Invisible Fiends: Doc Mortis by Barry Hutchison [Review]

Synopsis

The fourth thrilling book in this darkly funny, horror series Darren Shan called ‘deliciously nightmarish’.

Kyle wakes up in hospital — which is strange, because he doesn’t remember being ill.

And that’s not all. He’s also deliriously flitting in and out of the Darkest Corners, and in the shadow version of the hospital the surfaces aren’t clean, and the sharp instruments aren’t used for healing.

It’s Kyle’s most terrifying experience yet, and it’s about to get much, much worse. The doctor will see him now!

Review

While I only came to the Invisible Fiends series by Barry Hutchison with the previous book, The Crowmaster, it is a series I instantly fell in love with. I was also lucky enough to be part of the blog tour for Doc Mortis, (hosting part of a special short story, Barry wrote for the tour) when it was released last year. Not to mention how much I enjoyed the first of his Afterworlds series The 13th Horseman.

So, it was with no small dose of shame (well more than small if I’m honest), that it has taken me this long to get around to reading Doc Mortis that I started reading it just over a week ago.

Why, oh, why did I wait?

Like the previous book, I think it can pretty much stand alone, enough of the important facts are retold, so that a new reader doesn’t feel lost, if they’ve missed any of the books, while readers of the series are rewarded as more of Kyle’s history and story is revealed.

Hospitals are scary places to start with, and a hospital staffed by Doc Mortis and his assistants is pretty much terrifying!  And that’s before we start to come across the not-so-good Doc’s little experiments… Perhaps the scariest thing about the Doc, is that he does all this believing he is helping his patients, and that in the end they’ll thank him for it!!!

Hutchison is a master of the gruesome and the gore, and there is enough on show hear to please even the most picky little boy or girl. Could this be the place, that even some of the monsters Kyle has faced is scared of? Well Kyle is about to find out… Unable to escape The Darkest Corners using his powers, Kyle is trapped and must use every ounce of his ingenuity to get out of this one. You’ll be on the edge of your seat willing Kyle to safety. Of course there’s still two books to go, so safety is a relative thing for Kyle still!

The Invisible Fiends books may well be aimed at the 9+ age group, but if you pick up your childs/little brother’s/niece of nephews copy, I can almost guarantee that you’ll be drawn into Kyle’s adventures and be spat out the other side a gibbering wreck, and sneaking a look under your bed, before going to sleep. Just in case…

Rating

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Buy: Doc Mortis by Barry Hutchison
My copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

The final book in the series: The Darkest Corners was released on August 2nd.