The Darkness Rising

'The Darkness Rising is fast, creepy, gruesome, working up from shock to shock till the last line.' Kim Newman

One year after the death of her husband, Kate Barlow is desperate to move on.

She can still feel Michael permeating her reality, calling out to her from the other side.

He is a voice on the wind, or perhaps the phantom presence of a man who does not wish to stay dead. Her memories of him threaten her relationship with David, a writer who wishes to help her overcome her guilt and the strange lingering desire for her husband.

But Michael haunts more than just his beloved wife. Their son, Timothy, has a connection to his father that binds them together in both life and death. Robert Moore, a friend of Michael's and a co-worker of David's, experiences night terrors of a grotesque corpse rising from the dead to exact vengeance upon those who wronged him.

Then a medium shows up at Kate's door, bearing a message from beyond the grave. Michael will not rest until he has her - and she is given the chance to speak to him one last time.

As Kate struggles to escape her past, the spirit of Michael grows more determined to possess her future. His dark passion for her, the love of his life and death, is all consuming. He will stop at nothing to return and fulfil the promise he made: that he would never let her go - that he would come back for her.

Author David Stuart Davies is also a film historian and expert on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. He is a member of the national committee of the Crime Writers' Association and has edited Red Herrings, their monthly publication, since 1999. His other titles include the Johnny Hawke thriller Spiral of Lies.

Praise for David Stuart Davies:

'Dark but very compelling. David Stuart Davies knows how to write and how to twist the knife inside the reader's mind.' Peter James

'A neatly crafted crime novel offering an unusual perspective on London, by turns dark and poignant.' Andrew Taylor

'A strong story immaculately told. What a rare pleasure it is to discover a book that you can truly call a thriller. Wartime London is beautifully evoked in a plot as crafty as the black market.' Peter Lovesey

'Wartime London makes a great setting for crime fiction and Davies uses it shrewdly. Johnny Hawke is a keeper.' Booklist

'Thrills, delights, and scares in equal measure - and with witty and elegant style.' Matthew Booth