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1435 ratings | 1413 reviews | avg rating:3.88

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Mark West

Goodreads Author

Born

in Kettering, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.markwest.org.uk

Twitter

MarkEWest

Genre

Thriller, Horror, Literature & Fiction

Influences

Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Robert Arthur, Alfred Hitc ...more

Member Since

January 2008

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Mark West was born in Northamptonshire in 1969. Writing stories since the age of eight, he discovered the small press in 1999 and since then, he’s published more than 90 stories in various publications around the world.

The Book Folks published his debut mainstream thriller DON’T GO BACK in February 2022. It was followed by WATCHING OVER YOU, THE HUNTER'S QUARRY, STILL WATERS RUN, A KILLER AMONGST US and WE WERE SEEN. His latest, TO SEE TOO MUCH, was published in November 2024. He is currently working on his next thriller novel.

His other works include:

Collections: “Strange Tales” (2003) and “Things We Leave Behind” (2017)

Horror Novels: “In The Rain With The Dead” (2005) and “Conjure” (2009)

Horror Chapbooks/Novelettes: “The Mill” (2011), “Wh ...more

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Mark West’s books

Average rating: 4.03 · 2,856 ratings · 394 reviews · 67 distinct works • Similar authors

	Don't Go Back 4.02 avg rating — 757 ratings — published 2022 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Still Waters Run 3.96 avg rating — 378 ratings — published 2022 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Only Watching You 4.13 avg rating — 291 ratings — published 2022 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	To See Too Much: Suspenseful Psychological Thriller Fiction 4.01 avg rating — 188 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Killer Amongst Us 4.05 avg rating — 158 ratings — published 2023 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hunter's Quarry 4.13 avg rating — 62 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	SEASIDE PSYCHOLOGICAL: A box set of thriller reads for the beach 4.17 avg rating — 58 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	We Were Seen: A psychological thriller with a great twist 3.98 avg rating — 59 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mill 4.18 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Drive 3.91 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Mark West's Blog

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse, by Sue Moorcroft

As regular readers of the blog will know, I've been friends with Sue Moorcroft since we first met at the Kettering Writers Group in 1999 (we genre writers were consigned to the back of the room, where we had a great laugh). Since then she's gone from strength to strength, hitting number one in the Kindle Bestseller charts (with The Christmas Promise) on her way to becoming a Sunday Times Best Sel Read more of this blog post »

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Published on July 06, 2026 01:00

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Mark is Currently Reading

Mark is currently reading

The Year of the Ladybird

by Graham Joyce

bookshelves: crime-mystery, drama, horror, literature, nostalgia, currently-reading

read in August 2013

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Mark said: " David Barwise is a 19 year old student who, against the better wishes of his Mum and step-dad, gets a summer job as a greencoat on a holiday camp in Skegness. Set against the scorching summer of 1976 - and the subsequent ladybird invasion - David is David Barwise is a 19 year old student who, against the better wishes of his Mum and step-dad, gets a summer job as a greencoat on a holiday camp in Skegness. Set against the scorching summer of 1976 - and the subsequent ladybird invasion - David is led into two love affairs, one with the wife of an apparent monster, one with a lovely Yorkshire lass, as he tries to find his feet amongst the staff of the camp - some theatrical, some racist, some thuggish and some genuinely nice - and the ever present punters, adults and child alike. He is not only there to escape from home, he’s also trying to find details about his long-since-dead father, the only photograph of whom shows him on a Skegness beach. And then, in between getting caught up in the rise of the National Front, he begins to see ghosts on the beach and on the camp, of a suited man and his young charge.

This is a glorious novel, full of wit and invention (and a nice line in dry humour) that is told is a deceptively simple style. Perfectly capturing both the 1976 summer and the start of the slow decline of the east coast seaside resort, this crackles with energy and pathos.

The characterisation - David narrates the story - is pitch perfect, often delivered with the lightest of touches - Pinky and the way he dresses, Tony and his exuberance, Colin and his chilling demeanour - but always spot on and always human, with none of the characters ever behaving in a way that seems out of place. David is first drawn into the web of Colin, a thuggish and boorish man, and his wife Terri, who sings like an angel but is apparently abused into submission at home. Attracted to her, the relationship between him and his older, secret lover, is fantastically played with neither David or the reader quite sure of what’s going on. A surer, safer bet is Nikki, a beautiful half-caste dancer, painfully aware of her own shortcomings (which aren’t really, to David or the reader) and it’s this relationship that we want to see work, the coupling that makes this the perfect coming-of-age novel. Because that’s what this is, at the end of the day. It’s a social and political observation - the holiday camp, the members of the National Front and what it’ll mean to people like Nikki (and how she reacts, when she realises David has been duped into attending a meeting, a stigma that remains with him for the bulk of the novel) - but it’s also about spreading your wings, finding love (the first erotic interlude, with David and Nikki, is wonderfully erotic whilst being almost mundane) and loss and setting out onto the path of adulthood.

There are supernatural elements - and the denouement of that particular plot strand is obvious but also heartbreakingly beautiful - but this isn’t a supernatural novel, it’s not a horror novel, it is instead a perfect drama about a young man, finding his way in 1970s Britain.

It speaks to me on a couple of levels, in that I love coming-of-age stories and the east coast seaside (and follows my reading of the similarly themed (in terms of nostalgia and love) “Joyland”), but also because I was seven in 1976 and my family holidayed in Ingoldmells, a few miles north of Skegness and it’s a town that I still visit on occasion today. A truly beautiful work of art (that had me in tears towards the end), populated with characters that I grew to love (and I so desperately want to know that the central love story carried on beyond the seventies), this is an incredible read and I cannot recommend it highly enough. ...more "

Sep 06, 2021 12:42PM · see review

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Mark is now friends with lafufu
Sep 17, 2026 05:58AM · like
Mark started reading The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Mark rated a book really liked it Young Winstone by Ray Winstone	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
From the boxing clubs and East End of London in the 60s and 70s, through to a career in films, this is a straight talking memoir of a tough life that delivers a powerful emotional punch. I’ve always liked Ray Winstone, both for his film roles and also ...more
Sep 16, 2026 09:03AM · 1 like · like · see review
Mark rated a book it was ok Night Show by Richard Laymon	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Anthony Johnson, along with his friends, loves scaring school mates with horror pranks but then one, involving Linda, goes horribly wrong after she escapes being locked in a deserted house and is then struck by a car during her escape. Tony leaves to ...more
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Mark rated a book really liked it The Cutting Room (The Cutting Room, #1) by Louise Welsh (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Invited to view the estate of McKindless, a rich local man, Glasgow auctioneer Rilke uncovers a disturbing cache of vintage photographs amongst the erotica hidden away in the attic. His unauthorized investigation into whether the images depict real v ...more
Sep 04, 2026 06:24AM · 1 like · like · see review
Mark rated a book it was amazing The Mystery of Death Trap Mine (Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators, #24) by M.V. Carey	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
original 2010 review - Teaming up again with Allie (from “Singing Serpent”), the boys travel to her Uncle’s Christmas Tree farm in New Mexico, which is close to an abandoned mine (the Death Trap of the title). Local-boy-made-good Thurgood has re-open ...more
Aug 26, 2026 09:20AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Mark is currently reading The Cutting Room (The Cutting Room, #1) by Louise Welsh (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Mark rated a book liked it Grange Hill for Sale by Robert Leeson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Grange Hill was in for a hard time. The local council had decided that with four schools in the area, one should go on the basis of their exam results, sports performance and public behaviour. But who really want to save Grange Hill anyway, let alone ...more
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Traumatized after witnessing a Vietnam War atrocity (from which he took a photograph that made his career) and no longer able to photograph people, New York photographer Geoffrey Barnett meets a woman with whom he develops a strong relationship befor ...more
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Mark rated a book really liked it Whistle by Linwood Barclay (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Annie Blunt and her young son Charlie moved to their house in upstate New York to put a dreadful year behind them. The death of her husband and a scandal around one of her children's books left them both needing a fresh start. But things aren't as pe ...more
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Mark’s Quotes

“Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.”
― Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

tags: baths, deeds, depression

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“I began writing late; my first articles and stories were published after I was thirty, and I was motivated by money. Money is not a bad motivation. The need to eat keeps us from laziness, and the fact that someone is willing to pay to read what we write assures us that we have indeed written.”
― M.V. Carey

tags: money, writers-on-writing, writing, writing-process

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