Dead Souls by Andrew S French

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Andrew French, Andrew S French, Dead Souls, Ghost, Horror, Reading, Review, Review week, short stories, Spooky, stories

Just for a change (and in support of a few authors whose work I have been enjoying) I thought that I’d post a review a day for a week. Hopefully something might take your fancy!

Dead Souls by Andrew S French

Dead Souls is a fine collection of supernatural stories each with an original and unique perspective. Very little about each of the stories is predictable which makes them a joy to read.None of the stories are overly graphic, focusing on the unsettling rather than relying on horror or gore for their impact, which makes them all the more interesting and satisfying.
If you are looking for short stories which are ghostly but thoughtfully written then I would highly recommend reading this collection.

The Time Traveller’s Murder

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Adventure, Andrew French, Andrewsfrench, Apocalypse, Book review, creative, Detective, future, mystery, Novel, Review, Sci-Fi, story, The Time Traveller's Murder, Thriller, Time travel, writing

A short review of ‘ The Time Traveller’s Murder’ by Andrew French.

‘The Time Traveller’s Murder’ is a novel which is tricky to categorise – part mystery, part thriller and part Sci-Fi, it excells in crossing between genres to create an engrossing and entertaining story.

Set in the near future it tells the tale of an ex-detective (now turned private investigator) who gets drawn into an elaborate investigation involving time travel. However, as the story unfolds, French brings in several sub-plots which are interwoven cleverly and keep the reader engaged (and indeed guessing) as the main plot progresses.

From the opening line: ‘Detective Inspector Harry Hook flexed his fingers in anticipation of strangling a man’ we are introduced to characters who are rounded, three-dimensional and believable and French’s strong, realistic use of dialogue serves well to enable them to be visualised clearly. The back-stories of the main characters are drip-fed into the novel cleverly, helping to provide the reader for a deeper understanding of both them and their motivation.

The Sci-Fi element of the story is well researched and explained effectively, but also poses some interesting philosophical questions about the nature of time travel.

From the first chapter – which sets both the scene and tone of the book and gives the reader an outline of the lead character – we are lead through a series of twists and turns, many of which are quite unpredictable, and I found myself being sucked deeper and deeper into the book the more I read. Music plays a strong role throughout the book (look closely at the chapter titles!) and acts as a reminder that, despite time moving forward, links to our pasts are everywhere. 

If I were to level any criticism at this book (and it is a very minor point) it would be that I found one or two phrases to be a little stereotypical.

Overall this is a fantastic read which I would recommend for anyone who enjoys a good mystery, detective story, thriller or, indeed, a slice of Sci-Fi.