Gregory Bastianelli – Shadow Flicker

I am pleased to say Flame Tree Press is back on my blog today. Shadow Flicker by Gregory Bastienelli is the book I am giving you my thoughts on. Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Flame Tree Press for my place on the tour and my gifted copy of the book.

An old man nearly chokes to death after stuffing dandelion heads into his mouth. A pregnant cow repeatedly runs headlong into a fence post. Oscar Basaran investigates a series of strange events on the Kidney Island.

Before I give you my thoughts of Shadow Flicker, I must say that I have never found a book that’s been published by Flame Tree Press to not be my ‘cup of tea’. Judging by the front cover and the blurb, I was raring to get started reading. A book that’s a blend of genres, horror, mystery, sci-fi  and supernatural it was a book I enjoyed to the fullest.

A small island, wind turbines and a strange outsider sent to investigate complaints from the island community. This is a slow burner that slowly puts everything in place, sets the strong foundations for the creepy and ominous tale that ensues.

Oscar is the outsider who is sent to the island to investigate the complaints about the wind turbines. He interviews the residents who have complained and gets to hear some stories that are increasingly bizarre. These stories are, according to the residents, due to shadow flicker and the noise that comes from the wind turbines. Are these wind turbines really causing these crazy things, or are the members of the Island community experiencing mental illnesses?

This really is a book with a fresh and unique plot. Gregory Bastianelli has done some fantastic world building to make the reader feel like they are transported to Kidney Island with the strange things that are going on.

His characters are all so different with their own personalities so there is no confusion as they are introduced into the story. This made it such an easy book to just ignore the world around me and keep flipping the pages for as long as I could. As I got into the second half of the book the action ramped up along with the strangeness. The pace of it had me almost wearing the kindle out as I read so fast to find out what happened next.

Such a unique book that has a great mix of genres throughout that I can’t pin it to one or two. It’s different and a fabulous read. I so enjoyed it.

About the Author

Gregory Bastianelli is the author of the novels “Jokers Club” and “Loonies.” His stories have appeared in several genre magazines and anthologies. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the New England Horror Writers. He lives in Dover, NH.