Thank you for stopping by I hope everyone is having a lovely long weekend, today I'm taking part in the blog blitz for Pendle Fire by Paul Southern and sharing my review. First of all let's take a look at the description for the book...
Social worker Johnny Malkin is battling a crippling workload and a hostile local community. That’s on a good day: things are about to get a whole lot worse.
Two fourteen-year-old girls are found wandering Aitken Wood on the slopes of Pendle Hill, claiming to have been raped by a gang of men. With no female social workers available, Johnny is assigned to their case. But what, at first, looks like yet another incident of child exploitation takes a sinister turn when the girls start speaking of a forthcoming apocalypse.
When Johnny interviews one of the girls, Jenna Dunham, her story starts to unravel. His investigation draws him into a tight-knit village community in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where whispers of witchcraft and child abuse go back to the Middle Ages.
One name recurs: The Hobbledy Man. Is he responsible for the outbreaks of violence sweeping across the country?
Is he more than just myth?
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The description for Pendle Fire definitely caught my attention especially the sinister whisperings surrounding The Hobbledy Man. I was interested in seeing how it could be mixed into the modern day story. The opening to the story had a dark and chilling edge which definitely caught my attention and carried through right to the end. It's safe to say that this story has a deep and darkly disturbing subject matter that was hard to read at times, mainly because this happens in real life.
I loved the addition of the supernatural to the story it wasn't overly done and brought an extra depth to the story that made things even more interesting. Paul Southern wove a very eerie myth into the modern day world really well but also had some very sinister characters that had a very threatening and poisonous effect.
I thought Johnny's character was engaging especially as he is trying to do his job but with limited resources. The plot is pretty fast paced and it didn't take me long to read with some parts providing plenty of tension and suspense. If you are a fan of a darker story then Pendle Fire would be perfect.
Four stars from me!
With thanks to Sarah at Bloodhound Books for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Paul Southern was born in the 1960s to itinerant parents who moved from city to city. He lived in Liverpool, Belfast, London and Leeds, then escaped to university, where he nearly died of a brain haemorrhage. After an unexpected recovery, he co-formed an underground indie group (Sexus). Made immediate plans to become rich and famous, but ended up in Manchester. Shared a house with mice, cockroaches, and slugs; shared the street with criminals. Five years later, hit the big time with a Warners record deal. Concerts at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Melody Maker front cover, Smash Hits Single of the Week, Radio 1 and EastEnders. Mixed with the really rich and famous. Then mixed with lawyers. Ended up back in Manchester, broke. He got a PhD in English (he is the world's leading authority on Tennyson's stage plays!), then wrote his first novel, The Craze, based on his experiences of the Muslim community. He has three other published books and has written for ITV. He was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger award in 2002 and received positive reviews from national and international press, including The Guardian, Arena, Radio 4, Ladsmag, and Kirkus, amongst many others.
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