The Matrix by Jonathan AycliffeMy rating: 9 of 10 stars
I just finish this book today. I started reading then stopped because I think he drag a bit in the middle. Nothing was happening.
The first person perspective was a point in it's favor. I think if this book had been written in the third person the eerie aura that follow the narrator would not be as effective.
Is this a good horror novel? I think it is. It's not gore or scary. It has a bit of a lovecraftian feel. Like the horror is there, he is right inbetween all but he never grasps it all. Mix that with a gothic twist in the end. I think the book was very well written and under 250 pages but you really enter the mind of Macleod (our main protagonist) and the occult euphoria from the seventies/eighties. The antagonist, if you can call it that, controls/seduces in an hipnotic way, our main character making him travel from scotland to north africa as he learns more about the occult.
I think the ending was suitable to the story and leaves a door , well a gate open to our imagination. I think the writer really knows the horror craft, think MR James and again Lovecraft. And for those who enjoy gothic tales will also feel that this novel could have been written in the turn of the century.
In each page, you will feel what the main character is feeling. You will think what horror are out there but never see it. It's an "feeling" horror. It's not describe so you know what to feel. Your imagination will do that to you. It's that good.
In no way this book feels as a King or Koontz in my opinion. This is a different kind of horror.
Why isn't this author more recognize? I really don't understand the publishers. This Sir is a gem. I have another of his book. I will try to find the rest through abebooks and such...
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