The Ancient Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Ancient Book

When an author is equally well known as a broadcaster, it can certainly help in promoting their books. But in the author of The Ancient, Muriel Gray's case, it could be said to be something of a liability. Gray is best known as a highly intelligent, energetic and cheerful TV presenter--and certainly the last person one might think capable of producing such an effectively chilling supernatural outing as The Ancient. But that's just what she's done. This highly atmospheric tale combines the subtle, allusive prose style of such masters of the past as MR James with a more contemporary emphasis that suggests Clive Barker. In the grim, rubbish-strewn back streets of Lima, three boys are attempting to raise an ancient demon. Their incantations fail (so they think), but on the same night a drug dealer is killed over their impromptu altar. And anyone who has ever watched a Hammer film will know what effect the shedding of blood has on dormant monsters. Gray then relocates her narrative to the massive supertanker, Lysicrates, where the beleaguered second-in-command Matthew Cotton is intrigued by the arrival of a young American student. Soon, both are involved in the horror that came aboard with the hundreds of pounds of rubbish that the ship is carrying. Much carnage ensues before a decisive final confrontation. Muriel Gray's particular achievement in The Ancient is to reinvigorate a genre suffering from chronic overload. Her supernatural menace may be nothing out of the ordinary, but she surrounds it with such a world of persuasively grim detail and (most importantly) well-rounded characters that the reader is comprehensively gripped.--Barry ForshawRead More

from£N/A | RRP: £6.99
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £N/A
  • 0006496415
  • 9780006496410
  • Muriel Gray
  • 7 May 2002
  • HarperCollins
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 336
  • New Ed
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.

Would you like your name to appear with the review?

We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.

All form fields are required.