British humor doesn’t go down well with everyone. Some people like it, and some don’t, but I think I know the formula for the exact success of books from Foggy Albion — mystery, supernatural, and detectives. And when all of this is combined in one book, and with quality humor, it’s hard to refuse. It is this combination of genres that makes the novel «The Stranger Times» by Irish writer Cam McDonnell stand out. This is the first part of a trilogy published by Bookchef. I have already read it, and then, as always, I will share my impressions.
«The Stranger Times»
Author Cam McDonnell
Publisher Bookchef
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 416
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2024
Size 128×200 mm
Website bookchef.ua
Hanna’s life is a dark one. She broke up with a rich man who cheated on her, and she accidentally set fire to his house. Now the heroine is desperate because she did not want to take her ex’s money, and she needs to live on something. So Anna is seeking employment, any job. A well-known salon told her that they would think about it, but invited her to an interview with a strange magazine «The Stranger Times».
At the interview, she realized that the newspaper writes about the supernatural and mysticism, its employees are losers and eccentrics, and the editor-in-chief is a frozen rude. But there is nowhere to go because she is unexpectedly hired. But this is only the beginning of Hanna’s new life because it turns out that all the nonsense they write about here is real. And even more. Soon, various creatures and monsters will even begin to threaten the lives of all the newspaper employees.
«The Stranger Times» — a vivid combination of science fiction and mysticism. All of this is presented under the author’s signature humor, which I personally liked. It’s also just a nice urban fantasy with the atmosphere of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s books. And although I often don’t understand the former’s work, I can see where «This Bizarre World»’s legs are coming from.
The novel takes the reader on a strange, fascinating, and most importantly funny journey through mysticism, the supernatural, and the paranormal. The author also perfectly keeps the intrigue and does not dump the exposition on the reader. In fact, it appears here only at the end, in one big stream, and it is done logically and reasonably enough.
The book is hard to put down, not only because of the thrilling detective story, but also because of the incredible characters. The author has managed to create witty, attractive, and funny characters. They are three-dimensional and immediately evoke empathy; they are realistic because they are not perfect, but funny, human, and flawed. And it is precisely these characters that make readers fall in love with them.
«The Stranger Times» also stands out for its powerful dialogues. Cam McDonnell is a master of clever conversations between characters, and he has great, if slightly biting, jokes exchanged between his characters. Also worth noting is the light and enjoyable writing style, so the pages end quickly because of this writer’s distinction.
The novel will appeal to all fans of thrillers and detectives, as well as the supernatural and mysticism. But I’m sure that if you don’t read such genres but like urban fantasy and satire, you will also enjoy «The Stranger Times». This is such a strange book for its successful combinations of genres that I can recommend it to literally everyone. For me, this is one of the discoveries of the year, and I am really looking forward to the sequel, which has already been announced for early 2025.
It is surprising that this book and its author are little known not only in Ukraine, but also in the UK and Ireland. Of course, his popularity is much higher there, especially in Manchester, which appears in the book. But for the scale of the local book market, he is not very well known. I hope I can somehow encourage Ukrainian readers to buy and read this book and learn more about the author.
The book itself is stylish and nice. From the cover, you can’t tell that it’s an urban fantasy, but it’s coolly designed, with bulging letters and other drawing elements. The quality of the publication is good, the font is large enough and easy to read. The book was not delivered.
