Epitaph by Shaun Hutson

Epitaph by Shaun Hutson isn’t for the faint hearted! An incredibly faced paced horror-thriller. Epitaph is a story of revenge, child abuse and murder – a most heinous murder.

Eight year old Laura Hacket is on her way home from school, the final day of the summer term – she has seven weeks of holiday ahead and so much to live for. Unfortunately for Laura, she won’t get to enjoy her break, she won’t get to see her parents again and she won’t get to play with her friends. Laura is abducted and killed.

Thirty Six year old Paul Crane has everything he could ever wish for, a steady and rewarding job as a talented copy writer, money and a loving partner Amy. He has spent the last 15 years going on exotic holidays, staying at five star hotels and travelling first class – money has never been an issue – until now.

When we are first introduced to Paul Crane, the copy writer has returned home from work after being made redundant from “Meyer and Banks” and is at risk of losing everything he has worked for. With a volatile economy and a market where no one is hiring, the outlook is bleak.

After a night of drinking alone in his flat, a flat he can no longer afford – festering in his misery; Paul awakes in a dark and confined space. His mind in overdrive as his hands hit an unfamiliar obstacle, he suddenly realises he is in a coffin.

Epitaph is a book of two halves that somehow blend together to bring a taught yet thoroughly depressing narrative. Hutson utilises chapter breaks to shift the narrative from Laura and her parents to Paul Cane and his woes. The chapters are short and succinct and as each one ends, you find yourself immersed in a real page turner of a book, eager to find out what happens next.

As I continued to work my way through the book, an inevitable feeling of claustrophobia surfaced. The descriptive scenes of confinement and desperation within the coffin are mesmerising and make the book compelling reading.

You never really know what’s going to happen until the final imaginative dénouement. A voyeuristic and atmospheric book, Hutson, the author of more than 50 books, has another hit on his hands. Fans of the macabre will love this and you won’t be able to put the book down! Epitaph is a real bleak page turner.

My first introduction to Hutson and the dark world of horror-thriller stories, I loved it! I want more!

Published by Orbit (Imprint at Little, Brown Book) “Epitaph” is available at Amazon & Waterstones.