Books

Bestial Burdens


There is no such thing as a feeling
Therapist Shaun Fox runs a successful creative writing programme. A modern, free-thinking man, unfettered by social convention, he has many sexual partners, and avoids long-term commitment at all costs. But his private life is taking a darker turn. Increasingly, he’s drawn to damaged, vulnerable women, women he can manipulate into becoming no more than sexual objects, women he has no genuine feelings for, leaving him cold and empty inside.
When ex-porn star Lucas McGoldrick is referred to him after a botched suicide attempt, Fox begins to see worrying parallels between his own narcissistic lifestyle and the life his new client used to live. Through a series of creative writing assignments and therapy sessions, Fox learns of McGoldrick’s own sexual odyssey, from tender, adolescent innocence to a nightmare of pornography, violence and addiction.
Refusing to acknowledge his own failings, Fox embarks upon another illicit affair, this time with a married woman, and is finally forced to confront the essential truths surrounding himself and all human relationships.

Click on the link below to order your copy today:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086MJDY8R/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4


The Nine Lives of Jacob Fallada


The story of an outsider, a lonely, misunderstood young artist who chronicles all the unpleasant things that happen to him in life. Abandoned by his parents, brought up be a tyrannical aunt, bullied at school, ostracised by the local community, nearly everyone Jacob comes into contact with takes an instant, (often) violent dislike towards him. Like Job from the bible, he is beaten and abused, manipulated and taken advantage of. Life, people, fate, circumstance force him deeper into his shell, deeper into the cocoon of his fledgling artistic work, where he records every significant event in sketches, paintings and short-form verse, documenting his own unique, eminently miserable human experience. At heart, he longs for companionship, intimacy, love, but is dealt so many blows he is too scared to reach out to anybody. On the fringes of society, he devotes himself solely to his art. When his sketches, paintings and verse finally come to the attention of a local gallery owner, Jacob tragically dies and never gets to see his work receive the recognition it deserves.

Praise for The Nine Lives of Jacob Fallada

A dark, bitter-sweet comedy drama with a distinctly cinematic feel to it… hilarious, captivating and brilliantly written… A well-deserved five stars…Highly recommended…
                                                                                                                             Emerald Book Reviews


Click on the link below to order your copy from amazon today:


The Girl in the Empty Room


A troubled single mother goes missing. A highly unusual sexually-transmitted infection spreads around a small town. Two bodies wash up on a beach.

Are these seemingly unrelated events connected to a government plot to eliminate undesirable members of society; an ancient myth about an Indian chief; a series of unsolved copycat murders; or to a self-proclaimed shaman and tattooist – a man who believes his body art is infused with magical powers?

Hundreds of people eventually succumb to the infection. The town is quarantined. The shaman’s tattoos do indeed come to life, inciting gruesome acts of violence. In a supernatural twist, the missing woman becomes an unlikely hero – a wrathful conduit – avenging a great evil perpetrated against a peaceful tribe of people hundreds of years ago.


ISOLATION


When an office worker receives a photograph of a grisly murder scene, he thinks it's a prank, not the start of a killing spree where he knows each and every victim.

Nigel Randolph, a solitary man with a history of mental health problems, is implicated in a macabre set of killings, drawn into a dark world of subterfuge and deception, which leaves him questioning his own sanity.
  
As the police investigation progresses, Randolph discovers evidence of radical hypnotherapy sessions, that he may have been experimented upon as a child, and is now victim of a high-level cover-up. Only if he can piece together what happened to him during the controversial psychiatric treatment of his youth, will he ever find out the truth.

Praise for Isolation:
ISOLATION is a sure-fire page-turner, constantly suffused with the questions of "what next" and "what really happened" inextricably intertwined. Readers will be on the edge of their seats trying to ascertain the facts, and beyond that, the truth of the facts. Fans of the 1960's TV series "The Prisoner" will witness similar overtones, and literate readers will see glimpses of the nightmarish dystopia of "1984," and of the unspeakable mind-control experimentation of "Firestarter." But ISOLATION stands on its own substantial merits, a novel which will ring long in memory. 

To say this is the most bizarre book I have ever read is an understatement! It's like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets The Silver Linings Playbook. I adored the narrator, Nigel as well as the twists and turns on literally every page as he desperately tries to solve the brutal murders of others in the experimental "support" group he was involved in as a teen. Nothing is what it seems...I stayed up until the middle of the night to finish this one! A must-read for sure!

Isolation is a disturbing story. Beginning with such an ordinary, believable and, to many I would suspect, mind-numbingly recogisable start to the working week, it becomes at first alarming but then bizarre. At one point I was thinking, no, this is too weird! But then the weirdness itself becomes intriguing, as how can the story possible pan out? The answer is as chilling as it is sad and is left, to a certain extent, for the reader to make up their own mind.

'I might be insane but I'm not stupid', came to my mind while reading this book. This 'Psychological Thriller' which includes influences of ' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', and 'Shutter Island'; will interest anyone who has either read the books or watched these films. This really is a great story. I loved reading it! It worked for me for me for two reasons;  firstly the underpinning back story line of the main character, which the Author teases the reader with by drip feeding various  disclosures of Nigel's past events and actions; secondly the pace of the narrative which keeps changing from one of a mellow pace in some scenes, and goes though the gears the next, dovetailing nicely to the eventual ending.

What an amazing tale. From start to finish we follow the protagonist through a most convoluted and twisting story. From one moment to the next we have no idea who, what, where or why though we begin to suspect we never get to the solution until the very last page. This psychotic thriller is a page turner as we seek to separate fact from fantasy.

Wow! What a twisted thriller of a book! This one made me question my sanity a few times. This book kept me on my toes and made me nervous to read it late at night. Great book to read when you are looking for a book that will make you think about it long after it's over.  If you like psychological thrillers then Neil Randall's debut full length book will not disappoint. 

This book took me by surprise. I don't know what I was expecting when I went in but it wasn't this…In fact, I read it in one day….Full of twists and turns, you don't know what's real and what's not. The author writes stories within the story – Native American myths, journal entries, a letter, a few chapters from another book. To me, it's a sign of a good author when he can keep your interest on so many different topics in the span of one book. The ending came right out of left field, I was not expecting it….It certainly ended with a bang!

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TALES OF ORDINARY SADNESS


With Randall, the jury is still out. Tales of his own life are as strange as the very stories he writes. In a sense, Randall is a legend in his own front room, a holy drinker…tender, belligerent, a contradiction…these fifteen exceptional, highly original short stories come pounding out of a violent, unique, depraved mind…you cannot read tales of magic suits, talking jackets, demonic factories and deformed hands and ever come away the same again.

Hands was long-listed for the RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2015

Praise for Tales of Ordinary Sadness
Randall '…is an intriguing writer who kept me entranced from start to finish. His writing style is bold, intense, disturbing, thought provoking, and very descriptive, with strong imagery.’                                                                        
                                                                                    - Cindy Taylor, AllBooks Review

'Tales of Ordinary Sadness' is a fantastic collection of stories that will shock, challenge and delight. The writing is so perceptive it's almost unnerving. 5 out of 5 stars from me
                        - Rowena Wiseman, Author of The Replacement Wife, Harper Collins

Randall '…demonstrates a grasp of how to stencil out a character. In Council Flat Caviar, a study of a man who’s fallen through the cracks…in a sense a man already dead…he inhabits the perspective of a leering, bitter individual without judging him…this takes empathy, and the contrast that Randall draws between the character's present life and his younger days, when he had friends and a sense of hope, generates a convincing portrait of loss.'                         
                                    - Charles Wolford, for Quadrapheme Literary Review

TRUST NO ONE


DISCLAIMER: A demented tale of ultimate revenge that is not for the faint-hearted.

When a renowned film maker's girlfriend disappears from a busy London pub, he fears the worst. But nothing could prepare him for what was about to unfold.

A bitter former friend, cultural terrorists and a gruesome discovery direct him to the horrifying truth…

A dark mystery thriller with a terrifying twist from the author of 'A Quiet Place to Die', Published by Wild Wolf Publishing

Praise for Trust No One:

From the very fist page,I knew this book was going to be brilliant.It was very well written and the unusual plot kept me pinned to my seat,wishing I could read faster to find out what was going to happen next.This is the story of the ultimate revenge and just when you think it can't get any more demented,it does.Fantastic read!!!

Strange book, but rather intriguing and quite thought provoking. Well worth a read if you fancy should a little different.

A very twisted page turner some very dark stories within a story, well worth a read


BUY NOW >>  http://www.amazon.com/Trust-No-One-Neil-Randall-ebook/dp/B015VG8YK0


THE BUTTERFLY AND THE WHEEL

Turgenovsky is second-rate writer whose literary aspirations far outweigh his talents. When arrested with student friends, he is drawn into revolutionary circles more through chance than conviction, having an unwitting impact on the earth-shattering events taking place around him. During the Civil War, he denounces another writer, steals his manuscript, and rises to the summit of Soviet society, eventually coming under Stalin's patronage. The future Party leader realizes how useful this ambitious young man could be, and writes articles under his name, criticizing anyone opposed to his own political views. Scarred by a brutal upbringing and an unrequited passion for his half-sister, Turgenovsky never lets anybody get too close. He has lovers and colleagues arrested if they threaten to expose him as a fraud.

Praise for The Butterfly & the Wheel:

‘A powerful, panoramic view of the history of the Soviet Union, told through one man’s eyes. This is a novel to savour.’ (William Ryan, author of The Holy Thief, Pan Macmillan)

Drawn by the Russian backdrop, I was held by the dry humour, the flamboyantly Russian characters and the unlikely juxtaposition of Lenin, Trotsky and a grubby little self serving writer all caught up in the glorious revolution.’ (Frances Kaye, author of Micka, Picador).


‘This is a book that deserves the highest respect, a brilliant example of historical/literary fiction. I can’t wait to put it on my shelf next to my Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov.’ (John Campbell, author of Walk to Paradise Garden).

Published by Knox Robinson, available as a paperback, hardcover or ebook

BUY NOW >>  http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Butterfly-Wheel-Neil-Randall/dp/1908483741


A QUIET PLACE TO DIE

E-Thrillers of the Month Highly Recommended! "Explosive"

A grieving man is about to wake up a sleepy fishing village and a crooked local builder is about to take one hell of a fall. This is the story of two very different men on a very definite and catastrophic collision course.

A gripping and fast-paced 30,000 word novella. Straw Dogs with British bite.

"Randall builds and maintains the tension throughout...finally coming together at the end for a highly charged confrontation."

Published by Wild Wolf Publishing

BUY NOW >> http://www.amazon.com/A-Quiet-Place-Die-Randall-ebook/dp/B00AWCM2RK

Praise for A Quiet Place to Die:

Bobby Philips has relocated to a sleepy fishing village following a strange tragedy. His next door neighbour is a local builder with a reputation as a rogue in his trade. The author teases the reader by giving us small amounts of information about Bobby’s tragedy to keep the pages turning. At the same time a dark comedy flows through.

The twist at the end is explosive and it was a great end to the story. I expect to hear a lot more about the author Neil Randall over the coming years.

Rating: Highly recommended
Review by Jane Brown


THE HOLY DRINKER

When Maximov-the-Drinker collapses on his settee after a five-day binge, visions of his first love and glimpses of life as it once was, and can never be again, flood his mind. A horrible sense of sadness and regret overwhelms him--he has wasted his youthful years on drink. When his housekeeper enters the room next morning, she finds in place of her master, and the settee on which he slept, a vat of ruby-red wine. The local priest, captain of the military garrison and Chernov-the-Moneylender, visit the house. Awed by such a strange and compelling sight, they agree to keep the discovery between themselves until a military delegation arrives from Petersburg. However, none of them can resist sampling the wine, each experiencing wondrous visions. What's more, the vat miraculously replenishes itself, providing an inexhaustible supply. Soon word spreads throughout the town and all who drink of it become desperate to gain exclusive access... at their peril. The Holy Drinker is written in the style of a Gogolian fable. It is set in a provincial Russian town at the turn of the twentieth century.

Published by Knox Robinson, available as a paperback, hardcover or ebook

BUY NOW >> http://www.amazon.com/The-Holy-Drinker-Neil-Randall/dp/1908483911

Praise for The Holy Drinker:

“This mystical and entertaining fable engages from the outset, conveying period details of rural Russian life and the nature and relationships of the multiple characters with sparse but effective detail.”
Janet Williamson, The Historical Novel Society 

“The novel comes across as something authentic from a long-forgotten yet not yet overcome past…Strindbergian in proportion, with dreams and drunken hallucinations as symbols of a better utopian world ... this novel can be called a post-modern novel in the best sense of the word.”
Professor Slobodanka Millicent Vladiv-Glover, School of Languages, Literature, Culture and Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

“Randall draws on the Gogolian tradition, writing something that is essentially a long short story, a popular genre in Russian literature. Like Gogol the action moves swiftly and is highly entertaining, incorporating folk beliefs and elements of the supernatural, and a cast of distinctive characters.”
Professor Faith Wigzell, ULC School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies


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