Book Impressions - The Undertaker's Cabinet by David Haynes

I've been a huge fan of the author's work ever since reading The Ballet of the Bones and through all of his other books that I've read since, so I anticipated his latest release with a lot of anticipation. So much so that when it was released it jumped straight in at the top of my TBR list! I'm happy to say that the book was worth the wait and I wasn't dissapointed.

To date the authors horror stories have been set in the Victorian era and all the natural oddities that comes with the time, this book diverges slightly from that trend and is mostly set in modern times, although there are some flashes back to Victorian London.

The story concerns the Moreton brothers, the latest in a line of family undertakers that have buried the local dead in their small town for many decades. Times have become hard and the business is failing and out of the blue a strange fellow offers to buy the business. This Jacobs is a very strange character indeed and Bobby Moreton discovers there are secrets to the family business in the form of a mysterious cabinet.

The set up works very well, but what really stood out for me was the Jacobs character, he is a fine evil villian. Through most of the book the horror comes from various strange occurences that build an atmosphere of menace, by the climax though this has become full on in a fnal dreadful scene.

As I've said I enhoyed reading this a lot, it's not perfect though and there were a few minor issues, the first was that there could have been more, especially from the Victorian scenes, I really wanted to know more about what happened, although in fairness it's easy to fill in the blanks from the events told in the modern period. Following on from this I thought that the ending could have been filled out more.

They are minor complaints though and this is a fantastic read and like his other books I recommend this to any fans of the horror genre.

Click on image to purchase from Amazon

 

In the town of Littleoak, Moreton & Sons have been burying the dead for over a century… and Bobby Moreton has had enough.

When Richard Jacobs arrives and makes him an offer for the business, the offer is so good he's tempted. But there's something about Jacobs' killer smile that doesn't feel quite right. In fact it feels wrong, horribly wrong.

There may be another way to save the business… Sell the exquisite antique cabinet that's been waiting in the cellar for another chance to do what it was created for.

Bobby soon realises that's a bad thing, a very bad thing indeed...

Click here to purchase The Undertaker's Cabinet from Amazon (and it is an excellent horror read)