The Well [Kindle Edition]

I really enjoyed reading The Well, I couldn't put it down. It has a lot going for it and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys supernatural horror fiction.

Here's the basics... after Becca and her lover manage to fall into an ancient well the book focuses on three parallel stories: a police investigation into their apparent abduction and their suspects, a supernatural curse unfolding around the village and Becca's attempts to escape.

Becca and others go through a horrendous series of events and you find yourself really routing for them. The Well is pretty disturbing - what happens to the main characters is grim and some scenes need to be read from behind the sofa.

The three stories of course collide spectacularly in the final scenes but not before several 'oh my god did that really just happen' moments.

Those working against Becca are seemingly everyday people who manage to get themselves entwined in the plot through some poignant errors of judgement and selfish thoughts.

Most memorably, Peter Labrow's writing creates really strong visual scenes - the eerie forest, the ruined house, the well itself, life in the village - it's easy to you feel like you are actually there with Becca. I particularly like that the plots aren't 'overdone': Peter rightly leaves enough to the imagination and open ends for the reader to dwell on, which add greatly to the success of the book.

I hope there's a film and a sequel - it's an outstanding book.

I was totally absorbed by this book from the first page. The plotting is intricate yet totally absorbing and the characters well defined with enough exposition to give them credibility without slowing down the story. And what a story! It just gallops along, literally making this reader unable to put it down! It's not for the faint hearted as some of the imagery is hard hitting but this just makes it all the more compelling. The different strands of the story are well developed to make the denouement, when it comes, both breathtaking and utterly convincing. I'm left gasping for more.

This started off as a thriller with much promise, however I soon became rather bored by both the supernatural aspect and the rather drawn out saga of the lives of the local women. Ok the supernatural side of the story was what the novel was described as so I cant really complain but I had a feeling that the story would have been better off with less of that aspect.
Strangely, for a male author, most of the main characters were 'good' women (apart from the obvious witch), and of the few male characters these were mostly either paedophile, drunken wife beater or a lecherous youth.

On the plus side, the book didnt end till 100% showed on my Kindle, with no previews or lengthy authors notes (always a factor that I find extremely frustrating).