Cinema Of Shadows

Author: Michael West (2011)

Find it: Author's Website

"The night the Titanic sank, it opened for business... and its builder died in his chair. In the 1950s, there was a fire; a balcony full of people burned to death. And years later, when it became the scene of one of Harmony, Indiana's most notorious murders, it closed for good. Abandoned, sealed, locked up tight... until now."

Professor Geoffrey Burke and his Parapsychology students come to the possibly haunted Woodfield cinema, searching for proof of paranormal activity ghosts. Classy, old-fashioned horror, Cinema Of Shadows will appeal to fans of Derek Acorah ghost hunting programmes and films like Paranormal Activity, as well as those who enjoy supernatural horror and well-constructed, well-written stories of any sort.

Cinema Of Shadows is a good yarn, well structured and enjoyable, with a nice eye for cinematic and literary convention. I particularly enjoyed its "preview of forthcoming attractions" as a prologue and a very, very cute touch after the "credits." The characters are well-written and the story compelling, tense and creepy, building to a fitting conclusion.

It's no slight on the book that my dear old mother picked it from my shelf, read it in a matter of days and loved it (hey, she reads The Walking Dead comic books. Being cool is in the blood). Cinema Of Shadows is approachable, readable horror that even a non-genre connoisseur can pick up and enjoy. Also, I need to put a lock on my door before she finds my Marquis De Sade collection. That's one dinner table conversation I can do without.

Cinema Of Shadows is a cracking read; a page-turner in the truest sense.