Tag: Todd and Dane’s Indie Readalong

Amy McLean – We Are Lucifer | Review

Title: We Are Lucifer

Author: Amy McLean

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 364

Rating: 3.75/5

 

Amy McLean - We Are Lucifer

Amy McLean – We Are Lucifer

 

I picked this book up as part of Todd and Dane’s Indie Readalong, a project I run on my BookTube channel with a friend to encourage people to read more indie writers. I chose this one in particular because Amy also has a YouTube channel that I watch from time to time and so she seemed like an obvious choice to check out.

Now I’ll admit, I hadn’t done much research on the book beforehand and so I didn’t know much about it. From the title, I thought it was going to be dealing more with the devil and the occult, but it was more like a slightly darker take on the thrillers that are still storming up the bestseller lists. We’re talking stuff like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and all of those other books that got people talking thanks to their twists and turns.

This one isn’t necessarily twisty and turny because we get to follow a lot of the action through the eyes of the book’s antagonist, but it’ll still take you by surprise with some of the stuff that happens and I genuinely didn’t predict the outcome, which is a rarity for books like these. It didn’t pretend to be anything other than what it was, and it succeeded because of that.

 

Amy McLean

Amy McLean

 

Of course, there are the occasional little niggles that I always seem to get with indie books, so there were a few minor typos and formatting errors. You could also somehow tell that it was an indie book just from the way that it was written, but I also thought that Amy’s writing style was absorbing and certainly good enough to carry her story.

All in all, it was a pretty good read and above average for an indie novel, but it didn’t blow my mind. I’d probably read some more of Amy’s stuff in the future though, and it was interesting to see how her voice as a writer reflected the author as a person. Go ahead and read it if it sounds good.

 

Amy McLean

Amy McLean

 

Click here to buy We Are Lucifer.


Adrian Baldwin – Stanley McCloud Must Die! | Review

Title: Stanley McCloud Must Die!

Author: Adrian Baldwin

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 368

Rating: 4*/5

 

Adrian Baldwin - Stanley McCloud Must Die!

Adrian Baldwin – Stanley McCloud Must Die!

 

The first thing I have to say about this book is that it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. When Baldwin calls it “dark comedy for grown ups”, he’s not wrong. In fact, his work reminds me of what Irvine Welsh would sound like if he tried to write a sitcom, and there are definitely references to Welsh’s work here right down to a Renton reference and a Scotsman called Dougie who gets up to all sorts of shenanigans.

There is a plot here, but the plot almost comes second to the characters, although both are a lot of fun here. It’s an odd book because there are basically two different story lines taking place at the same time. The first plot follows a chap called Stanley McCloud who’s diagnosed with a terminal illness and who makes a bet with a bookmaker that he’ll live to his next birthday. The problem is that she decides to try to kill him off early so she doesn’t have to pay up.

While all of this is happening, there’s also a second plot which follows a serial killer called the Head Honcho, and that’s kind of why I wanted to read this book. One of his victims is named after me and so I wanted to find out how I died. I wasn’t disappointed. I also read this as part of Todd and Dane’s Indie Readalong, which is an initiative I’m running with a friend over on YouTube.

All in all, this was a fun book and while it started to drag a little near the end, I think that’s just a byproduct of its length. For an indie book, it’s a startlingly well-written and well-edited work that, while it might not be for the mainstream, is a great addition to the indie landscape and one which deserves more readers. Sure, there are trigger warnings for pretty much everything imaginable, but that’s hardly surprising. I mean, I’ve read Baldwin’s work before and this was more of the same. A lot of fun – but also pretty much crazy.

 

Adrian Baldwin

Adrian Baldwin

 

Click here to buy Stanley McCloud Must Die!.