Book Description:

n 2024, a mystery virus ravages the entire world. ‘Bat Fever’ is highly contagious and one hundred per cent lethal.

A cottage tucked away in an isolated Norfolk village seems like the ideal place to sit out a catastrophic pandemic, but some residents of Hincham resent the arrival of Jack, Sarah and their friends, while others want to know too much about them.

What the villagers don’t know is that beneath Sarah’s cottage is a fully-stocked, luxury survival bunker. A post-apocalyptic ‘des res’.

Hincham isolates itself from the rest of the country, but the deaths continue―and not from the virus. There’s a killer on the loose, but is it a member of the much-depleted community, or somebody from outside? Paranoia is rife, as friend suspects friend, and everybody suspects the newcomers.

Most terrifying of all is that nobody knows who’s next on the list...

The Visitor is Terry Tyler’s twenty-second Amazon publication, and is set in the same world as her Project Renova series, while being a completely separate, stand-alone novel.

My Review:

A post-apocalyptic murder mystery describes this cross genre book perfectly, with greater emphasis on the murder mystery. Yet, without the background on the post-apocalyptic world, this story would not be as strong as it is. The isolation of the village and its people, the lack of any outside authoritative representation, the fear of the murders vying with the deadly virus, are all layered through every setting of this novel.

In every review I have written of Terry Tyler’s work I have admired her ability to create strong characters. I love character-driven plots. The Visitor is no exception. The chapters are written from various points of view. And in each the character becomes more multi-layered, more rounded, more complex.

Which, undoubtedly, the author intends, because this is indeed, a murder mystery, There are a lot of subtle and not so subtle red herrings. And I’m afraid I fell for every one; all the way through I was convinced the murderer was this character or another – or another.

I was particular struck by the sections written from the protagonist’s, Jack, point of view.The internal dialogue is excellent, showing an insight both of his character and that of the other characters. Whilst I was reading, I was trying to think what it was that I liked so much, and I came to the conclusion that it was as though I was actually listening to him, evaluating his impressions of his friends and fellow villages. So that by reading the chapters from their viewpoints – and then his – the story becomes more complex, much as it does when trying to work out a situation in ‘real’ life.

And a word for the sections written from the Visitor’s point of view ( I almost said written by the visitor!) Quite sinister. And not giving anything away!

All in all another brilliant book from this author: the plot runs seamlessly and at an even pace, the story held my interest throughout, the settings and background of a world struggling to survive after a virus attack are there, and necessary, but are not the main theme (I say this to any reader who may be hesitant to try The Visitor because it is post-apocalyptic), and the writing style of Terry Tyler is, as always, admirable.

I have no problem in recommending The Visitor to any reader who enjoys a good murder mystery.

The Author:

Terry Tyler is the author of twenty-two books available from Amazon, the latest being ‘The Visitor’, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery set in the same world as her popular Project Renova series. She is currently at work on ‘Megacity’, the third and final book in her dystopian Operation Galton series, after which she may decide to write something a bit more cheerful. Proud to be independently published, Terry is an avid reader and book reviewer, and a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

Links:

https://linktr.ee/TerryTyler

http://terrytyler59.blogspot.com/