Judas Tree [Paperback]

Simon Clark has been steadily building a reputation as one of the most adroit of blood-chillers for some considerable time now with books such as The Fall, King Blood and Nailed by the Heart. His principal tactic has been the slow and inexorable accumulation of atmosphere, orchestrating his moments of terror with the skill of a master. Judas Tree is probably his richest achievement yet, with his troubled psychic heroine Amelia finding that the sun-drenched Greek island of Voros does not offer the sanctuary she seeks. Amelia breaks away from her unsympathetic family and attempts to leave behind the distress caused by her preternatural gifts by escaping to a Mediterranean destination.

The island of Voros may initially appear to be idyllic, with its beautiful Judas tree growing in amazing profusion and producing dazzling pink blossoms. But the people on the island are not what they appear to be, and Amelia encounters forces which her reason fights against: there's something on Voros that has the power to change events, alter people's lives and create bizarre behaviour patterns. As Amelia struggles to forge a new family on the island, she finds herself taken over by a terrifying force that will bring an unwelcome self-discovery.

Clark's skills are quite different to those of such writers as Stephen King--he is less interested in regular infusions of gross-out horror, preferring to weave a disturbing patchwork of incidents that disorient the reader, preparing them for the unexpected punch of terror when it finally arrives. In this, he is in the tradition of such subtle masters of the genre as Robert Aickman and Ramsey Campbell, and, like them, the delineation of character is crucial to the effects he wishes to achieve. Amelia is a particularly well-drawn heroine, and we are as concerned with her fate as with any of the genre thrills that Judas Tree offers. The set pieces, though, are as compelling as ever:

Down she plunged. The speed of the fall towards the sea bed dizzied her. A dark shape moved like a torpedo to her right. Whether it lunged at her or away from her she could not tell. Hitherto the water had been clear. She'd seen fish; sea horses; there'd been a blood-crimson jellyfish suspended in the water like a polythene bag. But now visibility closed in. The deeper she plunged the darker it became. She might as well have been diving into outer space; only this was starless--darker than heart-blood.

--Barry Forshaw

'Horror fiction as it should be written - shocking but fascinating'

'What gives Clark his lever into your own fears is taking the mundane and making it menacing'

'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently working on these shores'

'A master of eerie thrills'

Amelia Thomas goes to the Greek island of Voros to recover from a serious head injury. But the island is a sinister place full of ghosts that, although unseen, make their presence felt through the minds of the inhabitants. Gradually, the sanity of those who live there is eroded.

A truly thrilling modern ghost story
Amelia Thomas heads for the sun-soaked Greek island of Voros not only to escape her cold, dreary home town, but also to piece her life back together after a failed romance and a mysterious accident which has left her feeling an outsider to the rest of the world.

Voros should be an idyllic, peaceful place. Here there are no roads, no towns, only the Judas tree which grows in astonishing profusion, blossoming each spring into a vivid pink that lends the island an other-worldly air.

But the island is not what it appears. Nor are the people who live there. Something unexpected haunts Voros. A something that Amelia cannot see, but a something which has the power to shape events, to invade lives and to make people do strange, sometimes frightening things.

That dark power is about to reach out to Amelia and take her on a strange and ghostly journey of self-discovery. A journey where danger lurks.

'Fans of Clark's distinctive way with mysterious, just-outside-the-normal stories will find JUDAS TREE much to their liking' Yorkshire Evening Post

'A master of eerie thrills' Richard Laymon

'The hottest new purveyor of horrific thrills currently working on these shores' Big Issue

'Simon Clark is a well-established horror writer whose stories are told with pace, style and always with a surreal twist' Newcastle Evening Chronicle

Simon Clark was born in 1958. His short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies including DARKLANDS 2, DARK VOICES 5 and THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES (four times). His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and he has written prose material for the internationally famous rock band U2. JUDAS TREE is his seventh novel.