The Ancient
By Muriel Gray
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Alien, on a container ship.
‘Scary and unputdownable’, Stephen King
Amongst towering mountains of trash in the backstreets of Lima, three young boys are trying to raise an ancient demon. They don't think their incantation has worked; but that night a teenage drugrunner is gunned down across their makeshift altar. As his killers walk away, his body stirs. Not because it still contains a spark of life. But because something is stirring beneath it…
Port Callao. The MV Lysicrates, a three-quarter-mile long supertanker, is being loaded with hundreds of tonnes of trash. Watching from the bridge, in a bleary state of hungover gloom, is second-in-command Matthew Cotton; more interesting is the arrival of a young American student who has missed the boat she should have been on.
They should have paid more attention to the trash.
Muriel Gray
Muriel Gray is a media personality, the hugely talented creator and presenter of numerous TV shows, including The Tube, The Media Show and The Snow Show.
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Reviews for The Ancient
17 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5“Only half…was visible from where she waited, but it was enough to skin her soul.” (p.286)I have to admit, Muriel Gray’s book The Ancient made my skin crawl more than once. This work is a creature fiction and an unsettling example of why some cultural differences should not be explored, let alone accepted. Ester Mulholland’s intent is not to attract the attention of an ancient evil, but she does.What made The Ancient so unique, other than the story is, all but the first three chapters take place on a cargo ship in the middle of the water, far away land.Gray’s pace speeds the story along without cheating the reader out of any creepy details but leaves room for the imagination. A balance not easily mastered.I highly recommend The Ancient to anyone who enjoys atmospheric horror, evil creatures and strong, well-developed characters. I do want to thank Glasgow’s Waterstones bookstore employee for recommending Muriel Gray’s work.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I didn't enjoy this one as much as her other two Horror books. I think the setting of an oil tanker didn't really help; there are only so many ways you can describe metal boxes and bulkheads. Still better than a lot of supposedly scary books out there though.