- austrianspencer
Shadow of the Hidden - by Kev Harrison
Shadow of the Hidden is several things, all rolled into one. It’s Kev Harrison’s love letter to Eastern countries, their cultures, their food, and their people. It’s a traveler’s handbook, describing the land and points of interest, buildings, and sights to see. It’s an Englishman’s embrace of the alien, the foreign, the marvels that open to a person when embracing the cultures of other lands. It’s a tip of the hat to adventure stories – romancing the Nile, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The English Patient. It’s also a horror story that delves into the myth of the Djinn and a curse that brings it to settle on destroying a character in the book.
Reading one of Kev’s books is akin to putting on a pair of your favorite jeans, frankly. It takes only a minute, and you're back, the world looks good and familiar, and you just know it’s going to be a great day. Kev’s prose is smooth, it feels more like a friend telling a great story over a beer in the pub, and just on time, the lights go down, the candles are lit, and the mood is provided. Expect to read this in one sitting, it flies by, and by the time you reach the crescendo you can’t help but feel a little cheated – this book could have been three times as long and you would have hung onto Kev’s words regardless.
The love of detail and Kev’s joy of food scream on every page – you salivate as you read along. It’s quite frustrating – it’s like a collection of recipes with a pesky Djinn in the background killing people off! The horror is subtle – as is Kev – most of the actual horror happens off the page, and we are informed of those events as the story takes place. Whilst we see some of the horror as it happens, the actual Djinn is limited to a few encounters, so expect a slower creepier build of horror rather than up-front gore.
Man, I loved this book. It’s Kev. I can’t explain it better than that. I love cold passionless cruelty, clean gore, and sudden trauma – and this isn’t that at all – yet Kev’s passion for different cultures, their superstitions, their heritage, and their food (I am always going to think of this book because of the food mentioned in it) – make this an experience. An adventure.
It’s fantastic.
5 out of 5 ⭐and I challenge anyone reading this not to feel famished by the end. If this ever comes out in a limited hardback edition, we want recipes included for all of the meals, and photographs of all the locations. And Maybe a photo of Kev in an Indiana Jones hat.
You can buy Shadow of the Hidden by clicking the appropriate Amazon link, below:
You can visit Kev's website, HERE.
You can follow Kev on Twitter, HERE.
You can follow Kev on Instagram, HERE.
You can follow Kev on Facebook, HERE.
You can follow Kev on TikTok, HERE.
You can follow Kev on Bluesky, HERE.
You can follow Kev on Threads, HERE.
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