Unknown by Phil Price
Published 1st July 2015
400 pages
Reviewed by Yvonne Davies
What if there are other worlds and the only way to go there is by portal? Jake a former Police officer now a PI gets embroiled in a paranormal investigation which takes him to places he could never imagine. The start sets the scene to the story, two vampiric brothers battle to the death and their supporters are using any means to revive them to finally win the battle. Confronting vampires, and getting help from the most unlikely of creatures, a simple missing person case just got complicated.
We first meet Jake when he was grieving, this helped his decision to give up his career and work for himself. He was a likable character, a man of principles who gave 100% with everything he did. Throughout the story, I could not believe how much bad luck he had, but this just made him focused to get the answers.
Kathleen was sweet natured and can be only described as a home maker. Still, she quickly adapts to everything she confronted to. I enjoyed reading her reactions to things we take for granted i.e. having a shower, drinking a bottle of wine.
At the beginning I was a bit confused as the story jumped from place to place, however, stick with it as these scenes set the story for a great read. The style of writing makes the story a page turner and you will not want to put it down. The use of portals enables the author to use his imagination to create descriptive worlds and some great characters, one of my favourites was Uncle Wilf, an aged man who always stepped up to the challenge. As a fellow Brummie, it was great to read about places in Birmingham and it is not often you read about Dogpool lane. Due to my reading speed, I did have to re-read one scene again as I misread it and was shocked when Jake took Kathleen to Next and handed over a £20. I was going to let the author know that you could not even buy a jumper for £20 let a lone a complete wardrobe, then I realised Jake had tipped the £20 to the cashier to help Kathleen pick her clothes.
If you like your traditional vampires, then pick up this book. Whilst it is paranormal, it has a thriller feel to it which makes it an exciting read. Although it has no cliff-hanger, it leads nicely into book 2. As a first book this is a great read and I could see it being adapted into a TV series, with Jake using the portals to investigate paranormal events.