Please note Splinter is the final novel in the Sentinel trilogy. If you haven’t read books one and two in this series, then there is a good chance what follows is going to contain a minor spoiler or two. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The world is falling apart around Nicholas Hallow. Amid rumours that the Dark Prophets have returned, a deathly gloom pollutes England, unleashing a savage hoard of nightmare creatures. Fighting the tide of evil, Nicholas returns home to Cambridge, where an old ally helps him seek out the mysterious Skurkwife, who could help Nicholas stop Malika and the Prophets for good. Meanwhile, Sam Wilkins unites the Sentinels against the forces of darkness, but with Jessica’s sanity slipping, and Isabel suspicious of her shadowy past, it’s a battle that could cost the Sentinels everything. I’m always a little sad when I get to the last book in a series I’ve really enjoyed. I know that all good things must come to an end, but I’ll miss the characters I’ve grown to like. And so, with a heavy heart, we find ourselves having reached the final book in the Sentinel trilogy. I read the first two books, Sentinel…

Rumer Cross is cursed. Scraping by working for a dingy London detective agency, she lives in the shadow of her mother, a violent criminal dubbed the ‘Witch Assassin’ whose bloodthirsty rampage terrorised London for over a decade. Raised by foster families who never understood her and terrified she could one day turn into her mother, Rumer has become detached and self-reliant. But when she’s targeted by a vicious mobster who believes she’s hiding an occult relic, she’s drawn into the very world she’s been fighting to avoid. Hunted by assassins and haunted by her mother’s dark legacy, Rumer must also confront a terrible truth: that she’s cursed, because no matter what she does, everybody she’s ever grown close to has died screaming. Always a pleasure to feature some independent fiction here at The Eloquent Page. Last week, we had the fantastical second book in The Breed Chronicles: Tooth and Claw by K T Davies. This week, things take a significantly more sinister turn. Prepare yourselves for Josh Winning’s latest, Vicious Rumer, an urban thriller with a pitch-black heart. At first glance, Rumer comes across as a brittle, acerbic type. She has had a tough upbringing, and this has left all…

Please note Ruins is a direct sequel to Sentinel and if you have read book one in this series it is entirely possible that this review might contain the odd spoiler or two. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. In his desperate search for answers about the Sentinels, an ancient society of demon hunters that his parents belonged to, fifteen-year-old Nicholas Hallow is tipped into a fresh nightmare of terrifying monsters – and even more sinister humans – which threaten to send the world spiralling into chaos. Can Nicholas track down the mysterious girl who holds the key to their fate?  Ruins picks up events not long after the end of book one. Nicholas Hallow is starting to settle into his life as part of the Sentinels. He is beginning to accept his place as part of a secret society tasked with protecting all humanity. Nicholas still has lots to learn however and so some on the job training is required. Working as Sam Wilkins assistant is the best way to learn, the old man has a knack for locating evil in all its many forms. I was glad to see Sam appear again, he was probably my favourite character from…

They are the world’s best-kept secret – an underground society whose eternal cause is to protect the world against the dark creatures and evil forces that inhabit the night. Now Sentinels are being targeted, murdered and turned as the fury of an ancient evil is unleashed once more. And when 15-year-old Nicholas Hallow’s parents are killed in a train crash, the teenager is drawn into a desperate struggle against malevolent powers. I’m sure that everyone has had daydreams of living a different life; of waking up one morning and discovering your regular life is changed so dramatically that everything is new and exciting. It’s great to dream but for Nicholas Hallow the dream becomes a nightmare when a family tragedy unlocks a new life that he could never have expected. The Sentinels are the de-facto guardians of humanity. This secret society are the chosen few, just slightly out of step with normal existence. They suffer and fight for us so that we can live on in blissful ignorance. I’ve always liked that idea, the premise that groups like this could exist side by side with the rest of us, hidden in plain sight. Nicholas is an engaging lead, and it…