Dark Echo

By: F G Cottam

Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong

Dark Echo is an unlucky boat. Despite this knowledge, Martin Stannard falls under her spell and prepares to sail her across the Atlantic with his father. But his lover, Suzanne, is uneasy and begins exploring the yacht's past.

What she finds is terrifying. Dark Echo isn't just unlucky, it's evil. It was built for Harry Spalding, a soldier and sorcerer who committed suicide yet still casts his malevolent spell nearly a century after his death.

©2009 F.G. Cottam (P)2009 Oakhill Publishing Ltd

Critic reviews

"[W]hile F. G. Cottam's complex, tautly atmospheric thriller delivers plenty of chills, its principal characters are pleasingly human." ( Daily Mail)
"It's all ghostly hokum, of course, but jolly good hokum." ( Guardian)

Compelling, if a little forced

I'm always going to read a Cottam book; I love his mixture of the uncanny and history. Like his other stories, this one contains a series of mysteries that span generations and continents and the historical research is detailed and absorbing.

The author has an exceptional talent for building tension with settings. His descriptive writing is truly outstanding.

The main protagonist in this story, unlike his others, is delightfully ill-equipped to deal with the mounting danger. I was expecting another ex-military man, so this was a pleasant surprise. I found him extremely likable. His wife however, is very much like Cottam's other 'good women': smart, beautiful, loyal and driven. Like many of Cottam's other novels, Dark Echo boasts some wonderful and endearing secondary characters.

Dark Echo has two flaws: is that it suffers from what many suspense/horror stories suffer from: one inexplicably willful character who ignores every possible sign of impending disaster and blithely stumbles onwards. That being said, the protagonist's father - the catalyst who pulls the other characters towards the final conflict - is a very well-drawn portrait of a captain of industry born of humble origins.

Its second flaw is pacing. It does begin to lag somewhat about 3/4s of the way through the story. The ending, although not completely surprising, is spectacular.

If you like thriller/horrors with smart characters and really intricate historical mysteries, you're going to love this book.

Fantastically Creepy

What did you love best about Dark Echo?

The story is amazingly creepy, with a true villain

What other book might you compare Dark Echo to and why?

Anything by the same Author.

Have you listened to any of Gareth Armstrong???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, this was my first but I would gladly listen again.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely

Any additional comments?

One of my favourite ghost story authors.