Scuttler's Cove - David Barnett

64%

27.08.25

Hugely clichéd, hugely predictable and yet somehow hugely entertaining. I must like a folk horror that's leavened with humour - the light tone at times seemed to battle with the dark atmosphere but that's probably what made it so engaging, despite the uneven pacing.

(Interestingly, this very different but in some ways quite similar book is by the same author, particularly in terms of portraying the female experience.)

The Lamplighters - Emma Stonex

 

48%

09.10.22

Life on a lighthouse was dull and repetitive and a little dreamlike, just like this book. It was too lavishly descriptive for my taste, the characters too cold and similar, the magic realism and metaphorical flights of fancy too heavy handed. More 'hardgoing' than the 'gripping' and 'riveting' asserted on the cover.