The Unholy - Hardcover

Michael Falconer Anderson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0709028776 ISBN 13: 9780709028772

Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd, 1987

Synopsis

Batforth was a quiet little town like a hundred other quiet little towns. Then the terror came like a shroud closing over it. For one man the new Batforth meant a hideous death. For a young housewife it meant instant insanity. The terror came to a police sergeant when his car ploughed into a crowd of children - children who did not exist. For a nurse at Batforth Hospital it began when she felt something touch her in the hospital's drug cupboard, something evil, and grew with the knowledge that even in an empty room eyes were watching her.
For John Hammond, editor of Batforth's newspaper, it began in strange dreams and visions and he came to understand that the horror was growing, spreading day by day: that something malevolent had come to Batforth and that it would have to be destroyed.
As the death toll mounted and the horror gained a grip on the town he began his search ... for the Unholy.

About this title

From Library Journal:

In this first novel, a mysterious train derailment in a small English village sets off a series of gruesome murders, which local police attribute to a maniac. Newspaper editor Jon Hammond begins to examine the nightmares and visions that he and others are experiencing, and finds himself battling a vicious supernatural force unleashed in the wreck. The somewhat familiar-sounding plot may seem to have been lifted from a lurid grade B movie thriller, especially when the source of evil is traced to the grisly contents of a metal box thrown from the train. But in Anderson's capable hands the reader is swept into a fast-paced and suspenseful horror novel with frequent chills and shudders. Suspend your disbelief willingly, and you'll have a good time. For popular fiction collections. Eric W. Johnson, Univ. of Bridgeport Lib., Conn.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

This first novel is a lurid supernatural thriller. Set in England, it concerns a locked box containing a mysterious object that seems to incite murders, hallucinations and ghosts. Journalist Jon Hammond, his lover Tanya and his psychic friend Stevenson face grisly horrors and almost certain death in their attempt to track down the box before the town of Batforth is engulfed in tragedy. The basic premise is interesting, but the story isn't told particularly well. Stylistic problems are numerous, though minor; the sketchy characterizations and promising situations left undeveloped are more serious faults. Nevertheless, readers will probably keep turning the pages just to find out what's in the box. Anderson is a competent writer who may yet become a good storyteller.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0709028776
• ISBN 13: 9780709028772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192