In a network of lines that enlace

Another of my I-can’t-walk-passed-Foyles-without-buying-a-book purchases.

This was a pleasant surprise, mostly because I wasn’t expecting anything. I hadn’t heard of this series, and had only scanned the blurb when I bought it. Which turned out to be a winning combination, because this novel is additive. I just couldn’t put it down, and I wanted to be left alone so I could continue reading.

It’s written from a journal of an unreliable narrator only known as ‘The Biologist.’ The author informs you from the start through the twisting plot and strange circumstances that this account will be flawed, and the more that’s revealed, the more so it becomes.

A group of 4 women travel to ‘Area X’ on an unknown mission, documenting what they see and feel. The Biologist tries to stay objective and aloof, yet as she does so reveals much of her past and reasoning for being in this contaminated place, drawing you more and more towards her.

The strangeness and creepy nature of Area X is well written, and I constantly tried to guess what had happened before, and what was happening now. I raced through the novel, and had to buy the second in the series just before I finished it, so it’s definitely a high ranking tale.

I was a little disappointed by the ‘big reveal’ section of The Crawler, more because I feel that uncanny nature of what isn’t seen was the power in this novel. But the plot and writing were good enough to make this flaw passable. I look forward to the second one.