From the author, Lex Sinclair, comes a story that is compelling and unnervingly vivid. “The Frozen Man” isn’t just another book about a sinister entity that leaves behind a trail of bodies, but truly exploits the human condition. He shows us that we are only human and sometimes it’s our judgment that brings us into trouble. More importantly, trouble that could’ve been avoided. By using a very comfortable style of writing, the reader is systematically dragged into a reality from which there is no return. The story isn’t just about a series of events that lead toward an unending nightmare, but the consequences that accommodate bad choices.
Tom and Kate, a married couple looking to rekindle their love, decide to go camping for the weekend in North Wales. Even though they’ve only been married 3 years and dated for 4, their relationship is dwindling. The fact that Kate can’t get pregnant and Tom trying to comfort her in all the wrong ways only makes it worse. As fate would have it their trip is interrupted by heavy snowfall and they are forced to sleep at the nearest bar with a bunch of strangers. Among the strangers is a man named Charles, and after the power to the bar is cut off, they all sit around the fireplace while Charles shares one of his fantastic stories.
His story is one he heard from his father, about a young man who was known as Nathan. Shortly after the Second World War Nathan gave hope to a village by performing strange miracles. The end of story sees Nathan brutally murdered by a jealous war-hero called Dennis. According to Dennis, Nathan stole the girl he was supposed to have and therefore he had to die. This could possibly be the price Nathan paid for falling in love, because he wasn’t allowed to get so close with mortals. Nathan’s body was found hanging from an oak tree in the forest by a chord of silver hair. When the hair was cut the body was frozen solid. This resulted in the nickname “The Frozen Man”.
Eventually the snow clears and the married couple stumbles upon a frozen body hanging from a tree in the forest. Against Tom’s better judgment they take the body down and store it in the boot of their car. With no real plan they go home and hide the body in their loft. However, a phone call from Charles out of the blue gives Tom and Kate the idea to revisit the choices they made. They tell Charles what they found and more research on Charles’s part revealed that bodies such as this shouldn’t be tampered with. They all decide to get the body back to where it was, but it’s not there anymore. This discovery leads to horrific events and consequences the couple never anticipated.
The Sinclair sets a rather warm and comforting mood for a story that turns out to be pure evil. By using the emotion of his characters, especially those of Kate and her hope to conceive a child, he is able to bring a different twist into how the characters got themselves into trouble. He is particularly adept with painting the natural scenery and giving the reader a vivid picture of the surroundings. It’s almost as if he is testing the true love between two people and how far they will go to keep each other happy.
In this case Kate and Tom passed the test, but with dire consequences. Without spoiling the end, it has to be said that Sinclair did a superb job. It is original as it is shocking, making it the perfect climax to a finely paced story. The manner in which he details the suspense and emotion is impeccable, drawing the reader into the book with every page. In a single sentence, “The Frozen Man” is definitely a book that will be filed under my “Favorite” collection.
Reviewed by Damnetha Jules
Damnetha is a staff writer, horror book and movie critic.
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Also by Lex Sinclair:
The Goat’s Head
Nobody Goes There
The Lord of Darkness
Killer Spiders
Duncan P. Bradshaw is the author of the new book entitled “Class Three” and he delivers somewhat of a different spin on a zombie apocalypse. With rather colorful characters the reader is thrown into a world where a typical day turns into something nobody expected, except for one particularly eager character called Phillip.
It’s the image that typically appears in nightmares, so how can it be real? It’s that smiling and happy clown that rules the sub-conscience minds of the innocent, and yet the danger gets brushed off like an insignificant insect. This is exactly what he wants. He enjoys the disbelief, because when he strikes it’s always a surprise. He can literally hear the heart of his victim pumping blood and adrenalin throughout the body. Only one bite is like releasing a volcano that is dying to spew out all its hot lava. Creating the ultimate fear within a matter of seconds is what he thrives on, which is also why he keeps his existence a myth.
The character clown stays true to his eccentric profession and refuses to let go of the comedy that comes with the territory. His performance is very basic and simple. First he hangs the victim from the feet and slices the neck. He likes to drain the blood before he cuts off the body parts, because he doesn’t enjoy blood as much as the others. Then he entertains himself by checking if there is still life in the limbs he severed.