The Shape of Darkness: 'A future gothic classic' Martyn Waites

Product Information

Role-playing Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games. Let's get it right up front that I love all the books Laura Purcell has written and so I was thrilled to find myself with an early copy of her latest book, courtesy of the author, Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley. Agnes and Pearl’s stories collide in a dark city of murders and bad weather, as Agnes uses Pearl to try to identify the murderer stalking her silhouette clients. Shapechange: The vampire can assume the shape of an animal roughly the same size as their original mass.

Laura Purcell - Fantastic Fiction Laura Purcell - Fantastic Fiction

Simon Carfax – the details of which pull the story together and give you lightbulb moments as they are revealed. And now it is over, I am sad, and wondering what could possibly fill the Agnes shaped gap in my life. Overall, this is a compelling and enthralling read of high quality which I recommend to fans of the genre or who just like a really good mystery! There’s also a fat pug who is forced to walk in the snow, if that’s not gothic horror I don’t know what is! While this juggling act keeps the reader guessing as to what exactly is going on, the mystery is paced perfectly, with new information dripped in at just the right moments to give you a chance to figure it all out for yourself and the final twist is delivered brilliantly.I’ve read and enjoyed Laura Purcell’s previous three books: The Silent Companions, The Corset and Bone China. Fans of gothic page-turners won’t be disappointed and will be left looking forward to Purcell’s next. This book is everything that you would expect from Laura Purcell, the gothic and shadowy setting in Bath, a chilling plot, unnerving characters with secrets, and a creeping sense of dread.

Top 10 books about spirit mediums | Books | The Guardian Top 10 books about spirit mediums | Books | The Guardian

The Shape of Darkness delivers all the elements her fans have come to expect: women in difficult situations, a sideways look at the restrictions and strictures of their society, a creeping supernatural menace and a final – jaw-dropping – twist. In a scholarly yet accessible work, Owen explores the role played by women as mediums, healers and believers during the late 19th century, detailing how the spiritualist movement subverted gender norms. Whereas it’s impossible not to feel for poor little Pearl and wanting to know what would happen to her kept me turning the pages. Purcell is fast establishing herself as the doyenne of gothic mystery, and this positivelyoozes uncanny menace. After a couple of her clients are murdered, she ends up consulting a medium to see if her ex-clients can tell her who has killed them and why she is being targeted.Some of the outcomes I guessed straight away, others I had an idea of but there’s a good twist at the very end that was satisfying. I absolutely devoured The Shape of Darkness, and found myself both surprised and satisfied by the ending. It's rare for a book to stop me in my tracks, trap me in a chair, away from all else and where I keep saying 'just one more chapter, just one more chapter. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The seances are creepily drawn, and there’s a great tension which spirals inexorably towards the novel’s end, with shadows building, something stalking Agnes home from the seances and ever-present signs of Constance and her vicious nature.