Erma Bridges’ life is far from perfect, but entirely ordinary. So when she is shot twice in a targetted attack by a colleague, her quiet existence is shattered in an instant.

With her would-be murderer dead, no one can give Erma the answers she needs to move on from her trauma. Why her? Why now?

So begins Erma’s quest for the truth – and a dangerous, spiralling journey into the heart of darkness.

With all the inventiveness of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and the raw brutality of Mulholland Drive, THE SPIRAL is a unique crime thriller with killer twists – and 2021’s most jaw-dropping ending.

I recieved a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley

Do you remember the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks which were very much in demand in the late 1980s and early 1990s?  Iain Ryan clearly does as they play quite a significant part of the story in The Spiral.

For those that may not have put in the hours of fun playing adventures (I very much did), the story begins on page 1 and at the end of the first few paragraphs the reader is presented with a choice.  For example: does your character go left (Turn to page 39) or go right (turn to 311) and so on – your story evolves.  There were mulitple paths to naviate the story and most would result in a failure to “complete” the adventure but if you were told to turn to 400 you knew you had “won” the book  and often this meant your character survived to fight another day. I loved these books and it is wonderful to know that they are still available 30 years on and that new titles are still being released.

But back to The Spiral.  We are taking in Erma’s story and when we first meet her at the university where she works she is facing a disciplinary meeting. There have been allegations she is sleeping with some of her students, it appears the allegations may have subtsance behind them and Erma appears disappointed that some of the men involved would have come forward to support the claims.  However, she is determined to fight her corner and is treating the disciplinary meeting with some contempt.  It is this difficult introduction to the character which means Erma initially comes across as a confrontational character.  Her life is about to be turned on its head though (and not because of the charges against her) as Erma is about to face a near death encounter which will result in her taking an extended leave of absence from her post to recuperate and deal with the trauma.

Interspersed with Erma’s story is a  short fantasy adventure.  Orcs and warriors and a developing story of a stranger trying to find the meaning behind a tattoo they have.  It is a spiral and nobody can give a satisfactory explanation for the reason the spiral has been inked.  The adventurer will slay his foes, pursue a quest to uncover the reason for the spiral and will keep the fantasy theme of the story uppermost in the mind of the reader. It works well and isn’t just there for padding – but it took a while to understand why so stick with it.

Erma slowly makes her way back into society, spending lots of her recuperation time practicing martial arts and mentally steeling herself to return to work.  Although she cannot know it, the physical and mental recouperation will become invaluable.  Erma is caught up in a dangerous story and Iain Ryan took her adventures in a very unexpected direction, the Endgame to The Spiral was proper page-turning drama.

I had seem some cryptic posts asking how the book would work on Kindle.  Without any problem is the answer.  Kindle can handle, maps, graphics and much much more so there was nothing in The Spiral which detracted from the enjoyment.

Enjoyed this one, nice to get a bit of a switch up in the reading and have a thriller with some different elements to give it a fresh feel.

The Spiral is published by Zaffre and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08CZW8SMG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0