Alan Baxter’s DEVOURING DARK is a riveting tale of crime, guilt, death and punishment, set in London’s urban sprawl.
Matt McLeod is a Scot who works in a factory, and his small guilt-wracked body contains a darkness, the power of death itself. He can choose to kill with a touch, and is on a path of his choosing – a fine line between seeking redemption and self-destruction.
Vince Stratton is a pub owner and entrepreneur. He is engaged in a lot of dodgy dealings and has a lot of secrets.
Amy Cavendish is a palliative care nurse from Sydney. Like Matt, she is also far too familiar with death and is on her own mission to deliver it to deserving people.
Charlie Collins is a cop, a little bent – but then, aren’t all the best ones? Collins has long wanted to put Stratton away, and when a strangely blackened corpse shows up, he just knows Stratton has something to do with it.
Their world collide in this dark tale. If any are lucky enough to make it out alive, they’ll be forever changed. And forever scarred.
I really enjoyed this engaging story. The characters were excellent, complex and believable. I love books where the characters aren’t clear-cut good or bad, but have both positive and negative traits. And Baxter created a real sense of danger and increasing urgency as the tale approached the end.
I don’t like to put spoilers in my reviews, so if you want to find out what happens, I urge you to read it yourself! I recommend DEVOURING DARK to anyone who likes gritty and dark tales. It goes well with a lovely whisky too.
If you want to find out more about DEVOURING DARK, have a look at Alan Baxter’s website.
- Originally published April 2019
Austin P. Sheehan 