Duncan Thompson – Shadows Of Hell

‘Shadows of Hell’ by Duncan Thompson is the follow up to ‘Shadows In The Woods’ and I just had to take part in this tour, if only to see where Duncan would take this story after the first book. It made me curious as to whether everyone had got out alive.

‘When a man heavenly worth sins in Hell, darkness shall reign upon the Earth’. This is a quote from the beginning of the book and, boy, it stuck! We see Joe Costello, who os is trapped in the Underworld and the one who has this power to unleash the shadows of Hell on the world. He has to travel through Dante’s nine circles in Hell, facing every demon that is there and his own too! He does have his medium and psychic Layla Thorne to guide him… but will he battle through without managing to unleash hell on Earth?

After my initial curiosity about where Duncan Thompson would take this story I decided to just stop thinking and start reading, it does tend to help!
I was glued to this book after I had sat down and started it. The journey through the nine circles in hell had me captivated. I was reading this with a feeling of impending doom, I mean, how can Joe manage to get through all of these things without stepping a foot wrong? The descriptions of the circles fascinated me and we see everything through Joe’s eyes, even the things we don’t want to see or even think about, Pure hell, being isolated in the bowels of hell.

The new characters that are brought into this story bring with them fresh energy and although you would consider this journey to be as scary as the first, it actually isn’t. The new characters bring their own beliefs as well as their superstitions too, making me feel like this book has a little extra.

I have to mention that with all the battles and darkness, Duncan Thompson has also brought a comedic side to the book. Bringing a devil in the form of Jeremy Kyle! Well, I was definitely laughing at this move. Such a fun part of the story! So there is light relief still.

Another great book with an intriguing and unusual story with an ending that promises more (I hope). I shall just…wait.

Thanks to Damp Pebbles Blog Tours, Panther Publishing and Duncan Thompson for allowing me to continue on Joe Costello’s journey with them both and gifting me a copy of the book.