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thomaswjoyce's review
4.0
A very accomplished first novel from Chant. Entertaining and thrilling from the first page to the last. Chant has been very open in acknowledging his influences for this story (most noticeably Carpenter's The Thing) and the story wears these proudly on its sleeve. It is clear he isn't trying to reinvent the wheel here; his aim is to write a story of pure entertainment and escapism. And, as far as I am concerned, he has delivered in spades. The concept of a team of firefighters being trapped in a burning building with a malicious force is a great idea for creating scenes of terror and placing his characters in peril. Despite the relatively large cast of characters, we are mainly concerned with Ellie McNeil and I was definitely rooting for her to make it to the end. I won't say anything about whether she does or not, but I will say the final scene was handled brilliantly and, by the last ten pages or so, I didn't want to stop. I couldn't stop. It was a thrilling finale with a hint of 80s slasher movies as well as the afore-mentioned classic horror movie. I definitely look forward to reading more from Mr. Chant.
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