This book is set in a Scottish Fishing village where Muriel McAuley has lived her entire life. She was born there and intends to die there. When a billionare from America moves to purchase land and surrounding properties for a golf course many of the older residents refuse to accept purchase and stubbornly attempt to stand in the way of the billionare.
Muriel's home was built by her husband, who has been lost to the sea for many many years. Old and tired Muriel refuses to leave the one place she can still feel her husband. In her home and in the land. As bribes turn to threats some of the residents fold under pressure taking money and fleeing to new retirements with the money supplied by the billionare. When only two residents remain the bribes turn to threats and Muriel stumbles upon a creature she has never seen before.
Through a fog so thick you cannot see your hand waving in your face Muriel hears a call that sounds impossibly like her husband. Blindly through the fog she follows the sound only to discover it coming from a wet sort of ball mass with a glowing rainbow aura. Muriel takes the creature home, realizing it needs help and places it in her bathtub. The creature has many interesting abilities an speaks as though its centuries old but as Muriel soon discovers, he will need blood to sustain himself. I will leave the synopsis there to avoid any spoilers.
This has to be one of the most unique novels I have read, blending a huge amount of horror and gore with a gut wrenching horror story that had me in tears. The longing for her lost love was so moving and so juxtaposed to the horror elements of this book that I found myself justifying the actions Muriel takes in the book. Its not a common genre blend, at least in my reading history, to blend romance and horror but this book does it oh so well. I was gripped from the first few pages and on the edge of seat throughout.
Though it is not a hallmark romance by any means this really tugged on my heart strings and I found it impossible to remove myself from Muriel's shoes and without giving anything away I understand her attachment to the creature. This book will speak to anyone who has been deeply in love or gone through loss. When you feel in your heart you would do anything for one more day, one more moment with your lost loved one. This book shows just how far one woman will go to reunite with her husband once more.
Highly, highly recommend this book and I look forward to reading more from this author. The book is gross at times but I didn't find it so over the top that it was unbearable, in fact it wasn't really all that distracting from the story as a whole. Horror with a purpose that gets you thinking is rarer to find and this novel absolutely hits on all the right notes. 5/5 if you enjoy gorey horror and true romance then this is definitely a book to add to your TBR.
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