By Michael Rutger

Zaffre, out 12 July

Online reality show host Nolan Moore leads an expedition to find a hidden cave – and discovers why it should remain that way…

It does feel, to begin with, as if we’re in yet another Indiana Jones knock-off, but debut writer Michael Rutger adds depth to his characters from the start – we’re as much drawn in to finding out what’s going to happen to them as we are to learning what exactly they’re going to discover. There are some truly horrific moments that Rutger communicates vividly without his point of view narrator needing to break character, and moments where you’ll be seriously wondering how the team are going to get out of the situations they’re in. And underpinning all this are some serious thoughts about conspiracies and the nature of faith.

The Anomaly is promoted as a combination of The X-Files, Indiana Jones and Michael Critchton. It’s certainly something that will appear to fans of those, but what makes it work over so many pale imitations is Rutger’s confident handling of both plot and character – you almost would think he’d done it before.

So yes, keep an eye out for this guy Michael Rutger – it may be his first book, but based on this he’s going to go a long way… All the way, in fact, to revealing his true identity as Intruders and The Straw Men creator Michael Marshall Smith (there are a couple of clues right at the end of the book which would have completely given it away).

Verdict: A tense horror tale told in a very different, knowing style. 9/10

Paul Simpson