Leech

I pretty much hated this book.

It did a wonderful job of gradually wedging a bottle stopper up its backside to completely block out the light.

And what a shame too because it had SO much potential.

Continuously building endless amounts of atmosphere, besides a pretty exciting scene in the mine with a foreboding sense of Lovecraftian horror, nothing pretty much happens, with no discernible plot after the invasively scientific leech appendage wotsit takes residence.

Look at the book cover and the swirling black substance escaping from the bottle - the only other wonderment I enjoyed about this book.

This was an opportunity for a thrilling narrative but went absolutely nowhere right up to the last page, with no idea how to tell an interesting story, masked by the fascinating overuse of foul language from the mouth of the Dickensian-inspired scrooge-like baron acting like a spoilt Miss Havisham, juxtaposed with boat loads of fancy f**king vernacular to obfuscate the non-plot even more.

I left it for a good week before penning this review to make sure I wasn’t unfairly biased or simply having a bad day, but ended up disliking it just as much.

Like a confused giant thicko reading James Joyce for the first time, expecting to be entertained while absorbing the emperor's new clothes experience for missing the plot.

It has some merits and a dark gothic Castle of Otranto feel to it including some of that book's madness, but was also boring, unfulfilling, confusing and badly planned (if at all)!

Ulysses knocks this into a top hat for entertainment and that's saying a lot.

Atmosphere atmosphere atmosphere and not much else = disappointing rubbish!