HORROR AND FANTASY

JAMIE BUXTON ECHO by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Hodder £16.99)

Mountaineers talk tough about conquering mountains, but what happens when the mountain fights back?

For nick Grevers, a sinister alpine peak called Le Maudit is the ultimate challenge. Like a black hole in the sky, nothing’s been written about it and tracks to its lower slopes are fenced off.

But when the climb results in a horrific facial injury and his climbing buddy’s death, nick’s lover realises things are not right. it’s not just the mysterious village and its hostile residents, the flocks of birds, the drops in temperature and the nightmares. Why has the medical team that nursed nick back to health gone insane?

Chilling, stealthy, horrendous, echo grips like an ice-pick and chills like a glacier.

THIS CHARMING MAN by C.K. McDonnell

(Bantam £14.99) ODD how much fun exsanguination can be. an unlikely cast of pseudo-vampires, policemen, journalists, talking dogs and witches make for a melée of mayhem and pratfalls, as an intrepid investigative team tries to unlock the mystery of a booby-trapped loo, suspicious murders and why their boss is such a monster.

Yes, it’s time for Manchester’s finest, the hardened hacks of the stranger times, to untangle a plot that involves kidnapping, reading groups and hi-tech dating apps, not to mention an alcoholic oracle who lives on a canal with his laugh-out-loud talking bulldog.

With crisp plotting, scabrous dialogue and deftly applied splashes of gore, former comedian C.K. McDonnell has served up another winner from his cast of delightful losers.

GWENDY’S FINAL TASK by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar (Hodder £16.99)

the word charm implies both twinkling eyes and full-on magical possession. this charming, whimsical tale about a woman with an enchanted toy deepens into a story of pain and threat, destiny and desire.

since childhood, Gwen has been custodian of a magic box that offers a range of interesting choices: press it here for global apocalypse, there for a chocolate treat.

now a u.s. senator, Gwen realises that dark forces want to steal her toy. a publicity trip to outer space on a Bezos-type rocket gives her the perfect opportunity to get rid of the damned thing. But Gwen’s mind is disintegrating, she’s up against a treacherous fellow traveller and then there’s a large scorpion called Boris…