John Gordon (3) (1925–2017)

I approached this a little warily, as I'd been rather disappointed in the previous couple of John Gordon's novels after enjoying The House on the Brink, but thoroughly enjoyed this Grand Guignol romp.

Donald is a young man, working for a local newspaper in his gap year before going to university, who starts to investigate a weird cult who have a fixation with body parts. Set in the late 90s, though suspiciously more like the 70s - computers are mentioned but the author overcomes any need to show more portray them by having the newspaper editor a Luddite who insists they stick to manual typewriters, not even electric ones - it is told from Donald's first person viewpoint and begins when he witnesses an accident in which a man is struck by a bus. The man seems badly injured, but soon has an amazing recovery although in many ways he resembles to a zombie.

The book features some of Gordon's previously encountered themes such as the fascination exercised by an older woman over a young man, and a young woman who appears fey and shy to begin with but develops into an equal partner - and in this case, one with nerves and stomach of steel - as she and Donald come up against the horrific developments which follow. There was a nice dark humour to the story and it was definitely tongue in cheek in the big climax. Hence a 4-star rating. show less

I always remembered The Giant Under the Snow as a ‘juvenile fantasy’, a few creepy set pieces dropped here and there into a standard runaround – and maybe it could have done with more unusual third act – but I was surprised at how subtle it was, how suspenseful, and how incredibly atmospheric. Beginning in the last days of the school term before the Christmas holidays, there isn’t a page that isn’t dizzying with mist, brutally whirling with snow, dark as dark gets, or slippy show more underfoot with midnight frost. Even the scenes in Jonk’s home or the town museum have that slightly coddled, constricted atmosphere of being nudged slightly out of the routine. Gordon’s characters have the kind of naturalistic awkardness familiar from Alan Garner’s Owl Service or Elidor, where more is said with body language or an exclamation – and though it feels a bit worthy and ’15-Up’, it suits these stories of the supernatural to have things spelled out as little as possible.

There’s a good interview with Gordon on the MR James fansite, Ghosts and Scholars. He’s quite gracious, recognising James as an influence but not a conscious one. Garner gets a brief mention, and Gordon says he hadn’t read him before he wrote Giant, but the style, the aim, the world of each writer is very close to the other’s. Like Elidor, Giant has two boys and a girl protecting treasure from eerie, otherworldly soldiers – the bizarre and frightening side-by-side with the mundane (which always works for me). In each one, the enemy force is confronted in the ruins of slum clearance. Giant makes a less specific raid on British folklore and history, and its prose is less sparse, more atmospheric. Its scares are more deliberate, and its fantastical elements are more fairy tale: the little black velvet rucksacks that help the children fly, for example.

I absolutely loved the descriptions of their flight – you get the feeling Gordon must have spent a lot of time flying planes or gliders during the war, from the description of following this or that air current, twisting and diving and dropping through the air, caught on a gust of snow and carried out into deafening silence. At one point, after a skirmish with the nasties in the open, frozen fields, the children fly back into the city (Norwich?) just within the glow of streetlights, ‘as if it would warm them.’ A lovely December read. show less

One shouldn't judge a book by its cover but i got this book because of the cover, though it wasn't even the cover of the copy I got from the library, but still, look at that cover it's brilliant. Three children find an ancient belt buckle and then find themselves caught up on the final stage of an ancient battle between good and evil, as you do. Granted the power of flight to help them elide the terrifying Leather Men they must thwart the ambitions of an ancient warlord, and a cracking show more adventure it is, too. show less

Two young teens, Bill and Charlotte, become drawn into the mystery of Randal, a man murdered by his uncle four hundred years ago, and who was rumoured to have hidden his family fortune. Charlotte's father works at Blacklode Hall, Randal's home, which his uncle usurped, and rumours have been spread by an unpleasant woman called Mrs Gosse who claims to be descended from the evil uncle. She certainly seems to have inherited his legendary power of being able to summon a spectral man-dog to show more terrify and even kill her enemies.

Thanks to Mrs Gosse, the gossip mill starts to whisper that Charlotte's father is a thief and has stolen items from the Hall. Meanwhile, Charlotte herself really is a thief, shoplifting Christmas cards and other things, and doesn't particularly care who knows it. When she steals a strange metal frog from Mrs Gosse's shop, eerie things begin to happen. Despite her thefts, Bill is drawn to her and beneath her outward cynicism, it seems she might be attracted to him too ....

Bill's family have their own difficulties, with the Rectory where they live crumbling around them. Bill also begins to be haunted by what appears to be the ghost of Randal. Or is the dead man trying to tell him something?

Quite a nice story which captures well the off-hand outwardly non-caring attitude of teenagers, even among themselves, and also the keen and slightly bumbling character of a younger, bullied boy, whom Bill defends and who is drawn into helping them in their secret quest to beat Mrs Gosse to Randal's treasure. A 3-star read. show less