Fancy a foray into the tangle of the mind?

Humble apologies for what’s been a massive period of time since I last posted. I can now come clean and admit that my new deal with Avon Books at HarperCollins has been my highest priority this last few months. Yes indeed, for anyone who’s being following my novel-writing career, I’ve finally gone home to HC. I’ll post more detail about this in another blog; suffice to say I’ve had a couple of very tight deadlines to deal with, which have entailed seven-day-a-week writing sessions, so no bloggage was possible in that time. However, we’ve now hit a convenient break, so I’m at last able to talk about something else that I’m rather excited about: IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT.

Before then, I should also mention that I’ll be posting another short Thrillers / Chillers list today. Cool works of dark fiction that I’ve recently read. As usual, that’ll be at the bottom of today’s post. In the meantime, let’s delve …

Into the forest

IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT is a bit of a throwback for me in that it’s a new book, due out on August 27, but it’s a collection of short horror stories rather than a novel. It’s published by the wonderful BLACK SHUCK BOOKS, it runs to about 192 pages and it will comprise four reprints of mine – all of them selected from the lesser-known section of my canon – and a brand new crime/horror novella, BEYOND THE SEA OF PAIN.

I don’t want to say too much more about IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT, except to repeat that it’s published on Aug 27 from BLACK SHUCK BOOKS. But here, just as an appetite-whetter, are five choice segments, one from each story.

IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT

“Hello,” Nick said. “Excuse me, I think I’ve…”
     He was mistaken.
     It wasn’t a person, merely that same lump of statuary that he’d known was here all along. Even in the strange shifting dimness of the forest cathedral, he’d have distinguished it for what it was – an art-deco sculpture, a Grecian nymph or some such thing, eroded now to a soulless effigy – but it was covered at present with pale plastic sheeting, blown on the wind or wound around it by mischievous youngsters. It had briefly possessed a more human outline: defined shoulders, a nodding head.
     Nick snatched the plastic away. It fell to his feet in a crackling heap. There was no comfort to be had beneath. The moonlit face was barely human: cracked, grey, covered with grime and lichen…

DOWN IN THE DYING ROOMS

That final descent was made slowly and stealthily. The steps ran down maybe fifteen feet. They were slippery and very steep.
     Why the hell not? Those brought down here would never be going back up again…
     At the bottom, it was sepulchral in its dankness. The walls were moist and covered with fungus. Broken planks littered the dusty floor. Directly in front of them, an open doorway gave through to a single, straight passage. The light filtering down the stairs revealed the first few yards of that passage, but little else. Vic knew what it looked like. He could envisage it clearly without even stepping into it. It ran for at least a hundred yards, and all the way along it, to the left and right, there were entrances to adjoining rooms – to the dying rooms. And at the far end of it there was a mortuary and a furnace, both black and filled with soot and debris.
     We’ve actually got to go down there, all the way…

HOUSE OF THE HAG

“Lorraine… meet the Bodach – he’s the father.” Phil clapped the first granite figure on its ‘shoulder’, before moving to the second. “Meet the Cailleach, the mum.” He moved to the third. “And last but not least, say hello to this little one, the Nighean. And this isn’t just any old tent, by the way. This is the Tigh na Cailliche, or ‘House of the Hag’… and we are honoured to be inside it.”
     “Yeah, I feel greatly honoured.” Lorraine shook out her wet hair, then dumped her pack on top of the Cailleach’s head and rummaged through it for a towel and her reserve clothing. “Do you want to give me all that again… in English?”
     “It’s a type of shrine.” Phil hunkered down to go through his own gear. “Neolithic in origin. There are several of these up in the Highlands, though the most famous one is a few miles southeast of here… Glen Lyon in Perth and Kinross.”
     Lorraine stripped her waterproofs off. “So, no-one’s going to come and chuck us out?”
     “No-one’s likely to come up here until May at the earliest, I’d say,” he replied. “They’re a bit of a mystery, these things. The names come from Celtic myth, but these effigies are likely to be much older. They probably represent some prehistoric cult…”

WORDS

Another dim bulb came on, showing a large, untenanted room. He’d been right, it was the attic: the ceiling was a heavy wooden framework supported by timber joists, which stood like columns at regular intervals. In its turn this supported other joists above, which held up the sloped masses of roofing thatch. The room was spacious, running the entire length of the upper floor. It was also empty, except for a few bits of furniture in the centre. One of these was a rocking chair with its back turned. A figure was sitting in it.
     The little hairs on Cameron’s arms began to prickle.
     He could only see the back of the figure’s head, which seemed to be covered by a black hood or cowl. It was completely motionless.
     “Are you supposed to be up here?” he asked. “Because you’re making a lot of noise.”
     The figure neither moved nor spoke.
     “Even if you’ve got permission, you’re keeping me awake.”
     Still there was no reply.
     Cameron ventured nearer. Now that he was close, he could see the spread of the figure’s cloaked shoulders; they were immense. He swallowed nervously…

BEYOND THE SEA OF PAIN

Haygarth’s opponents entered behind him. He turned to face them, but turned on his injured leg, and the knee gave way. He still launched two more shots as he went down, the second tagging Devil’s upper left thigh, the gang-leader hitting the deck before he could return fire. His companion, Wolf, darted to the right, shooting wildly. Every shot missed save one, which slammed through Haygarth’s left elbow. That limb was already out of service, but even so, the pain ramrodded into him, sending him dizzy, almost knocking him blind.
     He tried to blot it out as he tracked the fleeing figure with his SIG, Wolf now framed against the huge windows, though before Haygarth could shoot again, the bastard dropped down behind one of those few bits of sizeable furniture remaining. It was a table, already shrouded by a dingy sheet, though Wolf now overturned it, giving himself further concealment. Haygarth shot at the window behind him instead, punching a single hole through the middle of the pane, weakening it just sufficiently for the howling gale outside to force its way inward, bringing down an avalanche of glittering shards all over the crouching figure. Wolf jumped yowling to his feet, fragments gleaning all over him, some of them clearly embedded, though the pain of that didn’t last, because Haygarth’s next shot hit him cleanly in the head, blowing off its top like a dustbin lid…

***

So, there we go. Full steam ahead to August 27. On which subject, it would be completely remiss of me not to mention that BLACK SHUCK will be launching three other single-author collections on the same day. They are LULLABIES FOR THE LOST by Mia Dalia, BIOGRAPHIES OF VALIANT DRUNKEN TIGERS by Laura Mauro and DOWN WE GO TOGETHER by Tracy Fahey (which I have already read, and which is truly excellent).

THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS

Works of dark literature that I have recently read, massively enjoyed and heartily recommend.

THE TROUBLED DEEP 

by Rob Parker (2025)

When a former SBS diver uncovers a long-submerged vehicle deep in the Norfolk Broads, a dormant conspiracy is reawakened and a very dangerous group goes back into action … Ingenious crime thriller from the ever-reliable Rob Parker. Amazing underwater sequences alternate with high stakes action and suspense, while the scenic Broads are brought vividly to life. Excellent plotting, superior writing. A five-star romp through England’s mysterious backwaters.

CHILDGRAVE 

by Ken Greenhall (1981)

A lovelorn New York photographer is unnerved when portraits of his infant daughter start depicting phantom figures, a mystery that lures him upstate to a remote community harbouring horrific secrets … A literary horror novel par excellence, ultimately striking at the extremes of religious mania, but at the same time a chilling study of bewitchment. Too slow a burner for some, too emotionally complex for others, but exquisitely written, with a slow-dawning atmosphere of evil that gradually becomes overwhelming.

VINE STREET 

by Dominic Nolan (2021)

Two Soho detectives hunt an elusive serial killer over a period of several decades, London and the whole of society gradually transforming around them … Epic slice of British Noir, ultra hardboiled and delving deeply, not just into the realms of ‘real world’ policing, but also the seedy clubs and dives of London’s West End gangland during and after the war. Award-winning blend of complex character-work, hard-arse cop thriller and vivid, authentic mystery.

THE THIRD GRAVE 

by David Case (1981)

An Egyptologist is summoned to rural Devon to translate an ancient manuscript, only to find that it contains more than forbidden lore … Vintage David Case, a traditional horror concept given a wildly original spin. A bit heavy on the dialogue / exposition, while regular philosophical musings also slow the pace, but elegantly written and nicely capturing the tone and feel of horror fiction’s ‘golden age’. Gets fingernail-gnawingly scary towards the end, which surely forgives all.

Festival season approaches, and book news

Humble apologies for the long delay in posting on here. There are very good reasons for this, which I’m not yet at liberty to discuss in full, but I can’t wait for that day to arrive. In the meantime, it’s still an announcements day today. A few things are coming up, both of which I’m a little stoked about. I also have more thumbnail book reviews for you, a bunch of dark fiction titles that I’ve recently read and enjoyed. As usual, you’ll find those at the lower end of today’s blogpost in the Thrillers/Chillers section. 

First of all …

NO QUARTER hits Audible

I’m very pleased that my most recent Heck novel, NO QUARTER, is now available on Audible (see above), as read by the one and only Paul Thornley, who so many readers have written in and been complimentary about. 

Other work Paul has done on my behalf includes the last but one Heck novel, ROGUE. I was literally buried by fan mail after that one, all of it wildly appreciating that the original actor who brought Heck to life on Audible way back in 2013 is still on the job for us.

In case you’re not quite sure what NO QUARTER is about, it was published in paperback and ebook formats last May, the Audible now out as well, as I’ve just said, and is selling very nicely.

Here’s the official blurb:

Welcome to the Crazyhouse. Where unwilling contestants play the game of death

The north of England is rocked by two horrifying but bewildering crimes: a £600,000 drugs heist, the couriers and the buyers all slain. And the abduction of an entire stag party, a bunch of strapping young men lured away by two pretty girls and never seen again.

While northern police forces struggle to cope, go-it-alone Detective Sergeant Mark Heckenburg, still under suspension, is given a stark choice. Infiltrate the Crew, Manchester’s overarching crime syndicate, as an undercover asset, or lose his job permanently.

With the assistance of out-of-favour Manchester cop, Lucy Clayburn, Heck undertakes the onerous task, soon discovering evidence linking the two heinous crimes together. But he has a very serious and pressing problem. The Crew’s ruthless Chairman of the Board, Frank McCracken, is increasingly suspicious and determined to test his loyalty to the max.

Meanwhile, another bunch of guileless young men have gone missing, and are now awaiting their fate in the architectural nightmare that is the Crazyhouse ...

Just to quickly remind you that best-selling thriller novelist, MW Craven, described the Mark Heckenburg novels as: ‘Exceptional crime-writing’.

And what the esteemed Neil Lancaster , another ex-cop turned bestselling author, said of NO QUARTER: ‘Paul always delivers’.

Which brings me neatly onto ...

Festivals

Spring has now definitely sprung, at long last (I know, it always seems to take an age to get here in the UK), and with it is coming the festival season. We’ve got no CrimeFest at Bristol this year, sadly, but the rest of the programme is already rolling. 

Last weekend, I was honoured to be invited to sit on a panel at the Warrington Crime Festival. It was only a one-day affair, but very enjoyable nevertheless, and it enabled me to reacquaint with the legendary Ramsey Campbell (not just Britain’s great living horror author, but also a battle-hardened veteran of the crime/thriller story as well). 

And to hook up with other such luminaries as fellow scriptwriter on The Bill and million-selling novelist, Simon McCleave (above left), Caroline England (right), Liz Mistry and Donna Morfett, among many others. 

The event was held at The Village Hotel, Warrington, which is a grand venue for this sort of thing: easily accessible, sitting as it does on both the M6 and the West Coast Mainline, with extensive function areas and a huge car park. 

Future organisers of other festivals take note. It was an all-round success for chief organiser, Conrad Jones, himself a writer of multiple successful novels, and I hope he’s encouraged to arrange further such conventions.

Left is another shot from the Warrington event. 

I’m sure that Jo Turner could not have been killing herself laughing at something I'd just said here, because I'm not that funny.

Anyway, as I’ve already mentioned, once we get into festival season, it’s a rolling programme, and other  similar literary jamborees are now coming at us fast and furious.

Next week, I’m flattered to have been asked to address one of our local book clubs about my 2016 novel, STRANGERS. In quick recap, STRANGERS follows the fortunes of a young female police detective in Manchester who is forced to go undercover as a prostitute to try and catch a serial sex-murderer, though turning the genre on its head a little bit, in this case the killer is believed to be a fellow streetwalker, who is brutally and sexually murdering her male clients.

My own police experience didn’t extend to undercover work like this (thank God!), surely one of the most onerous duties any police officer can undertake, so I remain very thankful for the piles of notes I obtained from another ex-cop, Effie Meryl, now an author in her own right, who undertook this dangerous duty on many occasions in real life.

The book did very well, finding its way into the Sunday Time Top 10 bestseller list.

I’m always happy to talk to local book clubs. It’ a great honour to think that people are so affected by something you’ve written that they want to sit you down and hold a formal discussion about it.

Also coming up in the near future, on June 11, I’ll be doing an author talk at Longton Library, Preston. On this occasion, I’ll be extrapolating on my entire career and explaining how a Manchester street-cop like me became a journalist and then a bestselling author, I’ll additionally focus on my interest in dark fiction, horror and crime in particular, and why I think it is that, even during my earliest days, I wasn’t interested in bedtime stories like Goldilocks or the Elves and the Shoemaker, but preferred Jack the Giant Killer, Beowulf and Grendel, Theseus and the Minotaur, Dracula, the Wolfman and the Mummy.

That should be fun. And now ...

Coming soon

I haven’t got as full a schedule this year as I had last year, but at this time of writing, there are still two more Paul Finch books due in 2026, with possibly more to follow (who knows?). First up, and the only one I can really talk about yet, is IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT, a collection of five horror stories from Black Shuck Press’s SHADOWS series. Four of them are reprints, though the most recent of those dates from 2015, so I doubt here’ll be too many readers who are overly familiar with them. The fifth story in the book, BEYOND THE SEA OF PAIN is a crime/horror mashup that runs to novella length. I’m particularly proud of this one and can’t wait for dark fiction fans to get hold of it.

Okay, that’s it for now. Sorry again that I’ve been away from this blog for a couple of months. I reiterate that I have more announcements to make, which are currently classified, but I’ve been working full tilt to meet deadlines etc. That said, it could always be worse. The alternative is that I could have no deadlines, and therefore no work. Ugh.

THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS

Works of dark literature that I have recently read, massively enjoyed and heartily recommend (sometimes with a few historical adventures mixed in).

DECEMBER PARK by Ronald Malfi (2014)

In a Maryland town in the 1990s, a tightknit group of teen boys take it on themselves to capture a fearsome child-killer. An over-density of detail, but a fun cast of characters bring great life to another nostalgic vision of childhood’s end from the pen of a classy American author. Terrifying in only minor dollops but moving and affecting in its depiction of loyalty among friends and the innocence and optimism of youth. Wistful, melancholic and an all-round satisfying read. (Not for kids).

HOW THE DEAD LIVE by Derek Raymond, aka Robin Cook (1986)

A straight-talking London cop is the cat among pigeons in a quiet rural community where the disappearance of a beloved local woman is clearly being covered up. Hardboiled British noir alternates with existentialist horror in this third in the ‘Factory Series’, in which an unnamed police hero pursues justice even if it isn’t always in line with the law. An eerie tragedy rather than a typical mystery-thriller. Depressing in parts, uplifting in others, and a hero who retreats into his own head to make sense of a harrowing world. Grim but insightful stuff.

THE WHISTLING by Rebecca Netley (2021)

In Scotland of the 1860s, a new governess arrives at a big old house on a Hebridean isle, to find wild weather, several ghosts, hints of black magic, and mysteries within mysteries. Made-to-measure Gothic chiller, richly atmospheric and crammed with Victorian-era menace. A tad slow in parts, but immense effort has gone into character-building, which carries its own reward. Great debut from Netley, with hopefully many more to come.

THE DÜSSELDORF VAMPIRE (formerly titled THE SADIST) by Karl Berg (translated by Olga Illner and George Godwin) (1932)

Intimate portrait of prototype serial killer, Peter Kürten, written by the forensic psychiatrist who investigated the case and interviewed the maniac many times before he was guillotined. Novella-length but intricately detailed. Not a great work of literature, but a True Crime classic nevertheless, packed with disturbing but fascinating facts, its most alarming feature the depiction of a nondescript man who became a practised killer capable of running rings around the most experienced Homicide division. Hardly entertaining, but an invaluable research document.

THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN by Steven Pressfield (2009)

In 330 BC, a young Greek enlists in Alexander the Great’s army and disembarks for the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan for what will be one of the most gruelling campaigns in history. Brutal, gritty, ground-level view of men stretched to their limits, bloodbath battles and cultures clashing in a firestorm of fabulous prose and gruesome violence. Pressfield’s usual meld of fascinating detail, intricate characters and picturesque grimness. Historical action-fiction as it should be.

Wildblood takes on a new horde of slayers

I’m very pleased today to be able to unveil my next medieval action-adventure novel, THE DARK ARMY, and to announce that it’s now available for pre-order. Just follow the link.

Those who enjoy historical adventure fiction might already be aware that this is the second in the THURSTAN WILDBLOOD SERIES, and the immediate sequel to THE DEVIL’S KNIGHT, and that it is my fourth foray into this genre overall.

More about this upcoming release further down, including a few choice snippets from the first book in the series.

I’d also like to announce today – because I’ve been asked about this a lot – that an Audible version of my ninth Mark Heckenburg crime novel, NO QUARTER, is now in production. 

I have no actual publication date for that yet, but rest assured, I’ll post it here as soon as I do.

It’s also time to let it slip that a short collection of horror stories of mine, IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT, will be coming out from Black Shuck Books in July. Again, more info about that – jacket art, table of contents etc – will be posted on here as soon as I’ve got it all to hand.

And now …

MEDI-EVIL

I use that sub-header wisely, I think, and not just because it sounds cool, but because my two Thurstan Wildblood novels to date, THE DEVIL’S KNIGHT and THE DARK ARMY, which follow the fortunes of an English knight gone to the bad and form two halves of the almost incalculably difficult quest he undertakes in order to redeem himself, while not what you’d classify as High Fantasy, have plenty to do with devils, demons and the sorts of eerie supernatural influences that medieval man believed were all around him.

Book 2 in the series, THE DARK ARMY, will be published by Canelo on October 8, and is already available for pre-order. To whet your appetites a little more, here’s the blurb we have thus far (though this may change before it appears on the back cover):

To protect a saint, he must become a devil …

Thurstan Wildblood, English crusader knight, does not believe in God. But after a fever-dream encounter with a demonic bishop leaves him seemingly invincible in battle, he begins to wonder.

He is on a quest to deliver Melinda of Jerusalem, believed to be a living saint, back to Canterbury Cathedral in England on the orders of Richard the Lionheart. The road so far has been hard, the men of his company having fallen one by one until only his squire remains.

This unlikely trio must now face a procession of dangers as they seek to cross Europe, including the ruthless Order of Siegfried, sell-swords in the pay of the German Emperor.

Will Thurstan's unnatural prowess see them safely to Canterbury? Or will their safety cost Wildblood his immortal soul?

***

A few additional thoughts on the Thurstan Wildblood series …

I’m well aware that anyone who hasn’t read Book 1, THE DEVIL’S KNGHT, will probably be hesitant to buy Book 2. I’ll say again that they are two halves of a whole, and I don’t think THE DARK ARMY would be quite the reading experience if you weren’t aware what had gone before. Hopefully, though, that will tempt people to buy both books.

In a nutshell, they concern an English knight, Thurstan Wildblood, who during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, has risen through the ranks thanks to his sheer ferocity in battle but also his ruthless approach to enforcing the king’s will. Inevitably, Thurstan travels with Richard to the Holy Land to participate in what will later be known as the Third Crusade. By any standards, it’s an horrendous war: extreme conditions, a crusader host suffering every kind of privation, and battles that are total bloodbaths.

Without giving too much more away from this point (though a couple of teensy SPOILERS are necessary, I’m afraid), Thurstan, by this time the king’s favourite knight and commander of his elite Familia Regis, is tasked with returning a young Italian/Egyptian woman, ‘Melinda of Jerusalem’ to England under armed escort. It is believed the woman controls divine powers and can heal mortally wounded men simply by praying over them. Unfortunately, England and Canterbury Cathedral’s gain will be Rome’s loss. So, not only is it the case that Thurstan and his small group of handpicked knights must now fight their way past the terrifying Assassins, one of the most determined and proficient Muslim war-bands in the Middle East, but their own Christian version of that as well: the Knights Templar.

Other enemies, some of them unspeakably evil, also lurk on the long and arduous road ahead. Thurstan’s group have one advantage in that their leader possesses a martial prowess that is second to none. But deep down, Thurstan Wildblood is a knight in torment, certain that he owes his invincibility to a dreamlike encounter he had with a demonic being on the night he executed 2,000 Muslim prisoners.

Did he sell his soul at that moment?

Is he cursed?

More to the point, will safely installing Melinda of Jerusalem at Canterbury save his soul or damn it all the more because in doing so, he’ll be defying Rome, he’ll be defying the Knights Templar, and perhaps, in taking this living ‘saint’ away from the battle-torn lands where she could do only good for the ailing Christian cause, he’ll be defying God.

It’s as much a story about a war of the soul as a war of kings and sultans.

THE DARK ARMY picks up Thurstan’s quest at its midway point, where he and his companions still have unimaginable distances to travel and face all kinds of terrible opponents. But I’ll say no more about it for now. With luck, that’s aroused your interest sufficiently. But just in case you’ve yet to dip into the first book, THE DEVIL’S KNIGHT, here are 25 very brief snippets that I’ve taken from it, which will may encourage you to start at the beginning:

     ‘When you do the Devil’s work, you take on the Devil’s mantle,’ Thurstan said.  ‘At least in the eyes of those you’re doing it to. You hear me, Pandulf? There’s no real Devil here. Men can do terrible things without the Evil One standing at their backs…’         

     ‘We English hate each other more than we hate you Danes,’ Thurstan said. ‘For the crimes you committed against our forefathers. Though given your religious vows, perhaps you might want to apologise for that right now?’
     The Templar appraised him coolly...

     He was clad entirely in black. Thurstan ripped at the garb, exposing a white tunic underneath tied with a blood-red sash.
     ‘Assassins!’ Bertrand looked dazed. ‘The Assassins are here!’
     Creaks sounded from the passage, made by multiple pairs of feet...

      ‘You can be certain of only one thing, Pandulf,’ Bertrand said. ‘Thurstan Wildblood will die in battle. At some point. We all of us share that destiny. The best any of us can hope for is to die well…’

      ‘There’s an old tradition in England… That in the presence of spirits, fire burns with a blue flame.’
     Melinda’s eyes roved the mist-shrouded firs. ‘You fear a supernatural foe?’
     Again, it seemed that a shapeless something had just withdrawn from sight...

      ‘Our Muslim servants would tell stories of the djinn, demons of the desert, who would waylay lone travellers. The Muslims would pray to Allah, and he would protect them.’
      ‘Alas,’ Pandulf replied, ‘I don’t think we enjoy our God’s favour enough for that.’

      ‘My life is a tale of longswords stained with blood, and burning towns under smoke-black skies,’ Thurstan said.
     ‘All the more reason for you to persevere,’ Mother Turilda replied.
     ‘Keep ploughing forward until my chance for redemption comes?’
     ‘What else?’
     

     Even half a day behind, their pursuers were distinctive in their heraldic garb.
     ‘Templars,’ Pandulf said glumly. ‘They have a willpower that can’t be broken.’
     ‘Thankfully, the same can’t be said for their bodies,’ Thurstan replied...

      ‘One must admire Thurstan’s perseverance,’ Melinda said. ‘It’s an impossible task he’s been set. It’s killed all his men already. Yet he struggles on.’
     ‘He’s safeguarding a saint.’
     ‘He doesn’t believe that, Pandulf. He doesn’t believe in anything sacred.’

      It was so alien to Melinda, this land of rock, ice and shadow. The cold too was relentless. And then there was the eerie stillness. It was easy to remember the age-old tales she’d heard about far-distant Europe, with its ogres, werewolves and witches...

      ‘Anyone dreams of Bishop Belphagor, I pity them.’
      ‘You know such a churchman?’ Bertrand asked.
      ‘Learned about him in our village chapel.’ Mercadier clucked with disapproval. ‘Am I alone in that?’
      ‘Who is he?’ La Hors said.
      ‘Who else? The Bishop of Hell.’

      When they’d brought Melinda along the passage the first time, she’d been playing dead. With eyes firmly closed, she hadn’t seen through the bars into any of the adjoining cells. Now she did and it was an effort not to scream with horror ...
     

     De Vesqui laughed. ‘You really think we’re doing God’s work? You believe that by committing mortal sin after mortal sin, your souls will be saved? Just because some rodent in a mitre says it will? Don’t any of you understand? We’re already damned!’

     Melinda hung back, hands over her face.
     ‘Just remember,’ Thurstan said, steering her on past the new-made corpse. ‘He was complicit in these horrors.’
     ‘I know… but it should still be for God to decide.’
     ‘God’s deciding right now.’

     The atmosphere of that terrible feast lingered: the darkness, the decadence and decay, the gluttony all around him, the rankness of the air, the globular and bestial Bishop Belphagor, draped in his blood-red vestments…

      ‘This is the Holy Land?’ Bertrand said. ‘More like a land of demons.’
      ‘There’s more in that than you know,’ Bishop Hubert replied. ‘These empty places in the East are filled with evil spirits. Anthony the Great was taunted by the most hateful fiends…’
     
     ‘My lord archbishop! Divest yourself of these illusions!’
      ‘Lord king,’ Bishop Hubert protested. ‘Archbishop Ubaldo is Rome’s agent. He is God’s representative…’
     ‘And I am God’s Fist!” Richard thundered. ‘And God’s Fist trumps all powers on Earth!’

     Bertrand greeted Thurstan with haggard eyes. ‘We should bury them,’ he said.
     ‘The desert can have them.’
     ‘Thurstan, these were Christian men.’
     ‘They chose their own beds, Bertrand. They should have known they’d be lying with ants and scorpions...’
     

     The blood in his veins simmered again, and when he sensed the wall of spears and shields closing from all sides, it turned to brimstone. He felled the first two with a single stroke of his longsword...

      He was in a roughened, raddled state, his hair a matted mop, his beard a bush, his features ingrained with dirt. But all these things he could tolerate, and worse, if they could reach their goal: Jerusalem, where their souls would be saved...

     ‘The city of Gomorrah once stood here,’ Bertrand said.

      They gazed across the empty plain, now scorched and strewn with blistered rocks. Great gusts of hot, black dust swirled over it ...

      The nun’s habit was cinched at the waist by a rope of beads, which accentuated her generous bosom and round hips. Uncombed straggles of straw-blonde hair hung down. Her mouth was full and red. She stared at Wildblood with eyes as blue as honed steel...

     ‘It’s pity you can’t conjure up a real miracle,’ De Verneuil told the girl. ‘Maybe make the sky fall on our enemies’ heads.’

      ‘Whatever powers I call on, I’d never direct them to do harm,’ Melinda replied.
      ‘Then in all honesty, what use are you?’

      Thurstan loosed, hitting his target square in the chest. He didn’t like using the crossbow. It went against all his chivalrous vows. But he needed to remind himself that these were pagans, and pagans must feel the wrath of God any way it came to them...

      ‘You didn’t really think this fabled Christian brotherhood that brought all these people East was going to last, did you?’ Thurstan replied. ‘We’ve been fighting these Saracens for the last hundred years. But we’ve been fighting each other a lot longer.’

Obviously, this lower section of the column is illustrated with original medieval depictions of knights in battle. I have no idea who the original artists were or who might have done work on them since. I simply found them floating around online. They were in NO WAY created to portray or endorse the two novels under discussion in this post. However, if anyone has a reasonable objection to their use in this context, I will happily take them down, or alternatively, will give credit to the artists where it is due.

When thrillers intensify into full-on horror

So … at what point does Thriller fiction delve so deeply into the darkness that it also becomes classifiable as Horror? In addition to that, does it ever stray into the realms of the Gothic? Does it ever, in effect, become Gothic Horror? My personal viewpoint is that it certainly can, so we’re going to talk about that today in some detail. However, I’m not going to single out novels. There are simply too many of those. Instead, I’m going to opt for movies, and I’m going to pick ten of them – ten thrillers that are so relentlessly frightening and grim that they could easily pass for horror movies.

I have a vested interest in this, of course. My next novel, THE LODGE, is published this week, on Thursday (Jan 15), and the thriller/horror crossover is precisely the slot I’ve pitched it at, so it’s entirely relevant to this week’s chitchat.

You’ll find all of that a little further down. In addition, I’ve posted another Thrillers/Chillers bulletin, in which I offer thumbnail assessments of recent works of dark fiction I’ve read, which includes some exceptional efforts by some equally exceptional authors. As usual, you’ll find that at the lower end of today’s blogpost.

I’m also going to take the opportunity at this point to mention that THE ISLAND, my last crime thriller, is currently ONLY 99P ON KINDLE in the UK and only 1.99 AUD in Australia, and it will remain at those bargain basements prices until the end of this month. THE ISLAND got to No. 2 in the Bookseller’s bestseller chart during its first week of publication. So, come on, folks, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

And now…

When Thriller becomes Horror

As an idoliser of all kinds of dark fiction, I gobble up crime, thriller and horror novels like there’s no tomorrow – I posted about this, discussing the reasons why, in my last blogpost (just scroll down past this current one, and you’ll find it – and one area that constantly fascinates me is that twilight zone lying between Thriller and Horror, where a story is so stressful on the reader’s nerves that it could comfortably be classified as either.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with dictionary definitions of what the words ‘thriller’ and ‘horror’ mean. We all know. I’d argue, just for the sake of clarity, that the supernatural, paranormal, weird science etc are more firmly at home in horror, whereas thrillers tend to dwell in the real and recognisable world where we all live. But aside from that, when it comes to hitting the reader hard between the eyes, they can sometimes be indistinguishable from each other.

Note … it’s NOT JUST ABOUT GORE. Horror doesn’t need to be filled with blood and guts. But it can still demand a lot of the reader, as it does (or should) offer an overwhelming intensity of terror and suspense, a doom-laden atmosphere, no-way-out situations, the appalling nature of adversaries (even if you hardly ever see them) and constant indicators that frenzied madness is only a hair-trigger away.

You won’t need me to tell you that thrillers can also go there, and this is exactly the territory I’ve sought to explore in my upcoming novel, THE LODGE (which, I repeat – sorry – is published this week, on January 15). Without wanting to give too much away, I should add that it contains hefty Gothic overtones as well, so not only is THE LODGE a suspense-laden crime novel and a good old-fashioned murder mystery, it’s also, I trust, a tale riddled with traditional Gothic Horror – Black Tarn Lodge is in so many ways your isolated, mist-enshrouded mansion – and it takes no prisoners in its subjection of everyday humans to a force of utter malevolence (one of the characters is veteran horror star, Edgar Karnwood, an amalgamation of Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, whose movies, while lurid and camp, were built around imaginary characters and scenarios wherein evil reigned supreme – but what happens if some of these horrors are acted out for real?).

Anyway, that’s THE LODGE, and it’s out this Thursday. But, as promised before, and just to show that I’m not the only person who’s ever done this, here are ten movies (in order of release, not preference), which have also crossed the line from real-world thriller into nightmarish horror.

NB: I’m not going to waste your time with big, well-known movies that have done this. So, to avoid stating the obvious, I won’t be bothering to mention Psycho, From Hell, Cape Fear (pictured above), Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, The Hound of the Baskervilles, or Phantom of the Rue Morgue (pictured at the top) etc.

What, you may be wondering, have we got left? Well, let’s see …

1. THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG (1927)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Based on The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

In fogbound London, a young woman becomes fascinated by the mysterious lodger upstairs, not least because he increasingly seems to match the description of the Ripper-like killer terrorising her neighbourhood … Hitch makes his first big impact in the movies, transforming an original narrative about Jack the Ripper into an immersive trip through a world of shadow and mist. Expressionistic in style, but already rich in Hitchcockian visual suspense. With its extreme emphasis on terror and madness, it was controversial on release but is today regarded as a classic.

2. PEEPING TOM (1960)

Directed by Michael Powell

Original script by Leo Marks

In the early days of swinging London, a seemingly harmless cameraman films the terror in the faces of his models as he kills them with an impalement device of his own construction, but finally arouses the suspicion of a kindly neighbour ... It is difficult to know what was more startling about this very early slasher, the fact that its mild-mannered antagonist was clocking up victims in order to create Snuf movies for his own vile pleasures (way back in 1960!), or the fact that it came from revered director Michael Powell, whose career was visibly damaged by the critics' hostile response. Only in later years, was its psychological complexity and cinematic artistry rightly recognised.

3. THE PSYCHOPATH (1966)

Directed by Freddie Francis. 

Original script by Robert Bloch

A Scotland Yard cop investigates a series of crazily gruesome slayings in which the victims are always found with mutilated dolls, in due course uncovering much more than just a serial murder case … At first glance not especially original, a masked killer butchering his victims one-by-one in grisly and theatrical fashion, though the back-story is more complex than usual (and the murders more imaginative), and while it’s been described as overlong, a range of famous old character actors have an awful lot of fun, which adds to the experience. Something of a British Giallo, it was unsurprisingly a very big hit in Italy.

4. AND SOON THE DARKNESS (1970)

Directed by Robert Fuest 

Original script by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation

Two British nurses take a cycling holiday in central France, but when one of them unaccountably disappears, the other can get no assistance from a rural community that has suddenly gone suspiciously quiet … A genuinely stylish chiller, Rob Fuest making amazing use of the eerily empty French countryside and thus scaring and disorienting us even in a beautiful setting and broad daylight. Hailing from the era of psycho-sexual exploitation, it would be easy to dismiss this one as more of the same, but there’s no time for sexual shenanigans. Tension swiftly becomes terror as appealingly innocent heroine Pamela Franklin faces the constant threat of an unknown menace.

5. 10, RILLINGTON PLACE (1971)

Directed by Richard Fleischer 

Based on Ten Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy

The true story of London’s wartime strangler, John Christie, and the various means by which he lured young women into his house … Divisive stuff from Dick Fleischer, who’d met similar opposition two years earlier with his movie, The Boston Strangler. In this case, no real effort is made to examine the killer. Instead, we focus on his spider-like existence in the depths of the grimly realised 1940s slums, and the cold, efficient manner by which he reeled in his victims. Richard Attenborough won praise as the quietly deranged Christie, laurels also going to John Hurt as the wrongly hanged Timothy Evans. A dark drama rather than a thriller but laced with horror throughout.

6. FRIGHT (1971)

Directed by Peter Collinson 

Original script by Tudor Gates

A lone babysitter in a remote rural residence faces a night of terror as she struggles to prevent a madman from gaining entry … In the opinion of many, the original ‘babysitter in peril’ movie, though here the besieged heroine is not pitted against a wandering maniac, but the mentally imbalanced former husband of her employer. This brings a touch of realism, which is added to by a central performance from Susan George that proved she wasn’t just a kittenish beauty. Lots of familiar but effective tricks of the trade are utilised: a mostly unseen enemy, heavy breathing, POVs through exterior windows. A low-key, low-budget British effort that does exactly what it says on the tin.

7. STRAW DOGS (1971)

Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Based on The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams

A US academic relocates to the UK and falls foul of Cornish rednecks when he offers sanctuary to a mentally ill man suspected of murdering a child … The most controversial film on this list, Sam Peckinpah’s notoriously ‘no holds barred’ British western shocked its audiences even in 1971. The violent rape is a scene of horror on its own, but the real unease stems from the presence of a bunch of bullying, uneducated louts at the heart of an otherwise placid community, a story replicated across towns and cities everywhere. Gordon Williams absolutely hated the film, Sam Peckinpah didn’t care what Williams thought, and star, Dustin Hoffman is later said to have felt ‘queasy’ about it. It still ranks as one of the best British thrillers around if only for its sheer, unapologetic grit.

8. THEATRE OF BLOOD (1973)

Directed by Douglas Hickox 

Original script by Anthony Greville-Bell

A supposedly deceased actor enacts a long revenge on the theatre critics who ruined his career by executing them all using Shakespearean methods … Horror veteran Vincent Price hams it up wonderfully in this breezy, campy and yet often quite violent pastiche of so many other films he made (in particular, the Dr Phibes duology), but is ably assisted by the sort of cast most directors could only dream of: Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry, Diana Dors, Jack Hawkins, Robert Morley and Dennis Price to name a few. It never takes itself too seriously, and at times perhaps overdoes that a little, but the genuine London locations give it an air of authenticity, while the regular comedy asides from the star are a joy. Price fans and Shakespeare addicts still adore it.

9. MURDER BY DECREE (1979)

Directed by Bob Clark 

Based on The Ripper File by John Lloyd and Elwyn Jones

Sherlock Holmes joins the hunt for Jack the Ripper, uncovering a complex, bloody conspiracy, which may have consequences for the very highest in society … The idea that a masonic plot lay behind the 1888 Ripper slayings was not a new one even in 1979. But this was probably the first time it had been fully investigated on film. Christopher Plummer and James Mason give us a warmer-than-usual relationship between Holmes and Watson, and this sits at the heart of an engaging and satisfying, if fog-shrouded, Holmes adventure. In addition, attention is also paid to the lives and sufferings of the victims, which makes for a welcome change. Still one of the go-to Jack the Ripper movies, even if it’s all very far-fetched. Warning: contains terrifying murders.

10. SHUTTER ISLAND (2010)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Based on Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

US Marshals visit a high security mental hospital on an isolated island to investigate the escape of one of its most dangerous inmates, only to find themselves enmeshed in a progressively more disturbing mystery … Martin Scorsese said almost from the start that this hugely successful outing was intended to be ‘his horror movie’. If so, it’s horror of the ‘psychological breakdown’ variety rather than a stalk-and-slash, while it maintains the look and feel of a Neo-Noir throughout. Contains some exceptionally chilling moments, and the denouement, while a kind of redemption, is also horrifying as well as heart-breakingly sad. A deep and serious movie to end our list on, but if you just want to be scared, hell, it works on that level too.

THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS

Works of dark literature that I have recently read, thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend (sometimes with a few lighter ones mixed in).

METROPOLIS – Philip Kerr (2019)

Hard-drinking cop, Bernie Gunther, is tasked with capturing two serial killers working simultaneously through the chaos of Weimar Berlin. The last in the classic series, even though it takes us to the dawn of Gunther’s career. The atmosphere of pre-WW2 Germany is astonishing, the country’s economy devastated, lawless immorality the rule not the exception, and all the while, the Nazi influence spreading. Vivid work by Kerr, the city crumbling, the investigation looping, the tough hero meeting no one he can trust. Compulsive, hair-raising reading. Euro-Noir on a grand scale.

THE HEATHEN HORDE – Steven A McKay (2023)

England, 864 AD, and Alfred the Great, still an unprepared princeling, takes on a key leadership role as a vast Viking army attacks his brother’s kingdom of Wessex. A dramatized but blow-by-blow account – quite literally – of major events in British history, as seen through the eyes of a young noble coming of age in a crucible of war. Enjoyable and accessible Dark Age epic, focussed on the main characters, packed with action and reading at great pace. Thundering good stuff.

INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE – Josh Malerman (2025)

A young family are terrorised out of their Michigan home by a malignant entity. An Amityville-type suburban chiller, as told by an eight-year-old child. An unusually formatted but, overall, rewarding tale of domestic supernatural horror. The immediately undeniable existence of the demon jars a little – manifestations like these make the movie, Poltergeist, seem tame! – but the utter isolation of the afflicted family is hugely effective, while the scare moments are top drawer.

THE TRIBE – Bari Wood (1981)

A rabbi’s son is murdered by a Brooklyn street gang, only for the killers themselves to be murdered afterwards by a hulking, superstrong assailant. A stressed-out cop joins forces with the original victim’s widow to track a killer who may well be the mythical golem. It sags a little mid-narrative, and the monster is underused, but it’s crammed with engrossing cabalistic detail and rises several times to moments of high nightmare. Another quality repub by Valancourt.

DEADWOOD – Pete Dexter (1986)

In 1876, Bill Hickock arrives in the Dakota mining town of Deadwood and finds it a chaotic hellhole. Wild Bill has a reputation for cleaning up lawless towns, but the legendary gunfighter is ageing and sickening, and Deadwood harbours some very bad men. Real life Wild West history given an unforgettable fictional spin by one of America’s great chroniclers of its inner darkness. Not just a western. Both funny and tragic, gritty, dogged, crammed with real-life characters, and atmospheric of the Old West as it was, not as you’d want it.

CREEPERS – David Morrell (2005)

A band of New Jersey urban explorers seek to conquer a century-old hotel built by a prohibition-era eccentric and said to be packed with bootlegger treasure, only to find themselves the object of a deadly hunt. The ultra eeriness of the rain-soaked ruin soon shifts aside for thrills of the action-movie variety, making this rapid-fire page-turner a little like two novels pressed into one. Despite slimmer than usual characterisation, Morrell entertains throughout, hitting us with multiple desperate scenarios and constant hair-trigger violence.

HARE HOUSE – Sally Hinchcliffe (2022)

A disgraced teacher arrives in a remote community in the Scottish Lowlands, where she encounters an atmosphere of mystery and rumours of witchcraft. A twisty psychological thriller with a rural setting rather than a typical folk horror, but very intriguing and filled with menacing and macabre touches. Concisely but exquisitely written and featuring characters so real you can touch them (not least the Galloway landscape itself). Enigmatic and effective scare-fare.

THE BLUE RING – A.J. Quinnell (1993)

A former French Foreign legionnaire vows to destroy a Mediterranean-based sex trafficking ring. Rousing, butt-kicking actioner of the old school. I didn’t believe the character of Michael, a 19-year-old lethal weapon wise beyond his years, but Creasy (about whom five novels have been written, and who was portrayed by Denzel Washington in Man on Fire) is a cold, hard hero who makes 007 look tame. Committed revenge thriller of a sort you tend not to see these days.

ELEMENTAL FORCES – edited by Mark Morris (2024)

The hideous thing that lived deep in the pool. The note on the door that spelled utter disaster. The effigy they should have burned, and the horrors it wreaked. The living curse that worked its way through one generation after the next … and more. Another eclectic anthology of gut-chilling fiction from Flame Tree, again as edited by horror polymath, Mark Morris. Ranges from unsettling to smack-in-the-face terrifying, with wow!-quality writing always at the fore. Long may the ABC of Horror reign over us.