by Cavan Scott

Absinthe Books, out now

Paramedic Mark Poole is determined to help – if he can just work out how…

The second batch of Absinthe Books releases caters for a wide audience, and Cavan Scott’s novella is very much a contemporary urban horror. Paramedics have to face terrible situations but everyone has their breaking point, and a particular callout and inability to help has pushed Mark Poole beyond his. Now he’s recovering – trying to get the mens sana back in the corpore sano (healthy mind / healthy body), but calls from next door, and the reaction he gets when he investigates are definitely not helping.

It’s the fact that he’s nearer the “insana” level that is the catalyst for this tight piece that has the reader wondering as much as Mark, or indeed his neighbours, about his sanity. As with one of the earlier Absinthe releases, there’s something of a James Herbert feel to this (particularly in the use of almost incongruous carnality) as well as an eldritch tone that takes horrific elements that don’t seem relevant to modern-day living and applies them to the man next door…

Verdict: Some tight horror writing keeps you gripped. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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