The Murmurs by Michael J. Malone
On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die.
How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions ... a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family – a wicked gift known only as ‘the murmurs’...
With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson.
And this time, it will never let go...
About the author
Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His dark psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and is currently in production for the screen, and five powerful standalone thrillers followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr, where he also works as a hypnotherapist.
Review
‘The Murmurs’ is a haunting modern Gothic tale that bewitched me from the first to the last page. I devoured this book over 24 hours and loved every minute of it. Hopefully, this is the start of a new series as Goodreads has ‘Annie Jackson Mysteries #1’ after the title and I would love to learn more about Annie and her life. She is such a beguiling character that I don't want to let her go. I love Michael’s writing and once again I was in thrall of his characters and narrative!
Annie Jackson starts a new job at a care home but the first man that she meets dies from a stroke, one that she saw happen in a vision. She has started to experience terrifying premonitions of people dying and it turns out to be a family curse she knew nothing about, one called ‘The Murmurs’. Annie, of course, wants to know more about this curse/gift but leads to revelations that her memory had hidden from her, including how her mother died and a missing girl from her old village Mossgow.
This is not just a gothic thriller laced with supernatural elements. It deals with complex familial relationships and secrets, it's a whodunit and a coming-of-age tale in a way (albeit a few years older than most characters)! I really fell for Annie, a young woman who was already troubled, with no real purpose in her life. Then when ‘the murmurs’ appear she is knocked for six trying to grip on them and the devastating consequences that they have caused her family. But she comes to realise that this isn't the first time that this gift has appeared and begins to search for answers to the questions ‘the murmurs’ have lodged in her brain. What happened in her childhood, how did her mother die and what a red car has to do with everything? Her tale is told over a dual timeline and leads us through her childhood and her life in the present. I do love this device in a story and Michael does this amazingly as I was hooked from the start! Also, with the historical links to witchcraft this makes for a dazzling read that is a story of murder, injustice and empowerment.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
