4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

The police when investigating a crime follow the process of finding the evidence, interviewing witnesses and finding the perpetrators. But sometimes it isn’t that simple, there are crimes that happen that not even the police can explain.

Well, not all the police, there are records of crimes that have been kept by a police officer in the West Midlands that defy any rational explanation. Drunks that had been going missing from Digbeth and no one had a clue where they had gone. There was then a robbery at an off licence and the trail of clues led the police an unexpected resolution.

A suicide in a hostel seems a regular enquiry with a relatively straightforward conclusion. That is until there is another suicide at the same place. It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence, rather there is something malevolent in the place, but he really doesn’t know what it is…

An investigation into why children were behaving badly and stealing small things leads him to a derelict railwayman’s cottage and it is here where he confronts the thing that is causing the crime wave. The body of a prostitute is discovered behind a bin. They discover her street name is Tanya, but nobody knows who she really is. Following the one lead up, will take him right to the ragged edge of his sanity.

My favourite story is Wake Up In Moloch, a story questioning whether machines are capable of being evil. A death is caused by a sculpture and they follow up the leads. Nothing cam be found though until a second death demands a full bomb squad response and then he has some leads that will take him to a factory where he hopes to get an answer.

I must admit I rarely read horror, I am too much of a scaredy cat. But reading this didn’t really feel like horror. Even though it isn’t hugely scary, there are some unpleasant bits and some quite unnerving moments. I would say that every story gave me a sense of unease with its folk horror elements and post-industrial landscapes. There is quite a lot of psychogeography in here which is great and it felt like a mashup between Edgelands by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts and London Incognita by Gary Budden. It had a Rivers Of London vibe too, a policeman who can see things that others can’t, but this is but much much darker. If you like your fiction with a darker grimmer edge, then this would be right up your street. You might not want to look behind though…

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