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October Skies by Alex Scarrow
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October Skies (edition 2008)

by Alex Scarrow

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1384197,653 (3.67)8
2008: Deep in the mountain forests of Wyoming, Julian Cooke stumbles across the rotting remains of a wooden wagon. He's discovered what's left of the Preston Group, a convoy of settlers that vanished in the winter of 1856. It's clear that something horrific happened here all those years ago, but Cooke can only find a few tantalising clues. 1856: as early snows descend, the eclectic group of settlers that form the Preston wagon train are forced to dig in. Miles from any kind of civilisation, they see the group of Native Americans also trapped nearby as their greatest threat. But they soon realise what true danger is. When a woman is found murdered, appallingly mutilated, one of the Indian party struggles wounded back to camp, whispering of unspeakable evil as he dies. United by fear, the settlers and the Indians must protect themselves against whatever is lurking in the woods. But as suspicion and panic grow, perhaps their own terror will be just as dangerous. Or maybe, whatever's out there is worse than anything they can imagine. Back in the present day, as Cooke unravels the mystery, he must question if the horror he is uncovering was in fact only the start of something much worse... A gruesome thriller of suspense and a chilling look at the breeding grounds of evil, Alex Scarrow's new novel will fascainte and terrify you in equal measure.… (more)
Member:planetmut
Title:October Skies
Authors:Alex Scarrow
Info:Orion Books (2008), Paperback, 416 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

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October Skies by Alex Scarrow

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Showing 4 of 4
Ehhh. Started out really strong and then just sort of veered off into "wuh?" territory. I felt the ending was a bit of a cheat. ( )
  ardaiel | Mar 4, 2024 |
This is an interesting story about a group of American settlers who get stranded in the mountains. The story is told in two parts from the perspective of one of the settlers and also in the present day using the voice of a TV producer who unexpectedly stumbles across the remains of the settlers encampment and is endeavouring to find out what happened to them.
The author focusses on a number of intertwining themes including religion and religious faith, psychosis and madness and ghosts and spirits. It's a good read. Scarrow's other two novels are about completely different subjects and are just as captivating. ( )
  cathymoore | Nov 21, 2012 |
October Skies by Alex Scarrow is a thriller that certainly kept me guessing and reading to the end. The story jumps back and forth in time, in the present day, a documentary film maker and his partner stumble upon the remains of a long lost wagon trail that disappeared in the wilderness 150 years ago. They find a well preserved journal in a trunk. We are then drawn back to the past to the last days of this wagon train as terror and horror are unleashed among them. The evil doesn’t seem to be confined to the past either, as suddenly people in the present are dying in brutal ways. Exactly what was out in the woods that continues to work it’s evil today.

Fast paced and riveting, the author grabs you right from the start and pulls you into his story. Mixing wilderness survival, Indians, and religion with a hint of the supernatural to give the reader a story to enjoy being scared by. At times a little over-the-top, but this was exactly the kind of story I was looking for to curl up with on a chilly autumn evening. ( )
2 vote DeltaQueen50 | Oct 19, 2012 |
Best for last is October Skies, a vivid account of the fictional Preston Group – a party en route to the west coast of the USA in the 1850s – which disappeared without trace.

Told in two parts, from the detailed diary of trekker Dr Ben Lambert and by the present day British TV crew who stumble across the remains of the group 152 years later, this is an interesting and thrilling tale.

Anachronisms – Ben wants to study ‘psychiatry’ in 1856 – irritate but do not detract from this engrossing story of a serial killer who stalks the snowbound group: is he possessed by an evil spirit or a mental malaise? This question is not resolved until the final page and even then – is it? ( )
  adpaton | Oct 22, 2008 |
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The two little girls, playing in the meadow by the stream, were the ones who saw it first: a pale form moving along the edge of the wood, just inside the tree line.
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2008: Deep in the mountain forests of Wyoming, Julian Cooke stumbles across the rotting remains of a wooden wagon. He's discovered what's left of the Preston Group, a convoy of settlers that vanished in the winter of 1856. It's clear that something horrific happened here all those years ago, but Cooke can only find a few tantalising clues. 1856: as early snows descend, the eclectic group of settlers that form the Preston wagon train are forced to dig in. Miles from any kind of civilisation, they see the group of Native Americans also trapped nearby as their greatest threat. But they soon realise what true danger is. When a woman is found murdered, appallingly mutilated, one of the Indian party struggles wounded back to camp, whispering of unspeakable evil as he dies. United by fear, the settlers and the Indians must protect themselves against whatever is lurking in the woods. But as suspicion and panic grow, perhaps their own terror will be just as dangerous. Or maybe, whatever's out there is worse than anything they can imagine. Back in the present day, as Cooke unravels the mystery, he must question if the horror he is uncovering was in fact only the start of something much worse... A gruesome thriller of suspense and a chilling look at the breeding grounds of evil, Alex Scarrow's new novel will fascainte and terrify you in equal measure.

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