Written by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Available on Kindle and Audible

High in the Tian Shan mountains, Liev and his deniable mercenary team crash. They’re under every radar, off every map, flying of the nap of the Earth on the way home from a successful job. No help is coming. No one knows where they are. They are not alone.

The format of this story is tremendously fun, in an airport thriller kind of way. Six parts, in eBook and audio. The sort of fast moving pulp serial that rewards that sort of format.

The prose is short and punchy, the action is constant and del Toro and Hogan do a great job of setting up this hyper competent group of broken people and proceeding to kill them in a variety of fun ways.

Good pulp sets up at a sprint and never stops and this is really good pulp. The plane crash flows into a wolf fight and the discovery of a mysterious structure and the menace is tangible. Oddly, especially if you’ve read The Strain series or seen the show. This is one of those cases where the authors’ reputations precede them in a good way and you know you’re in for a fun ride. The ending of this part is tightly handled too, and sets up some major conflicts.

I’m aware I’m light on detail here but honestly so is the story. This is an opening act and so far all we know about Liev and his team is they’re very competent, not very nice and mortal. I’m sure later parts will fill them out but even if they don’t this is fun pulp for a good price.

Verdict: If you’ve got two pounds spare, give it a shot. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart