I came across this book in a charity bookshop (where else do I buy my books these days?) and simply HAD to buy it due to the publisher's request printed on the back: "Under no circumstances should you reveal the plot of this book to anyone" and a short blurb of "It starts with a murder. Then the evil REALLY begins."
Although I'm unable to reveal the plot, I can give a brief description of the book
Irene is a young and successful university student who has everything going for her when, unexpectedly, she meets kooky Frank - a slightly odd, not-too-handsome history major. What follows is a whirlwind romance-cum-marriage, a child and the suburban lifestyle until Frank starts acting strange.
Beyond that, the reader is left guessing what will happen next (and usually getting it wrong) and, when you think you've got it sussed, something new happens and you're back to guessing square one.
It's a mixture of suspense, shock, horror, gothic and psychological mind-fucks which is impossible to put down until you've read the words "The End".
This is a fantastic read which is strangely and unfortunately out of print now with an author who appears to not even exist: Having spent quite some time online trying to find even the slightest piece of info about Craig Jones, I've come to the conclusion that it must be a pseudonym or that he simply wrote a couple of books and didn't want anybody to know who he was or is (the Internet wasn't exactly mainstream in 1978 so it wasn't too hard to keep a low profile).
I can, however, safely repeat what others have said and tell you that I won't be forgetting this book any time soon, I'll be re-reading it sometime and that it's level with Victims by Shaun Hutson (reviewed previously).
This little masterpiece gets a 5/5 rating from me.
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