Ghost Virus – Graham Masterton
The girl had been staring into her mirror all morning before she picked up the small bottle of sulphuric acid and poured it over her forehead.
Samira was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. What could have brought her to this? DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel of Tooting Police suspect it’s suicide. But then a meek husband kills his wife, and the headteacher of the local school throws her pupils out of a window. It’s no longer a random outbreak of horrific crimes. It’s a deadly virus. And it’s spreading. Somehow, ordinary Londoners are being infected with an insatiable lust to murder. All of the killers were wearing second-hand clothes. Could these garments be possessed by some supernatural force?
The death count is multiplying. Now Jerry and Jamila must defeat the ghost virus, before they are all infected…
My thanks to Melanie at Head of Zeus for the chance to join the tour.
When I read a horror story I like to begin with the understanding that anything goes. I don’t want a story which is content to ground its-self in the confines of reality, that is what psychological thrillers are meant to do. I want an author to embrace the freedom of being able to do whatever they like to put their characters through the emotional wringer (and a fairly high body count is a bonus).
In Ghost Virus Graham Masterton has very much taken the freedom available to him and has infected some Londoners with an insatiable lust to murder. The common thread (no pun intended) is that all those infected have been exposed to second hand clothes which form a lethal symbiotic relationship with their host and drive them to kill.
As the carnage escalates we get two cops trying to make sense of these seemingly unrelated acts of violence. Jerry Pardoe and his new colleague Jamila Patel are perplexed by the horrific scenes they are called to investigate but soon start to see a pattern in the behaviour of the murderers. The challenge they face is that there is no logical or rational explanation to accompany the events they are witnessing.
Graham Masterton has a dark and disturbing imagination and this comes through in Ghost Virus. There is no glossing over the violent acts, the horror is very much front and centre of the story. Horror fans will love it. As a frequent reader of police procedurals there was also a very strong investigation by Pardoe and Patel for me to enjoy too. Everything I enjoy in a story – sit back, pick up the book and let the story flow around me. Bliss.
Fantastical horror and a criminal investigation. Will not be for the crime purists but I enjoyed this immensely.
Ghost Virus is published by Head of Zeus and is available in digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Virus-Graham-Masterton/dp/1788545044/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1527632832&sr=1-1
