A review by sleepingwtlo
12 Hours by L Marie Wood

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 Having read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the first in the Selected Papers from the Consortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena collection (what a glorious mouthful!), Kate Maruyama’s Bleak Houses, I was excited to jump back in with L. Marie Wood’s 12 Hours.

From start to surprisingly emotional finish, 12 Hours is a wild ride. Opening with a cabbie trapped in his own car as he - and we, albeit heart-wrenchingly quicker - works out what has happened, Wood’s novella is an absolute masterclass in suspense, reveals, and the more emotive side of horror.

As he awaits rescue, we learn more and more about him. His life, his loves, his mistakes - a life literally flashing before our eyes in an almost stream of consciousness from the trapped man. No better nor worse than the average person, Wood places a seemingly banal cabbie into the centre of a psychological horror, and the final result kept me glued to every single one of its 80 pages.

With two such strong starts from the CSAP papers (sorry but I’m not typing that out again!), I can’t wait to see what the next instalment - Sarah Hans’ Asylum - brings to the table.