REVIEW: The Great Orme, Paul D Coombs - 4/5

A group of killers, a text that changes everything, a sea serpent, and a horde of ghosts.

Zac and his 6 closest friends are a bunch of sweet, thoughtful and fun-loving people, aside from the fact they're all murderers, of course. Six years after swearing to take their secrets to the grave in Zac's creaky old house, someone from the group begins to kill again and Zac realises the only way forward is to confess to their crimes and stop the one relapsing on the sin of killing. However, is Zac in the right, or is he as much to blame as the others?

Paul D Coombs is an author I admittedly had never heard of before, however, after Northodox Press sent me his latest title, The Great Orme, I was very much intrigued as to what kind of tale Coombs had spun.

When settling down with a coffee and picking the bookmark to match the title, I was impressed, to say the least, at what I was reading. The first page alone set a brilliantly dark and macabre tone, leading me into the story of Zac and his murderous friends. There was a very dark vibe given out by The Great Orme, and I loved it.

I usually give a book around 100 pages or so to really get a feel for it, and whether I was reviewing this title or not, I would have kept going. There was a fantastic sense of mystery and the unknown in this story, and the setting is something to be admired.

Set in Wales in January, the Great Orme is a rock formation which gets its name from Scandinavian Norse, a Sea Serpent. This little piece of historical information from Coombs helped shape the book into the dark, twisted and unbelievably interesting book The Great Orme became.

The Great Orme is referred to as a beastly Sea Serpent, hovering over Zac and seemingly affecting his choice to confess to his and his friend's sins over the years, as well as causing him discomfort and seven pain.

Having said all this, and while I would definitely recommend The Great Orme, there were some minor issues. While reading, I would sometimes feel as though I was being thrown from one scene to the next, even in the same sentence, which disturbed the flow of the book a little.

Furthermore, there were some small grammatical errors, such as misplaced punctuation; I also felt that, at times, the way the characters spoke to one another was somewhat out of touch, as if no one would really speak that way. This also took a little of the immersion out of it for me.

However, the positives do outweigh the negatives, and Coombs has done a brilliant job of fleshing out so many characters who clash, support one another, and have different personalities, thoughts and ideas.

Zac is the main character within the book, however, there are more than just his six friends to consider. While Zac sends a text message to his friends ordering them back to The Great Orme to tell them to confess to the murders each of them has committed, not only the invited show up.

Partners show up, as well as Rose, a seemingly not-so-sweet old lady who lives next door to Zac; there is also Helen, a local police officer who is investigating the murders in the area, but she too has more to tell than she lets on...

Throughout the book, I read how each member of the friendship group killed their victims; houses set on fire, heads held underwater, car 'accidents'; Coombs really has crafted a dark and twisted tale any crime/mystery reader would love. There was always a sense of mystery, wrongdoing, and of course, the hope that Smokey, Zac's Scottie dog, would live through the events in The Great Orme.

I absolutely loved how the Orme, or as I like to call it, the Sea Serpent, was its own character within the book. It was almost like the Grim Reaper, staring back at Zac from his seat in the study, giving the ghosts he lives with the power to stick around and let Zac become overridden with guilt.

The wonder of who out of Zac's six friends is the new killer was always on my mind just as it was his, as Smokey was attacked and his house vandalised. I was constantly reminded of Zac's wrongdoings, however, they weren't the same as his murderous friends, and the question loomed over me the whole time I was reading: is Zac just as guilty as his friends? And which one has begun killing once again to warn Zac against confessing?

As a crime and thriller lover, The Great Orme definitely hit the mark. Despite some grammatical errors and oddly-written dialogue, this book was a brilliant addition to the genre and Coombs should be very proud of this title.

The Great Orme is out now!