LIP HOOK

Described as “a tale of rural unease”, Lip Hook certainly borrows liberally from the folk horror canon: there’s a local pub, a sinister lord, mysterious rituals and sex magick aplenty. But it’s more reminiscent of Robert Aickman’s deeply peculiar short fiction than, say, The Wicker Man. The atmosphere is weird and unsettling, weighted with a sense that things are wrong, but holding back explanations until late in the story.

The story sees the mysterious Vinnie and Sophia on the lam, fleeing a bad past with a suitcase full of treasure. They drive into Lip Hook, just your average village surrounded by a wall of permanent fog and deadly insects, and decide that it’s the perfect place to hide. As they settle into life in the village, Sophia begins to bring the locals under her spell and rises in power. Meanwhile a pair of teenagers begin to uncover some of the village’s dark secrets and what they have to do with a missing woman...

Mark Stafford’s linework and the murky colour palette give everything a suitably phantasmal feel. At the same time, there’s an amusingly parochial sense of humour to David Hine’s writing here (particularly when it comes to the local coven – actually a fairly believable representation of modern Wicca) and a focus on character that grounds the book. Charming and strange rather than horrific, it feels like magic(k). Will Salmon