THE COLOUR OF DEATH

TITLE: THE COLOUR OF DEATH

AUTHOR: MICHAEL CORDY

Pages: 381

Date: 16/09/2011

Grade: 4

Details: Received from and reviewed for Transworld Books

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In Portland a young woman is irresistibly drawn towards a house. She can sense the evil behind the walls, but can’t make herself turn away. Using an axe she breaks into the house and singlehandedly puts a stop to the evil lurking inside, injuring herself in the process.

When the police catch up with the young woman she turns out to be a mystery. Not only can she not explain how she knew what was going on in that house, she doesn’t know who she is, where she came from or anything else about herself.

Dr. Nathan Fox, a forensic psychiatrist with violence in his own past, is asked to talk to the girl and see if he can help her retrieve her memories and find explanations for what she did. As he works with the girl, Fox finds himself fascinated, both by the girl and the powers she has.

At the same time, downtown Portland is rocked by the violent murders of underworld figures. And somehow the murders appear to be linked to the young woman the police have christened Jane Doe.

Now Dr. Fox not only has to treat the young woman, but also finds himself trying to keep her safe.

When somebody turns up claiming to know the girl and eager to bring her back home that should mean the end of Nathan Fox’s involvement with her. However, it turns out that it is only the start. If past events were dark, what is yet to come is far darker still, and beyond anything those involved could have imagined.

This is a very interesting thriller. Since I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone, I won’t go into the concepts the author uses, but they are fascinating and original.

The book starts off as a very fast-paced thriller, and ends in the same fashion. I did find some of the parts in the middle a bit slow and drawn out.

Partly this is the result of the concepts the author uses, concepts which do require explanation and expanding upon, and as such are to some extend necessary. However, it did mean that while I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages at the start and finish of the book, I had no such difficulties mid-story.

That’s not to say that I would discourage anybody from reading this book. It is always good to come across a thriller with an original premise, and this book certainly has that. It also has nice characters and a mostly thrilling and gripping story.

The book ends in such a way that the author could easily revisit these characters again in the future. If he does, I will be among the first to read the sequel.