by Nick Setchfield

Titan Books, out now

Betrayed by British Intelligence, adrift in a cold, dark world with no past and no future, former Agent Christopher Winter is reduced to plumbing the depths of London’s seedy underground mob to survive. When a normal job explodes into a mystical disaster, Winter is drawn back into a life of espionage, mired in a tangle of ancient magic and Cold War tensions – and naturally, he has no clue what’s going on. As the web of the Shadowless closes in, Winter must take the plunge into the roiling power inside himself, but can he make it back himself?

The second instalment in his genre-defying series, The Spider Dance is a lavish, hair-raising romp through the intricately-detailed world of a Cold War manipulated from the shadows by occult forces. Setchfield puts his own touch on the lore he draws upon, creating a fresh, exciting mythos for wizards and laymen alike to explore.

Intensely realistic, the characters he has birthed leap from page to page, chasing their ambitions with the tenacity and ingenuity one would expect from the British Secret Service (or from a succubus, the two are basically interchangeable).

Verdict: Weaving his own magic with his artful prose, Setchfield has crafted an elegant yet blazing chase through a paranormal 60s Europe, the nightmare-world of Bond himself. 9/10

Sophie Simpson

Click here to order The Spider Dance from Amazon.co.uk