Portmanteau

Rating:

What’s it about?

The First Harry Macadam Novel: After a body is pulled from the river Aire, what seemed like a straightforward missing person’s search becomes something much more dangerous for psychic investigator Harry Macadam.

Harry and his team from the Portmanteau Investigations Agency are rapidly drawn into a web of intrigue and find themselves being watched by both the police as well as a darker, more mysterious adversary.

The hunt for the missing woman leads them towards a criminal underworld that few people know about. Anyone that gets close to the truth doesn’t live to tell and a similar fate awaits an unknowing Harry as he uses his uncanny mental abilities to peel away layer after layer of secrets and lies.

To prevail against the utter evil that lurks in the shadows around him, Harry must not only discover a horror beyond anything he could imagine, but also confront the demons that hide inside him.

For Harry has his own secrets. Ones that he himself doesn’t even understand the full truth of and on those hidden truths rest the fates of dozens of souls.

Who is the real danger? The killer that he seeks, or Harry himself?

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)

My review

What a brilliant book! I can hardly believe that Portmanteau is this author’s first novel, it’s just that excellent. Truth be told, I was not very fond of the cover but it was the description that convinced me to read and review this book and I am so glad I did. The storyline is intricate and the writing is superb.

Portmanteau Investigations Agency is an investigative agency that holds one difference over other agencies, namely the agents working for the agency have special psychic powers. This is normally not my thing, I’m really down to earth and I had a fear that I would not stay hooked no matter how well Portmanteau was written, but surprisingly the author really made it work for me. The case of the disappearance of Mr. Peter Loveday’s wife Laura is investigated by following a breadcrumb trail of evidence using the aid of Harry Macadam’s visions. Harry’s special gift namely implies that he can see into the past when he touches a personal object. When he touches a piece of her jewellery he sees Laura Loveday in a hotel room with another man and gets a glimpse of a wallet with an ID of Alan Savu. She had an affair with this man, case closed you might think but that’s far from it. The same day, PC Callum McKenzie comes by and tells him that Mr. Savu was found murdered. Although Harry is told to stay out of the case, he has the feeling that he is called to it for some reason and starts to investigate on his own with the help of each of the other agent’s abilities. Who killed Mr. Savu, how is Laura connected to Mr. Savu and where is Mr. Savu’s girlfriend? Is there a link perhaps with the also now long-time missing sister of PC Callum? While risking his own life, he sets out to uncover the many secrets buried.

I can’t give away much about the plot because I don’t want to spoil the experience but I can only say that the whole story is carefully constructed and when the big – and I really mean big – plot twist is revealed all the little puzzle pieces that passed by without drawing much attention, fell into place and it was just brilliant. The investigation on itself was already complex but the twist makes it really exceptional. I predict many many excellent reviews for this book and I am very happy to hear that he is already working on a sequel.

*I received a free copy of this book from Readers’Favorite in exchange for my honest review*

 

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