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Master of the Moors book cover
Master of the Moors
2008
First Published
3.99
Average Rating
208
Number of Pages
Kealan Patrick Burke makes his full-length novel debut with what was originally an e-serial novel a couple of years back. Now fully revised and reworked from it’s original rapid-fire online delivery, it comes out in a nice-looking signed/limited hardcover from Necessary Evil Press. So what of the tale itself? This is Burke’s love-letter to the old Hammer horror films of the late 50’s to the early 70’s. He deftly takes the feel of those old foggy London backgrounds and adds a modern touch to it. All of which succeeds to flesh out the characters more realistically. Without giving too much away, he also takes on a classic archetype and infuses it with a fresh idea and life. The story focuses on teenaged Kate Mansfield and her blind brother Neil. Their father is in a virtually catatonic state after something he witnessed in the moors many years before while tracking something with some of the other townsfolk. The siblings are being raised by their house and groundskeeper now. With the arrival of a mysterious visitor to the town, it kicks off a chain of events linked to the mysterious happenings in the moors that day many years before. Burke manages to keep much of the cliffhanger feel of the online serial which works well for maintaining the suspense throughout. It’s another solid entry into his strong body of work. I think regardless if you were one of the ones who read it online before, or are just coming to it for the first time, it’s a must have for two first, it’s a killer story by a writer who is only getting better and better as time goes on and second, it’s another beautifully crafted hardcover limited from NEP, who is one of the best small press publishers out there (and one who sells out most of their stock fairly quick! Just try and find a copy of Kealan’s novella The Turtle Boy from a few years back. If you do, it’ll cost you.). Plain and simple, grab one while you can! — Dark Discoveries - Reviewed by James R. Beach
Avg Rating
3.99
Number of Ratings
240
5 STARS
33%
4 STARS
41%
3 STARS
19%
2 STARS
6%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads

Author

Kealan Patrick Burke
Kealan Patrick Burke
Author · 50 books

Born and raised in a small harbor town in the south of Ireland, Kealan Patrick Burke knew from a very early age that he was going to be a horror writer. The combination of an ancient locale, a horror-loving mother, and a family full of storytellers, made it inevitable that he would end up telling stories for a living. Since those formative years, he has written five novels, over a hundred short stories, six collections, and edited four acclaimed anthologies. In 2004, he was honored with the Bram Stoker Award for his novella The Turtle Boy. Kealan has worked as a waiter, a drama teacher, a mapmaker, a security guard, an assembly-line worker at Apple Computers, a salesman (for a day), a bartender, landscape gardener, vocalist in a grunge band, curriculum content editor, fiction editor at Gothic.net, and, most recently, a fraud investigator. When not writing, Kealan designs book covers through his company Elderlemon Design. A movie based on his short story "Peekers" is currently in development as a major motion picture. Represented by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House Agency.

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