THE LONG VIEW by Mark Hurst @MarkHur41481024

 4 out of 5 stars

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How I discovered this book: friend's recommendation.

In A Nutshell: A girl who can see dead people... and a certain evil.

Oddly, the last book I read was about a boy who could see dead people - just coincidence, it's not my new favourite genre!

Fifteen-year-old Sophie Lydon's father is an undertaker, which is somewhat disturbing for a girl who can communicate with the recently deceased.  The gift was inherited from her mother, now dead; Sophie lives with her father and her mute, intellectually disabled uncle.  Life is not easy for her, and being bullied at school by the cool queen of the class, Cassie, makes it a whole lot worse.  Then again, Cassie has her own problems.

Bob Curran is a former detective who grew obsessed with the work of a serial killer, and is sure that an unnamed evil lies beneath his crimes, one that has not yet been laid to rest.  Then the murders begin again...

I very much liked the concept of 'the Long View', a long, long walk after death, destination unknown, during which the walkers are tempted by offers of rest and comfort.  This is an unusual story, and unpredictable, which is always a plus.  The characterisation is good, particularly Cassie and Bob, and the plot is cleverly worked out.

The story has an omniscient narrator, which did not always work for me; it's a hard style to carry off, as too often it can slide into confusing 'head-hopping' - this is when one minute the reader is inside Sophie's head, the next inside Bob's.  This can be executed convincingly, but in this book there were no gaps between 'heads'; a row of asterisks before the next person's POV can make all the difference.  Similarly, when there is a time gap, or a change in setting, so that the reader doesn't think, 'hang on a minute, isn't she supposed to be in a kitchen in the day time?  How come it's suddenly all dark?'.  I think it could have used the eyes of an experienced editor, for this reason.  However, the person who recommended it to me was not bothered by these aspects, so you may not be, either!

Recommended to those who love a dark paranormal story, and who are not too squeamish - it's far from grisly but there is a fair bit of well-written graphic detail about the murders.