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Concrete Grove #3
Beyond Here Lies Nothing
Chilling Contempoary Horror set in the English suburbs.
Marc Price arrives in the Concrete Grove to research a book about the Northumbrian Poltergeist, an infamous paranormal incident from the early 1970s. A set of twins were haunted by a spirit they nicknamed Captain Clickety, and the media of the time were split between derision and hysteria.
As Marc teases out the supressed details of the story, he finds himself drawn to an emotionally damaged woman whose young daughter went missing years ago during a period of similar child abductions.
Then the scarecrows appear, their heads plastered with photographs of the missing and the dead. House pets are found slaughtered, their bodies built into bloody totems. Hummingbirds flock to certain areas of the estate, as if awaiting the arrival of something…
A door has been opened and a presence is about to step through. The Hummingbird Twins, beset by strange visions, might know the secret, but they aren’t talking. It is up to Marc to put the ghosts to rest and unravel fact from fiction. He is about to discover that the story he seeks is in fact his own story, and only he can plot the ending.
Marc Price arrives in the Concrete Grove to research a book about the Northumbrian Poltergeist, an infamous paranormal incident from the early 1970s. A set of twins were haunted by a spirit they nicknamed Captain Clickety, and the media of the time were split between derision and hysteria.
As Marc teases out the supressed details of the story, he finds himself drawn to an emotionally damaged woman whose young daughter went missing years ago during a period of similar child abductions.
Then the scarecrows appear, their heads plastered with photographs of the missing and the dead. House pets are found slaughtered, their bodies built into bloody totems. Hummingbirds flock to certain areas of the estate, as if awaiting the arrival of something…
A door has been opened and a presence is about to step through. The Hummingbird Twins, beset by strange visions, might know the secret, but they aren’t talking. It is up to Marc to put the ghosts to rest and unravel fact from fiction. He is about to discover that the story he seeks is in fact his own story, and only he can plot the ending.
- GenresHorror
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 27, 2012
1 person is currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Gary McMahon
179 books108 followersGary McMahon lives, works and writes in West Yorkshire but posseses a New York state of mind. He shares his life with a wife, a son, and the nagging stories that won’t give him any peace until he writes them.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 27, 2015
Poor conclusion to an otherwise great urban horror trilogy It is going to be hard for me to review and recommend this third instalment of what has become known as The Concrete Grove “urban horror” trilogy, especially as I generously awarded the previous two books (The Concrete Grove and Silent Voices) 5 stars, but I just did not enjoy this conclusion.
Perhaps I could not take any more of the squalor and urban decay that Gary McMahon describes so vividly “The Concrete Grove was a joyless estate. Apart from the poverty and the criminality that bred here, there was another layer of darkness that could be sensed rather than seen.” Maybe it was the result of reading this book over a bleak and depressing English xmas weekend but if truth be known the simple fact was I found the latter half of the story and the horror described disjointed, confusing, boring and was pleased when my read was complete!
If we remove the horror and look at the human element then the real essence of what the author is trying to express can be seen. The Grove is a place of no hope a place where the inhabitants expect little and receive less. Each day is a challenge of survival in a concrete jungle where the past times of alcohol and physical violence are an everyday occurrence and the hope to find or retain a job is non-existent.
Mark Price is returning to The Grove to research a book and attend a funeral. DI Craig Royle is haunted by his failure to solve the disappearance of “The Gone Away Girls” and the violent death of Simon Ridley, his wife Vanessa has departed due to his depression and alcohol consumption. The sad skeletal figure of Abby sits alone in “The Unicorn” hoping that drink and frequent lovers will help her forget the disappearance of her daughter and the violence of a previous partner Erik Best
Because The Concrete Grove is a place of last resort, no hope and urban decay it is quite understandable why this dystopian landscape is an attraction for evil “He’d never discussed his suspicions in public, but he knew that there was something deeply wrong with the fabric of the Grove. Too many bad things happened; there was a lot of darkness under the skin of the estate. Royle didn’t believe in ghosts, or magic, but he did believe that a place could be wrong. Some places attract darkness, and this was one of them”
The myth of Captain Clickety became colourful local urban legend in an old children’s
skipping song but he was a lot more than that being based on a plague doctor called Terryn Mowbray who lived in the area at the time of the Black Death! Mowbray disappeared in the in the centre of the Grove and it is his return and presence that forms the central uneasiness at the heart of this story. If we add to this mix a flock of hummingbirds, an army of part men part scarecrows (balanced on broom handles!)...perhaps you begin to see my concerns........
It also irritates me to find grammatical errors in a paperback edition that I paid full price on Amazon UK and this comes down to lazy and bad ( or indeed no?) proof reading by publishers. On page 18 towards the bottom it states....”I wish we hadn’t been so stupid. If I knew what was going to happen”.....this should read “I wish we hadn’t been so stupid. If I had known what was going to happen” and on page 21 near the top it says....”He just led the way to the car, walking slowly to enable to other man to keep up.”....should of course read...”He just led the way to the car, walking slowly to enable the other man to keep up.”
Finally, and I may be wrong on this (and if I am someone let me know and I will remove from this review) but....at the start Mark Price has arrived to pay his respect to Harry Rose and meets his brother Victor Rose.....but about 100 pages later Victor Rose suddenly has a name change and is known as Vince Rose (page 139) with no explanation from the author...is this a mistake? am I going mad?
I struggled with this book, the image and scenes of decay were very well described but the storyline lost me midway and failed to recapture and enthral as the earlier parts of the trilogy had done.
Perhaps I could not take any more of the squalor and urban decay that Gary McMahon describes so vividly “The Concrete Grove was a joyless estate. Apart from the poverty and the criminality that bred here, there was another layer of darkness that could be sensed rather than seen.” Maybe it was the result of reading this book over a bleak and depressing English xmas weekend but if truth be known the simple fact was I found the latter half of the story and the horror described disjointed, confusing, boring and was pleased when my read was complete!
If we remove the horror and look at the human element then the real essence of what the author is trying to express can be seen. The Grove is a place of no hope a place where the inhabitants expect little and receive less. Each day is a challenge of survival in a concrete jungle where the past times of alcohol and physical violence are an everyday occurrence and the hope to find or retain a job is non-existent.
Mark Price is returning to The Grove to research a book and attend a funeral. DI Craig Royle is haunted by his failure to solve the disappearance of “The Gone Away Girls” and the violent death of Simon Ridley, his wife Vanessa has departed due to his depression and alcohol consumption. The sad skeletal figure of Abby sits alone in “The Unicorn” hoping that drink and frequent lovers will help her forget the disappearance of her daughter and the violence of a previous partner Erik Best
Because The Concrete Grove is a place of last resort, no hope and urban decay it is quite understandable why this dystopian landscape is an attraction for evil “He’d never discussed his suspicions in public, but he knew that there was something deeply wrong with the fabric of the Grove. Too many bad things happened; there was a lot of darkness under the skin of the estate. Royle didn’t believe in ghosts, or magic, but he did believe that a place could be wrong. Some places attract darkness, and this was one of them”
The myth of Captain Clickety became colourful local urban legend in an old children’s
skipping song but he was a lot more than that being based on a plague doctor called Terryn Mowbray who lived in the area at the time of the Black Death! Mowbray disappeared in the in the centre of the Grove and it is his return and presence that forms the central uneasiness at the heart of this story. If we add to this mix a flock of hummingbirds, an army of part men part scarecrows (balanced on broom handles!)...perhaps you begin to see my concerns........
It also irritates me to find grammatical errors in a paperback edition that I paid full price on Amazon UK and this comes down to lazy and bad ( or indeed no?) proof reading by publishers. On page 18 towards the bottom it states....”I wish we hadn’t been so stupid. If I knew what was going to happen”.....this should read “I wish we hadn’t been so stupid. If I had known what was going to happen” and on page 21 near the top it says....”He just led the way to the car, walking slowly to enable to other man to keep up.”....should of course read...”He just led the way to the car, walking slowly to enable the other man to keep up.”
Finally, and I may be wrong on this (and if I am someone let me know and I will remove from this review) but....at the start Mark Price has arrived to pay his respect to Harry Rose and meets his brother Victor Rose.....but about 100 pages later Victor Rose suddenly has a name change and is known as Vince Rose (page 139) with no explanation from the author...is this a mistake? am I going mad?
I struggled with this book, the image and scenes of decay were very well described but the storyline lost me midway and failed to recapture and enthral as the earlier parts of the trilogy had done.
November 21, 2012
This is the third part of a trilogy so I will do the justice I can for this review. As a stand alone it is surprisingly (un)easy to read, setting the novel in Northumberland lends very well to the atmosphere needed to carry off such a dark piece of writing, McMahon has done a superb job of making sure that points needed to be known (as far as I can tell) from the two predecessors are covered by comments in passing without ever bearing down too heavily on what is going on at present. Character focus is is absolutely central to the working of McMahon's writing style and this shines through even though the event's being described are massive in scale and very deep and well described.
Dark, very creepy and genuinely a bit disturbing, 'Beyond here lies nothing' comes across very much in the vein of a more modern take on a very classic 'Hitchcock' style horror story . I'll be looking at buying the two novels before this one and reading them as they should be.
Dark, very creepy and genuinely a bit disturbing, 'Beyond here lies nothing' comes across very much in the vein of a more modern take on a very classic 'Hitchcock' style horror story . I'll be looking at buying the two novels before this one and reading them as they should be.
October 19, 2012
The third part of the Concrete Grove trilogy, this extremely accomplished piece of work has four main strands - Marc Price is writing a book about the Northumberland Poltergeist phenomenon in the 70s; Abby Hansen, a physical and emotional wreck whose daughter Tessa was one of the ‘Gone Away Girls’ (young girls kidnapped by persons unknown and still missing); Craig Royle, a copper who is struggling to keep himself together, haunted as he is by the ‘Gone Away Girls’ and Erik Best, a gangland thug who is a colleague of Marty, from ‘Silent Voices’ (and Tessa’s father). To explain more of the plot would be to the detriment of the reading (though I should mention the scarecrows, which is a scary image brilliantly used) but it’s as strong and uncomfortable as its two sister volumes, whilst at the same time upping the mythology of The Grove. With some powerhouse writing and a huge sense of scale, McMahon brings the trilogy to an almost apocalyptic finale, never once losing track of the fact that however explosive everything else is, the book runs on the strength of its characters. Here, as ever, he displays a fine touch, investing even minor characters with quirks and personality that make what happens to them all the more interesting. Nicely tying up threads from the previous two books (it was good to see Tom Stains again), this is horror with ambition, not afraid to tackle the human condition whilst placing it in mythological, almost fantastical realms at times and makes me want to see the next McMahon book on the shelves right now! A stunning read, very highly recommended.
September 20, 2012
My review can be read here:
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/read-ho...
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/read-ho...
October 25, 2012
Beyond Here Lies Nothing is the third book in The Concrete Grove trilogy by Gary McMahon. The novel pulls the reader back to the dark and sinister happenings of an urban squallier of existence, the Estate. The story centers around the tragic disappearance of four young girls known as the Gone Away Girls and is just one event in the residential area of England of disturbing and nightmarish moments. Gary McMahon manages to weave together lifes filled with little hope that are heavy with despair. Each of the characters in Beyond Here Lies Nothing are consumed with a loneliness and sense of tragedy that pulls you into their lives like a black hole, squeezing you as it chokes and compresses your mind with images that generate terror and fear. The story is a haunting story that combines legend and mystic pasts with paralleled dimensions and truly horrific human occurrences.
Loculous is the recess in a catacomb where relics of worship are kept. It is also the point of universal balance that must be maintained with consideration in order for life to flourish. It is a pagan representation of the yin/yang. In Beyond Here Lies Nothing we discover what may become of our world if this balance is not witnessed. The face of this truth is not always pleasant. Sometimes it is dark and sinister as Gary McMahon proves in this gripping tale of loss and supernatural interference. From the moment the novel starts there is almost no hope for these characters as their story unfolds. It is a dark and cryptic tale that is thrilling and captivating. A truly fascinating nightmare that demands us to show greater care for what came before our modern plastic society and pay homage to the organic and mystical nature of a universal truth. Beyond Here Lies Nothing is a dark and twisted journey into the realm of nightmares.
Loculous is the recess in a catacomb where relics of worship are kept. It is also the point of universal balance that must be maintained with consideration in order for life to flourish. It is a pagan representation of the yin/yang. In Beyond Here Lies Nothing we discover what may become of our world if this balance is not witnessed. The face of this truth is not always pleasant. Sometimes it is dark and sinister as Gary McMahon proves in this gripping tale of loss and supernatural interference. From the moment the novel starts there is almost no hope for these characters as their story unfolds. It is a dark and cryptic tale that is thrilling and captivating. A truly fascinating nightmare that demands us to show greater care for what came before our modern plastic society and pay homage to the organic and mystical nature of a universal truth. Beyond Here Lies Nothing is a dark and twisted journey into the realm of nightmares.
May 4, 2013
Journalist Marc Price returns to The Grove after years' absence, researching a book on the Northumberland Poltergeist. When he discovers an old diary and meets embittered Abby Hansen, he finds himself drawn into the riddle of the Gone Away Girls, four estate children who have gone missing without trace across the previous decades. But Marc's discovery stirs up secrets that he'd rather not know, secrets that open doorways into strange and fateful worlds. Captain Clickety is on the move again, in the alleys and the bedrooms of the Grove, reaching out his murderous influence through the wasted lives of the residents. A private apocalypse is brewing and only Marc can stand between darkness and the lost souls of The Concrete Grove...
By turns chilling, gory and mournful, Gary McMahon skillfully fuses a pagan flavour with an all too vivid image of broken Britain. The depth of character feeling is as affecting as the other books in the series, lending 'Beyond Here Lies Nothing' an emotional clout that drives the trilogy toward a fitting and powerful conclusion. Great stuff.
NB: The five stars are for the series as a whole. While this third book will work more or less OK as a stand alone novel, the reader will feel its full impact by exploring the other books first.
By turns chilling, gory and mournful, Gary McMahon skillfully fuses a pagan flavour with an all too vivid image of broken Britain. The depth of character feeling is as affecting as the other books in the series, lending 'Beyond Here Lies Nothing' an emotional clout that drives the trilogy toward a fitting and powerful conclusion. Great stuff.
NB: The five stars are for the series as a whole. While this third book will work more or less OK as a stand alone novel, the reader will feel its full impact by exploring the other books first.
December 6, 2014
Once again, it seems to have all the right ingredients and yet is even more boring than previous books.
Maybe it's because there's nobody to root for.
It's the final installment and I expected some answers, and they were given (?) sort of. I must say, I'm not a stupid person, but I don't understand who is what and where is something, why it all and how it ties together.
I think that is my biggest issue with the book - that all sense, plot line and inner logic got sacrificed for imagery. It's pretty to look at but random and unfinished.
Maybe it's because there's nobody to root for.
It's the final installment and I expected some answers, and they were given (?) sort of. I must say, I'm not a stupid person, but I don't understand who is what and where is something, why it all and how it ties together.
I think that is my biggest issue with the book - that all sense, plot line and inner logic got sacrificed for imagery. It's pretty to look at but random and unfinished.
July 16, 2013
This is a really well written book with a gritty real life feel. It is set in the sort of estate that everyone in Britain knows and that helps lose you in the characters and their problems. Nearly gave this the full 5 stars but as a stand alone novel ( it's part of a trilogy) it leaves questions. Maybe the final part will answer some of them.
November 19, 2012
For me, this is the best supernatural horror book of the year so far. But it only draws its power from the first two books in the trilogy. Ensure you read them in order to get the best out of this final volume.
http://opionator.wordpress.com/2012/1...
http://opionator.wordpress.com/2012/1...
May 31, 2013
I started reading this book not realizing that it was book 3 in a trilogy. Turns out, it didn't matter. It was a great stand alone. This book was a great mix of suspense and horror wrapped in a mystery. I truly enjoyed this book and will now read the first two.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews