Getting it out there.

Been working on promotional letter to add to books when sending for review. I seem to be becoming happier with the process now and have more to say about the book. I think at first I was loathe to say anything about the book's content because it seemed to me to be giving away the plot, opening the book before actually holding it in your hand and turning the first page, denying the surprise. Perhaps it was just that I didn't know what to say, having said all I wanted to say in the story itself. The book was meant to say it all. Anyway, here it is. It has a picture of the front cover with it as well, but has not copied to blog. See what you think:

Last Things is an unusual crime novella. It has been compared to ‘being steeped in a Hitchcock movie. Everywhere you turn in the opening chapter you encounter something newly sinister.’

Sweet, little Georgia Lee has been taken. The papers are full of it.
So why is Simon watching Mrs Johnson from his bedroom window? Who is the man leaving his mother’s bed in the early morning? How did Tom find the pretty blue cardigan? Why is old Peter surprised that Simon is taking over his round? What is happening in the back of the van?  Why are the police calling at Simon’s house?

In the following chapters we follow Simon and Peter as they follow the path in the book to its dreadful end.

On the way we meet Frank, who paints nightmare visions on the walls inside his house. We have tea with Joseph and Jess, who share their tales of beasts and monsters. We call on Tom, who cannot come out to play. We find that Peter is threatened by some youths. And someone is trying to find Georgia Lee before it is too late.

How are all these connected? How many will come out of this unscathed?

And Crow? Crow knows they are all animals.

Are some crimes justifiable? Make up your own mind.

These are a few of the comments made by strangers who have read Last Things on the internet:

‘A stunning piece of writing, one which will linger in the mind long after others have left. The prose is economic, minimalist, but evocative. You have created a world in microcosm and your characters lives are interlinked so cleverly.’     (Jay Hill)

‘I actually read the first two chapters of it again yesterday and I was thinking how cleverly you slowly filter knowledge and the need for order into the dark and somewhat helpless chaos of a child's mind. There is a sense of a curtain being drawn back, a rite of passage beckoning. And the rows and columns of the book the old man shows Simon becomes a kind of mantra against the primitive force of the dead moth in its puddle of rainwater. It's superb writing and beautifully crafted.’     (Violet Wells)

‘I love ‘mute, with an air of whispering menace.’ That just about sums up my impression of your story – somehow innocent, yet with an air of whispering menace.’     (Diana Mair) 

‘The tension underlying the minute move of each character is gripping, like being steeped into a Hitchcock movie... (I was) fascinated by the slow but steady building up of connections and intrigue, the weaving together of characters. Simon's pov is mesmerizing. He starts out on this new collection round for the local paper shop, puzzling over certain things he learns and observes, troubled by the crow which slips from his dream into the day via subtle signs here and there. There is no word and no observation wasted in this writing.’     (Ashen Venema)

‘Really, this is everything I look for in a book: the immediate and total immersion into another world, guided by a confident and wise voice. You draw characters that instantly breathe and move about in my mind; you expertly drop little bread crumbs that will develop into full loaves later in the story...the mystery of the neighbor girl, Simon's mother's philandering, Simon's burgeoning sexuality and particular childhood. Beautiful, beautiful prose that is a joy unto itself.’     (Mary Vensel White)

‘Was very impressed with the writing of this. Lyrical and mythical quality to it with beautiful imagery and ideas, especially in the last five paragraphs. I love Crow - an archetype more than just a bird, the minute observations (the man using 'his father's' toilet, the small details of everyday life and the habits of people). The start of the book is wonderful - I defy anyone not to read on from here.’    

(Pam Johnson)

‘I came back to look again at the last chapter. The old man is nearly finished showing Simon the ropes of the paper-round on his last day in the job. Your style captures all over again, I'm full of admiration for the way you use subtle detail and dialogue. I feel I'm right next to these characters, almost breathing the same air in that shed. ... 'What if it doesn't match up?' ... 'You start again' ... They smile at each other, as thought sharing a joke ... Or ... The tips of his fingers tingle from the touch of the metal. Each plastic bag clings to the sweat on his hand as he fumbles to open it ...
The chapter brings the main characters and their secrets into focus, the old man musing on his life and the point of it all, reading to Mary about Sisyphus ... the endless repetition of the senseless task ... He has become the man he is and that is all. No better, no worse. And Simon, stacking away his earnings in the cut-out cavity of a books he only now discovers the theme of. Then Tom, the mother-bound man-child, Foskett, the self-styled vigilante. And the boy, the poor snitch, the one who believes he saves his skin by locating the old man for his tormentors - a great chase, by the way. The boy, an innocent agent of dark fate, is taken out, adrift in the waters under the bridge. He seemed so inconsequential, and yet ... Foskett remains the most mysterious character, a man on a mission who has power over animals and people, a dark force with his own ideas of justice. The crow as the witness returns most effectively. This is not a tale of morals, it gives a glimpse of the abyss to the dysfunctional, and the twisted motivations running through generations. Yet what we think of as humane prevails in all its vulnerability. We love the old man. And we invest in Simon's future. Who would have thought so much can be learned about human nature and the vagaries of fate from a day's paper-round.’     (Ashen Venema)

‘Everywhere you turn in the opening chapter you encounter something newly sinister. Everyone seems to have a secret or an involvement with some horrible stuff but with the prevalence of so much darkness you still manage to provide an ambience that teases the tragicomedy inherent in the relentlessly macabre.’     (Hughie MacMahon)

‘This story has an oddly dual quality. On the surface it has a gritty realism in the description of the scenes and the very naturalistic dialogue; and yet one feels as if one is viewing it in a dream and everything is subtly "off" - very disconcerting and sinister... As a story it makes my skin creep, and it will work very well for people who like that sensation.’     (Jim Williams)

'...dark and compelling.'     (Jilly Paddock)