted by greed, betrayal, and an army that won’t stay dead… Outpost, Adam Baker’s debut novel, was an unexpected highlight of last year. Creepy, action-packed, with a cast of memorable characters and a darker than dark story it most definitely earned its spot on my book of the year list.  When my copy of Juggernaut arrived, I have to admit that my expectations were extremely high. Like its predecessor, Juggernaut features a strong female protagonist as its main character. Lucy leads the group of mercenaries from the front and she is just as tough as any of her male counterparts. She is ex Special Forces and her calm under pressure makes for an engrossing character. She doesn’t panic, she doesn’t flinch, and she just does whatever needs to be done. Like…

For centuries it has been locked away  Lost beneath the sea  Warded from earth, air, water, fire, spirits, thought and sight. But now magic is rising to the world once more. Gavin has given up on the adults in his life, and they’ve given up on him. His father appears to hate him, his mother is scared of him, his teachers think maybe he should be in a different school. What he has is a gift – one he neither wants nor understands. At fifteen, his closest friend and confidante is the mysterious Miss Grey, although he has given up trying to talk to people about her as it only seems to upset them. Turned out of school, and not included in his parents’ holiday plans he catches a train to what may be his last haven; his aunt Gwen in Cornwall. However, she is not there to meet him. Instead the weather is turning bad, and unnerving things are stirring. Gavin is at that difficult age between childhood and being an adult. He is filled with uncertainty and he doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. When the reader is first introduced to him you aren’t given a great deal of…

Welcome To Low Town Here, the criminal is king. The streets are filled with the screeching of fish hags, the cries of swindled merchants, the inviting murmurs of working girls. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure they are never found. Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a narcotics dealer with a rich, bloody past and a way of inviting danger. You’d struggle to someone with a soul as dark and troubled as his. Bu then a missing child, murdered and horribly mutilated, is discovered in an alley. And then another. With a mind as sharp as a blade and an old but powerful friend in the city, he’s the only man with a hope of finding the killer.  If the killer doesn’t find him first. Those of you who have been following The Eloquent Page for a while may remember that The Straight Razor Cure was on my list of books I was looking forward to reading in 2011. This week, I finally managed to get my hands on a copy and was able to see if it was a worthy inclusion on that list or…

They took the job to escape the world. They didn’t expect the world to end. Kaser Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home. But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands. The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way… I’ve said it before, and I’ll no doubt say it again, I am utterly fascinated by apocalyptic fiction. I grew up in the eighties and I think this has left a rather fatalistic streak in my character. I still remember the first time I was exposed to dramas like When the Wind Blows and The Day After. These left a distinct impression and as I grew up, and learned to appreciate the written word, I have devoured any fiction that touches on this broad subject matter. The nature of the…