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A Love Like Blood
On sale
28th August 2014
Price: £9.99
Genre
If life has taught me one thing, it is this: that the worst monsters are entirely human.
It began in a hole in the ground, in Paris, in the days after the liberation. What I saw there I saw only for the time it takes a match to burn down, and yet it decided the rest of my life.
I tried to forget it at first, to ignore it, but I could not. It came back to me; he came back to me. He hurt people I loved… And so I took the first step on a journey from which there would be no return; a path that led me to fear, to hatred and to revenge – but, above all else, to blood.
It began in a hole in the ground, in Paris, in the days after the liberation. What I saw there I saw only for the time it takes a match to burn down, and yet it decided the rest of my life.
I tried to forget it at first, to ignore it, but I could not. It came back to me; he came back to me. He hurt people I loved… And so I took the first step on a journey from which there would be no return; a path that led me to fear, to hatred and to revenge – but, above all else, to blood.
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Reviews
This macabre fantasy follows a trail of blood across Europe over 50 years...Stylish, thrilling and fast, you needn't be a horror fan to enjoy this.
Utterly engaging and intelligently written... It has quite a cinematic feel to it with its dramatic settings and fast-paced mystery. A must for fans of sharp, fast-paced thrillers to intrigue and disturb (in the best possible way).
This is a genre book (of whichever genre you choose, although I know which side of the fence I'm on) of great distinction and quality. Marcus Sedgwick has produced a galling amount of high quality children's and teen reads in a short career that shows no sign of relenting, nor of losing his way as he steps into the adult market. In my first mental draught of this review, before I'd read it, I was imagining myself saying 'there must have been something in the water in the Sedgwick household' to make him such a confident, firm and competent writer. But no, it has nothing to do with water - it must be in his blood...
The style is much like a Victorian ghost story with the expectation of horror building with every page, drawing the reader in... I was enthralled.
A Love Like Blood features some unforgettable settings-suffice it to say that Charles' travels take him far beyond the squalor of Avignon-as well as pitch perfect pacing, a canny combination of genres, and smoothly flowing, sophisticated prose. Expect suggestive, sensory storytelling on the sentence level, then... and as I said at the outset, little things like this can pack a proper punch. As does A Love Like Blood.
Stands head and shoulders above most of the competition on a number of counts: the period detail is convincing, the character of the obsessive hero, Charles Jackson, is finely drawn and the chase across Europe as Jackson tracks the blood-drinking villain is terrifying, thrilling and relentless.
Sedgwick shifts triumphantly to adult fiction with this moving and multifaceted thriller...maintains a high level of tension up until the devastating conclusion
This adult debut portends a tremendous second act from acclaimed YA author Sedgwick...a novel
that tastes of blood and dust, just as a fine old-fashioned horror novel should.