- Title:
- Bandwidth: The Ghost of Devlin Mallard
- By:
- N.S. Cooke
- Pages:
- 466
- Rating:
- 4
(First Edition, no longer available: See ‘BANDWIDTH – The Ghost of Devlin Mallard’ now published by Accent Press.)
Inspired to rediscover his roots and family history, computer programmer Michael, soon learns that the past is sometimes best left undisturbed: lurking in the history of his bloodline is a twisted killer, Devlin Mallard. A man dispatched from this earth in 1929 at the end of a hangman’s noose.
In the 21st Century, spirits have moved on from Ouija boards and séances. The dead now travel by broadband – hidden in the Bandwidth. They inhabit the chat rooms, plying their trade online, ever hungry for contact with the living.
Now freed from the darkness and roaming cyberspace, this ghost is hell-bent on exacting revenge and unleashing mayhem.
Fighting for his life, and that of his family, Michael joins forces with murder investigator, Detective Sergeant Woods, and rides a roller-coaster of global killings to the final confrontation. He must face his demon and return Devlin Mallard to the darkness.
I wasn’t sure about this one to start with. It seemed to be plodding on, spooky but not overly so.
And then, about halfway through chapter sixteen, I took the book upstairs and finished it while the rest of the house slept…
This is why the book catapults itself up to a four star read. Put aside the distraction of the day and goings on in a busy household, have nothing to focus on other than the utterly terrifying prospect of Devlin Mallard coming and killing you and the atmosphere really kicks in!
For a debut, this is very good. It starts off – not slowly, but it took me a while to get into things. But when I did, it was all worthwhile and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to try out a new author with a bit of horror.