Author: Jack L. Pyke
Publisher: Fantastic Fiction
Length: 83 Pages
Category: M/M Romance, Mystery, Suspense/Thriller
At a Glance: This is a classic Pyke story, with psychological thrills and hard love.
Reviewed By: Ben
Blurb: Three days. Three questions. Three answers.
Kidnapped, blindfolded, and bound to a bed, running away isn’t an option any more for Will Chambers. Despite being a linguistic tutor and having every conversational tool at his disposal, all Will wanted to do was fade into the background, become lost in the echo of wild heath and harbour. But now someone wants to put his body and mind on full display, force Will to find his voice—answer three questions, over three days. All Will has to do is provide three… simple… answers.
Review: I’m a huge fan of psychological thrillers, so naturally Pyke is one of my go-to authors. This story is short, and sweet in a way, but as with most of Pyke’s work there are many dark layers and undertones. Our protagonist has lost a son, and in the midst of dealing with his grief, he’s abducted and tortured. He has no clue who his captors are or why they’ve taken him, but they keep asking him questions about his dead son, ripping open tender wounds, and unfortunately, his life depends on his answers.
A tool Pyke excels using, and a key element to psychological thrillers, is the leaking of pertinent information to the reader, bits at a time, but no more than is necessary. In fact, it’s good to starve the reader slightly, so we’re hungry for more. At first we—like Will—are incredibly lost as to why he’s been kidnapped, but as he’s grilled with questions and the stakes are raised, Will’s flashbacks lead to relevant details, and the picture begins to fill out. This style of storytelling is absolutely delicious to me.
One of the tropes in this novel wasn’t my favorite, but unfortunately, I can’t go into depth because—spoilers!—so I’ll just leave it at that. And while the ending wasn’t exactly happy, it was, I believe, as happy as can be expected given the situation (the ending doesn’t make you feel depressed). All said and done, this is a very dark book, but I’d expect nothing less of Pyke. Enjoy!
You can buy Lost in the Echo here:
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