Cold Light of Day (Perfect Paperback)

Mike Hallowell, The Shields Gazette - Written the Foreword
When I reviewed Paul Cave's first novel, Something of the Night, I
described it as being "like the Biblical flood." The story, I opined,
"washed over the reader unceasingly and warned us of dark things to come if
we didn't get a grip."
Paul, thankfully, did get a grip and has now penned his second novel.
Without hesitation I can say that it measures up very well indeed when
compared to the first.
Oscar Wilde once said that, "there is no such thing as a moral or immoral
book. Books are well written or badly written, that is all."
Cold Light of Day is, as Wilde said, neither moral nor immoral. It simply
takes the reader on a journey into the darkest recesses of the human
psyche, and then some. Its genius lies in the way it transforms innocence
into horror, normality into nightmare. One minute the hero is a track
runner, the next he is crippled in a car wreck. In the throes of sexual
passion, a man transforms into a monster. Nails become claws, teeth mutate
into fangs. You just never know when Paul Cave will wrench you from the
real world into an altogether darker environ that Dean Koontz at his best
might have trouble envisaging.
Of course, the scenario in which man takes on monster has been well
rehearsed. The X-Files did it well. Paul Cave does it brilliantly. Lovers
of horror novels become seasoned to their diet. They just know - sense -
when the next bit of bloodletting is just around the corner, just over the
page.
Paul Cave affords the reader no such luxury. Every scene - every situation
- may begin life wrapped in innocence and end up covered in body parts. The
transition hits you like a train, judders the senses unnervingly.
In a novel which speaks of such diverse phenomena as police detectives,
soul-theft, bloodhounds, giant bats, FBI agents and shape-shifting wraiths
one should not expect a comfortable ride. Goldilocks and the Three Bears it
is not.
And yet, there is something redeeming about Cold Light of Day. Through all
the human weakness, rising loftily above the torrid sexual encounters,
there is an overriding feeling that, no matter how bad things get, the good
guys will eventually do in the interloper from God-knows-what dimension.
Ah, but do they? You just never know with writers like Paul Cave. Like the
bloodletting denizens of his novel, he cannot be guaranteed to do the right
thing just because it makes the reader feel better. His craft is terror,
not therapy.
Fear, said Ralph Waldo Emerson, is a teacher of great sagacity. Paul Cave,
to our voluntary discomfort, has learnt that lesson very, very well.
Read greedily and enjoy, but expect not to sleep soundly.


Book Description
Book Description: Student Josh Sawyer's passionate encounter
with Anna, a beautiful and mysterious young woman, was one that would
change his life for ever and thrust him into a horror nightmare of violence
and bloodlust and force him to come to terms with Anna's deep, dark and
terrifying secrets.
Suspected of gruesome multiple murders, the couple are forced to flee from
Chicago, with the police and FBI hot on their trail. But a more deadly and
evil threat is tracking them - Jonus - Anna's old adversary from years gone
by. She has something he wants, at any cost - her soul; the price, a trail
of bloody carnage.

3 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A superb second book!, 20 Mar 2007 By  Mr. R. C. Auty "Trancewarriors" (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)       Paul Cave has created a new sub genre in the horror sphere. A new and terrifying type of monster with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever, Jonus. Add to this an anti-hero in the form of Anna, you want to root for her, and you do most of the time, but ultimately she must do the same as Jonus to survive, kill and consume humans and their souls. Josh Sawyer, a student, meets Anna by apparent chance and they are briefly consumed by an intense passion. Then the fun begins and author Paul Cave, takes you on a helter-skelter, roller coaster ride of blood soaked action and adventure as Anna and Josh are accused of a series of grisly murders. They flee Chicago, pursued by Police and FBI, and much more sinisterly, Jonus, an enemy from Anna's past, who's hunting her because she possesses something he desperately needs, her heart, which he must consume to further his apparently insane and incredible ends. Briefly, in book two, we travel back a thousand years and delve into a time when Anna and Jonus rode together, and hunted together. And we learn something of their kind, super-human shape-shifters, who hunt humans and each other. Echoes of Highlander here, and that's not a bad thing. Cave replaces the lightening and explosions of a victory in that film, with a much more satisfying and grisly end for Horror fans. Then back into the present and a series of bloody and incredible events bring us hurtling to a startling but satisfying conclusion. Good characters and an almost 3D view of the world with excellent descriptive prose. Action, adventure, and horror in equal measure, the single question left when you are finished is `when will there be a sequel?' Robert Auty, Author of 'Trance Warriors: The Siege of Scarn' Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Two Immortal Creatures - One Age, Old Struggle, 24 April 2007 By  Spinetinglers Committee "Spinetingling Review... (Ballygowan) - See all my reviews Anna is a beautiful woman who spends her days in the shadows, hiding from the sun. By night, she hunts and kills evil wherever she may find it, and she has been living this life for centuries. Jonas lives the same sort of life as Anna with only one slight difference: malevolence runs through his veins. He will kill anyone, regardless of whether they are murderers or saints. That is of no consequence to him; he needs them to feed, and feed he does. Although, like Anna, Jonas has a purpose, he still lacks the one thing that would fulfill his life's destiny - he needs Anna's heart. But Anna will not surrender her heart so easily because it now belongs to another. Anna struggles to convince the world, and more importantly, Josh, the man she loves, that she is trying to do the right thing: ridding the world of the creatures that poison and pollute it. When she kills, however, the guise she transforms into only convinces people that she is a monster to be feared and not trusted. Pursued by the police, Jonas and the FBI, Anna and Josh set off on a journey. Will they stay one step ahead or will they be captured? If they are captured and Jonas gets Anna's heart, she is not the only one who will suffer- it could mean the end of Humankind. This second novel from Paul Cave is very different from Something of the Night, which was an apocalyptic story set in the distant future. Cold Light of Day is a contemporary novel, with an occasional reference to the past. There are no epic battles in Cold Light of Day, but the novel does not suffer because of this. If you enjoy stories like Highlander and Underworld, you will love this book. Cold Light of Day is an exciting book that will renew your faith in heroic adventure and leave you waiting in eager anticipation for the next installment of this epic saga. The chase is only beginning... Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   5.0 out of 5 stars COLD LIGHT OF DAY WINS HANDS DOWN, 27 Feb 2007 By  Anthony Gee (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    COLD LIGHT OF DAY by PAUL CAVE Regardless of genre, all fiction needs a stage set on which to play out the act. Paul Cave delivers his set of Cold Light of Day with apparent ease. David Bowie once wrote a lyric describing "a set so amazing it even smells like a street. Paul Cave doesn't fail to deliver and his set certainly convinced my senses from the outset I was there amongst the action. The characters are well developed and each has their own identity which remains believable throughout. In many ways this is a traditional story of `Hope Springs Eternal` but it can never be accused of being soft. If perhaps the body count doesn't overwhelm it should satisfy the bloodlust of the majority, for those that it doesn't, perhaps may be the subject matter of Paul Cave's next book rather than mere reader! As for the horrors, there are plenty of those, with each delivered eloquently and to a schedule known only to the characters and author. Just as I was satisfyingly second guessing the next twist I was dumped on my ass as the whole thing would suddenly swerve off track, leaving me back where I started - glued to the page and back out of control. The storyline draws upon established conceptions from the classic horror genre but that's not a problem as the way it's presented is both refreshing and uncomplicated. There is even a trip back in time where were treated to a generous glimpse of a life long since forgotten by the characters of the main story thread. None the less it's in context and helped me as the reader position in my mind how and why to most of my questions. So does this book achieve all that it sets out to deliver? - In my opinion absolutely it does and without over statement or compromise. The page count neither exceeds nor conspires to deceive, delivering the conclusion satisfyingly so. ....To close on the theatrical theme of which I began I need to state that in my opinion Paul Cave writes with a style that is more Strong leader than Dictator. Don't expect him to answer every question raised and to neatly tidy away all those loose ends. The audience at the very best of stage shows must take some responsibility for providing the atmosphere and then sit back and enjoy what is a very satisfying bloody and bumpy ride. Reviewed by Anthony Gee February 2007 Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 3 customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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