Review: A fabulous multi-genre cocktail
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2013
Seb Kirby has concocted a fabulous multi-genre cocktail that keeps you engrossed from beginning to end.Raymond Bridges, moderately successful author and English Professor, Victoria Bletchley are thrust into a world where things are rarely what they appear to be and people are rarely exactly who they say they are. Against this backdrop Raymond and Victoria must outrun and outsmart their Nemesis, the many members of his newly emerging cult and even the police before it's too late. Before we all end up paying the ultimate price for our own short-sightedness.On the face of it, this story comes from a classic Science Fiction tradition and, indeed, it does contain elements of the best contemporary examples of the genre. You can feel the echoes of Twelve Monkeys, The Matrix and The Man Who Fell to Earth, among others, emanating from the text. It also has resonances from the early giants of science fiction HG Wells, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke and the like. In fact, it particularly reminded me of a short story called Pawley's Peepholes by the great John Wyndham.Within this tradition Mr Kirby has seamlessly woven the fundamental features of an engaging and challenging mystery with all the requisite murders, suspects and motives. As our hero develops he is sometimes part Philip Marlowe and sometimes part Sherlock Holmes but, never too much of either.The story also has the pace and timing of a first class thriller. It effortlessly moves you inexorably forward, whilst ramping up the tension at every turnAlthough all this would be enough to raise Double Bind well above the average modern story, what really elevates it is its style. To write well in the first person or in the present tense is hard enough but, to combine the two and still remain coherent and cohesive is, frankly, a triumph.I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys and appreciates a good story well told. I also recommend it to all you aspiring writers as a fine example of a fantastic author nearing the top of his game.*****If I had six stars to award, I would, Thank you Seb this is great.