Storm Lake and L-2011

Two reviews this time. The first, Storm lake is by Val Tobin. I reviewed her excellent Injury before on this site. Only one quibble with this book; it was too short and left me with many questions. But the writing as with injury was good. I gave it 4 stars.

Storm Lake by Val Tobin on Amazon.com

Storm Lake has all the elements a good horror story should have. An eerie build-up of tension, a young family alone in a remote cottage and a gradual realisation that all is not as it should be. It ends in a dramatic and gory acceleration of events. My only problem with this well written and exiting story is that it was too short. I hope Val Tobin will revisit Storm Lake at some point as there is much to explore and I have many questions I would like answered. I would say; great introduction to what could be a great horror novel.

 
The second book is by a writer from Glasgow that now lives in Australia; Mark Gillespie. I liked his version of what could have happened with the events leading up to the London Olympics in 2012. I gave it 5 stars:

L-2011 (Future of London Book 1) by Mark Gillespie on Amazon.com

This book is set in the not too distant past and hypothesises what could have happened in the events leading up to the London 2012 Olympics. The fact that the events never happened doesn’t make this book any less enjoyable. It still taps into the events of today like; corporate greed, the social media and discontent with our politicians and the establishment.  I liked this book a lot but I think a little understanding of modern Britain is required to fully get this story. It is well written and moves at a good pace. I liked that the story was told from the POV of Mack, a young white Scottish boy, caught up in the riots, where he finds himself amongst mostly black youths. Events came to a rather shocking climax and I can’t wait to see where Mark Gillespie takes the story next. Part two; Mr Apocalypse is already sitting ready to read on my Kindle.