Imagine a place where all your nightmares become real. Think of dark urban streets where crime, debt and violence are not the only things to fear. Picture a housing project that is a gateway to somewhere else, a realm where ghosts and monsters stir hungrily in the shadows. Welcome to the Concrete Grove. It knows where you live... Gary McMahon's chilling horror trilogy shows us a Britain many of us will recognise, while whispering of the terrible and arcane presences clawing against the boundaries of our reality! Book One of the Concrete Grove Trilogy
The Concrete Grove: Concrete Grove Series, Book 1
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About the Author
Gary McMahon has appeared in anthologies in both the UK and US, including The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. He is a British-Fantasy- Award-nominated author.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By G.R. Yeates
Format:Paperback
In the Concrete Grove, Gary McMahon successfully fuses grim urban realism with the spiritual mysticism of Machen and Blackwood. There are other echoes here too; creatures wander abroad in the grey environs of the Grove that made me recall late-night sessions of playing Silent Hill and a particular breed of demon evokes the grotesque visuals of Aphex Twin. The characters who inhabit The Concrete Grove are, on the face of it, familiar types but they are soon fleshed out as the story goes on until they become people. They are distinctive, damaged and none of them come to quite the end you might well expect.
The Concrete Grove is a work of thoroughly contemporary horror whilst not being knowingly modern or hip. The influences, literary, cinematic and pop culture, are all blended together to create an environment that becomes as real as those depicted on the evening news and as disturbingly imaginative as you could hope for.
The Concrete Grove is a work of thoroughly contemporary horror whilst not being knowingly modern or hip. The influences, literary, cinematic and pop culture, are all blended together to create an environment that becomes as real as those depicted on the evening news and as disturbingly imaginative as you could hope for.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By seun
Format:Paperback
Concrete Grove is my first experience of Gary McMahon's work but it definitely won't be the last. This is a dark urban horror which isn't afraid to take its readers into the shadows.
We all know those areas of towns to stay away from. They're full of criminals and dealers, and we're happy to not live there. But what about the people who don't have a choice? What about those who have to live there? Concrete Grove concerns a few of these people, principally the mother of a teenage girl who's in debt to the local crime boss, and the man who might be the one to help her or the one to make things worse.
McMahon's creation is a frightening place. Crime boss Monty Bright has a tight hold on the area and the police don't appear too interested in doing much about him. A woman, Lana, is recently widowed and struggling to look after her daughter Hailey. She's in debt to Bright, Hailey seems to be suffering from an illness which causes blackouts and the only positive in her life is her developing relationship with Tom, the man who helps Hailey home after one of her episodes. While all this is occurring, an evil force is growing in the centre of the Grove and Hailey knows much more about it than Lana realises.
On the surface, Concrete Grove might sound like a fairly straight horror complete with a teenage girl in danger and a vile figure in the shape of Monty Bright, but McMahon takes the story into much deeper places. There are also several passages of gorgeous writing which bring to life the characters in a way lacking from some horror fiction.
Overall, this is a superb read. I'm looking forward to the sequel next year.
We all know those areas of towns to stay away from. They're full of criminals and dealers, and we're happy to not live there. But what about the people who don't have a choice? What about those who have to live there? Concrete Grove concerns a few of these people, principally the mother of a teenage girl who's in debt to the local crime boss, and the man who might be the one to help her or the one to make things worse.
McMahon's creation is a frightening place. Crime boss Monty Bright has a tight hold on the area and the police don't appear too interested in doing much about him. A woman, Lana, is recently widowed and struggling to look after her daughter Hailey. She's in debt to Bright, Hailey seems to be suffering from an illness which causes blackouts and the only positive in her life is her developing relationship with Tom, the man who helps Hailey home after one of her episodes. While all this is occurring, an evil force is growing in the centre of the Grove and Hailey knows much more about it than Lana realises.
On the surface, Concrete Grove might sound like a fairly straight horror complete with a teenage girl in danger and a vile figure in the shape of Monty Bright, but McMahon takes the story into much deeper places. There are also several passages of gorgeous writing which bring to life the characters in a way lacking from some horror fiction.
Overall, this is a superb read. I'm looking forward to the sequel next year.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By RT Twinem
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The word concrete, the overpowering image of the Concrete Grove, the shear struggle for survival in a world full of harsh, bitter and destructive influences is what flows through this book making it an unbelievable and at times difficult read. The content is bleak, the subject matter is bleak and the characters we meet, for the most part are people at the bottom of the food chain struggling for some form of survival and existence. The story takes place in a run down council estate somewhere in North East England, and in such a locality there lives the takers and those who are taken from. The author must surely draw upon his knowledge when he introduces us to Monty Bright, evil personified who together with his associates Terry (whose prosthetic limb lends itself to one of the most enduring and horrific scenes)and Francis Boater a murdering psychopath for most of his life but finally finds some sort of peaceful conclusion. The only real hero, in an otherwise pitiful list of characters, is Hailey whose bad luck it is to find herself living in this concrete hell, but has the good fortune to be drawn to a form of magic that may prove her redemption. Hailey's mother Lana Fraser is a woman who will do anything to remove herself from the burning fires of this living nightmare and when she finds herself in debt to Monty Bright hopes that her friendship with Tom will be her escape. Tom receives very little sympathy from the reader as he is fundamentally a weak character and bemoans his life and his non existent marriage to the grotesque Helen. Gary McMahon graphically shows what life must be like living in the gutter style existence of the concrete jungle where only the takers succeed and the taken from survive by eking out an existence in a world that largely chooses to ignore them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strange imagery
A ghost having sex with a manatee? Strange imagery abounds in Gary McMahon's The Concrete Grove, the first part in a trilogy about a rundown housing development that's apparently... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lietzen Mika
4.0 out of 5 stars
Grim Up North
A strange, disorientating read, this. Set on a grim northern estate hiding strange secrets and worlds, the book begins by rooting in a grim reality of loan sharks, violence, and... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Richard Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars
great novel of place
set on a scary council estate, the hint of geography in a map of the estate does not disappoint and place becomes a leading character but not a flat or separated one, but one... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. Philip R. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bleak, haunting and unputdownable.
Not very often do I sit with a book and will myself to slow down, to savour every word, to enjoy each and every wonderful description so that I don't miss anything. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Adam Millard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome to the concrete jungle
It seems that, lately I am focusing on UK horror. the next load of books in my reading pile are all UK authors. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ginger Nuts of Horror
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome to the concrete jungle
It seems that, lately I am focusing on UK horror. the next load of books in my reading pile are all UK authors. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ginger Nuts of Horror
3.0 out of 5 stars
must try harder
Although this novel is set in the north east I didn't get a feel for the area at all. Usually when I become immersed in a book I get a picture of what the characters look like in... Read more
Published 20 months ago by ann m maynard
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE CONCRETE GROVE by Gary McMahon 8.5 /10
This review contains minor spoilers. If you don't want to know, don't read on.
I recently stated that I believe Gary McMahon is fast becoming the master of urban horror... Read more
I recently stated that I believe Gary McMahon is fast becoming the master of urban horror... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. SA Hamilton
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully gloomy
Gary McMahon's The Concrete Grove (2011) is disconcerting little standalone - combining the grim reality of urban poverty with the supernatural horror of ageless otherworldly... Read more
Published 21 months ago by J. Shurin
4.0 out of 5 stars
21st Century Urban Horror
I was always going to find this book an interesting read. I spent the first 23 years of my life on an East London estate, akin in many ways to the North of England one McMahon... Read more
Published 22 months ago by DC
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