Review: Frightening, Evil, Sickeningly Creepy Characters Fuel A Powerful Psychological Novel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2012
Thomas Ford was and his wife were minding their own business on a lovely day in the Scottish countryside when their world was shattered by a sudden run-in with a despicable, cruel and random form of evil personified in the disgusting form of Jimmy McCallum.It's been a long time since I've read a book in which there dwelled a character as foul, powerfully disgusting and obnoxious as in this well-crafted work of literature, THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD.What's frightening about the soul-free and empathy-free Jimmy McCallum is that he seems so real. His twisted, debased personality comes alive in these pages, and readers may be afraid he'll jump out of the book to stick his cold, merciless fingers into our hearts to infest our own feelings of well being with dread.With this offering, JOHN A.A. LOGAN, a Scottish writer who has enjoyed considerable regional recognition for the many short stories and other works he has published, proves he is an author who deserves recognition as one of the world's most vivid and skillful writers of powerful psychological fiction.This is writing and literature at its best. Imagine Stephen King combined with maybe Cormac McCarthy and a bit of Edgar Allen Poe tossed in. But perhaps it's not fair to compare John A.A. Logan to any others. His style is his own - his prose is crisp, sparse and lean - yet he somehow manages to fill the readers mind -- our "inner imaginative theater" -- with rich imagery and an incredible feeling of psychic involvement with the narrative.There is a slight paranormal edge to The Survival of Thomas Ford, but this novel does not rely on mere ghosts or standard horror gimmicks to generate sheer terror and a deeper feeling of unsettling darkness - rather, it does so by showing us the potential evil that might exist in the ordinary people that are living, working - or just idly hanging out -- among us right now.So this is a superb novel that gets my highest recommendation. It's a compelling page turner that does not rely on plot stunts or crafty writer's artifices to keep us burning through the pages until we get to the end. It's a work of depth, integrity and entertainment. Grab the edge of a seat, if you dare, and read The Survival of Thomas Ford.