BOOK REVIEW: THE GATHERING OF SHADOWS BY MARK N DRAKE

Murder, Mystery and Magic in 1920’s England

Jack Glennison has a past, one that involves dark magic. As a scholar, he attended the University of Mercia. One fateful night, an unknown incident occurs that makes him leave the University, and his friend in a coma. He then becomes a policeman but the events of 1914 mean that he sees front line action. When he returns to England, he moves from his home town of Buxton to become a private eye in the city of Manchester.

He spends his time investigating routine cases, missing persons, cases of infidelity. Until one day Josine Randall, an American on a business trip with her husband, shows up at his door, asking him to search for her missing husband, who told her that he was going to a meeting and he did not return. The police won’t take her seriously, so she enlists his help to track him down.

As he undertakes a routine case of a missing husband, events lead him to Darkisle and to a conclusion that Glennison never would have dreamed.

I have to say that I rather enjoyed this detective tale set in the 1920’s. Mark Drake does a really good job of evoking the period and gives us a good strong lead in the form of Jack Glennison.

It’s quite refreshing that the story takes place in the North of England rather than the usual setting of somewhere like London, and I must say that this made me warm to the book from the get go. The setting moves from the town of Buxton to Manchester as Mark Drake gives us the main character’s background in the prologue and how he sets himself up as a private detective, thus giving Jack all the essentials that he needs so that we can start the story proper without constant info dumps throughout the story alluding to his background. This gives the story the opportunity to run straight away.

The setting of the book is primarily on the fictional island of Darkisle, an insular community that is quite cut off from the rest of England, and still maintains its own tradition, languages and customs. As well as its own superstitions, and this gives the events a kind of claustrophobic feel, especially as the characters are far removed from the mainland.

There are a number of tones in this book as it shifts from one setting to another. Initially, it has a bit of a noirish/gangster feel as the investigation leads Glennison to uncover a plot involving smuggling alcohol to the US. However, we soon learn that something more sinister is going on and that a secret doomsday cult may be involved.

The story then moves to another part of Darkisle, and we learn that Drake’s supporting character, Josine Randall is far more complicated than we first think. When Josine Randall arrives on the island of Darkisle, the story moves into its second act and evolves into a murder mystery, involving books of magic and a whole new set of characters. Now whilst there are a number of different tones in the book, you would think that these might not work. However, they do! And they work surprisingly well. Like I said, we have an initial noirish tone, which then evolves into a more traditional murder/mystery and finally there are some Lovecraftian elements to the story in the third act.

I found most of the characters to be solid, well - rounded and believable. Although, I have to say that in the second act, I did tend to lose who certain characters were and what their significance was at times. However, this didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the book. There were plot twists that I didn't see coming, and most importantly it kept me entertained from beginning to end. What more do you want from a book! I enjoyed the Lovecraftian elements and I thought that these were well integrated into the story, making them seem like an organic inclusion to the plot rather than being shoehorned in as I have seen in some books.


All in all, this is a pretty solid debut and I’ll definitely be investigating the rest of this series.

Author: Fantasy Book Nerd
Website: www.fantasybooknerd.com

Title: The Gathering of Shadows
Author: Mark N Drake
Series: The Glennison Dark Isle Cases #1
Publisher: Aethos Publications
Pub. Date: 11.06.20
Pages: 213

A gritty detective story that spirals into the realms of Lovecraftian Horror, 'The Gathering of Shadows' will delight fans of the genre as they travel with Jack Glennison from the stolid certainty of 1920s England to a world of lost temples, ancient gods, whispered chants and terrifying visitations.

Glennison is a failed scholar, a frustrated policeman, a discharged soldier… and now a private detective about to get out of his depth. When a glamorous blonde arrives at his less-than-glamorous Manchester office, her missing person case has "straying husband" written all over it.

But Jack's investigation soon takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself on a steamer bound for half-forgotten Darkisle in the Irish Sea. Here he finds himself confronting both dark forces and his own forgotten past.

"The story is set in the early 1920s, in many ways the ‘Golden Age’ of Lovecraftian Horror. But far from being a Lovecraft pastiche, it has a distinct take on the Cthulhu Mythos, with a British sensibility that brings Brian Lumley to mind." (T. Finley)

"The colourful descriptions conjure up an atmosphere which is a mixture of film noir, Indiana Jones and Victorian horror." (C. de Rossi)

"The suspense increases from a detective's first laconic activities on a new case, to subtle signs of strangeness and finally to full horror" (N. Bergfeld)

"... the game here lies with plotting a course through the clues and guessing who (or what) will be left standing as the last shotgun shell bounces across the strangely carved stone floor." (S. Matthews)

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