Sixteen Horses

by Greg Buchanan

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110	4	250,162	(2.57)	None
A literary thriller from stunning new talent Greg Buchanan, Sixteen Horses is a story of enduring guilt, trauma, and punishment, set in a small seaside community the rest of the world has left behind. In Ilmarsh, England, local police detective Alec Nichols discovers sixteen horses' heads on a farm, each buried with a single eye facing the low winter sun. After Veterinary Forensics expert Cooper Allen travels to the scene, a pathogen is discovered lurking within the soil, and many of those who have come into contact with the corpses grow critically ill. A series of crimes comes to light-disappearances, arson, and mutilations-and in the dark days that follow, the town slips into panic and paranoia. Everything is not as it seems. Anyone could be a suspect. And, as Cooper finds herself unable to leave town, Alec is stalked by an unseen threat. The two investigators race to uncover the truth behind these frightened and insidious mysteries-no matter the cost.… (more)

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Showing 4 of 4

Couldn't get into it all all and gave up. (

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edwardsgt | Mar 22, 2023 |

This was hard work to read: quite over-written in places and with the point of view constantly shifting to the extent that I often had (and now that I've finished it still have) no idea who was speaking. I got to the end and wasn't sure what had happened, so went back and read the last 20 pages again. I think I now understand what the text says, but that doesn't explain the plot: there are so many things about what happened that were not satisfactorily resolved. There were constant mysterious references to Alec and Cooper's respective childhoods which (I think!) turned out to be entirely irrelevant, and what on earth was Cooper's exact job meant to be during the months the narrative covers. Was she still working for the government in some secret capacity? I don't believe the police force in even a rural area would be allowed to sort of fade away to anarchy as this one does. And so on and so on... (

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pgchuis | Jul 20, 2022 |

A book shouldn't leave the reader confused at the end with all sorts of lingering questions, and, unfortunately, this one did. It is an extremely dark story, filled with the killing of animals and populated with damaged and maladjusted-to-life people - virtually every single character - who live in a seaside town in England that is dying. The author has a very odd writing style, but I will say that it was almost kind of mesmerizing after a while, which is why I finished the book. The ending, though, leaves many, many unanswered questions, some of which I can't even remember or think to ask because the story was written in such a convoluted manner. I can't imagine that this book is one that most people would want to read. (

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flourgirl49 | Jun 12, 2022 |

I don’t know what I just read, honestly.
This book is choppy and all over the place. I mean, I am a short-chapter-fan kinda girl, but this book is just ridiculous on that aspect. Plot bounces everywhere, and at several points, you just don’t know who or what the author is talking about.
So one day, 16 mutilated horses’ heads appear buried in a farm somewhere. Then we are told a bunch of stuff had happened before in that place (I think?) and a bunch of stuff happens after. To who and why I don’t know.
The ending is messed up and all over the place.
This dude needs to take more writing classes, me thinks.
Skip it. (

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AleAleta | Apr 14, 2022 |

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A literary thriller from stunning new talent Greg Buchanan, Sixteen Horses is a story of enduring guilt, trauma, and punishment, set in a small seaside community the rest of the world has left behind. In Ilmarsh, England, local police detective Alec Nichols discovers sixteen horses' heads on a farm, each buried with a single eye facing the low winter sun. After Veterinary Forensics expert Cooper Allen travels to the scene, a pathogen is discovered lurking within the soil, and many of those who have come into contact with the corpses grow critically ill. A series of crimes comes to light-disappearances, arson, and mutilations-and in the dark days that follow, the town slips into panic and paranoia. Everything is not as it seems. Anyone could be a suspect. And, as Cooper finds herself unable to leave town, Alec is stalked by an unseen threat. The two investigators race to uncover the truth behind these frightened and insidious mysteries-no matter the cost.

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