Yzabel / August 29, 2013

Earth Power by Adam J. Black

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

EARTH POWER introduces an extraordinary team of paranormal investigators. Led by Raphael Drake and Sam Watkins, partners in the London-based Aquarius Agency, the team includes Tarot reader Gemini Quinn, young newspaper reporter Denny Finch, and a three-hundred pound English Mastiff named Doctor Dee.

When insurance salesman Harry Gill dies in a freak accident on a route the newspapers call ‘The Road to Hell’, no one can explain the cause. But Harry’s death is only the latest in a string of unexplained events in the North of England. Crops have been destroyed, cattle are stampeded, and a family is terrorised by a violent poltergeist.

The situation calls for the unique sensory powers of Raphael Drake, and the investigative abilities of his partner, ex-Metropolitan Police detective Sam Watkins.

With bizarre incidents becoming more frequent and increasingly dangerous, the Aquarius team travel north to investigate. Who, or what, is causing escalating levels of death and mayhem in one small part of rural Derbyshire? What is the purpose of the massive concentration of destructive energy focussed on the market town of Castlebridge? And how real is the threat to their own lives suggested by a series of ominous warnings?

Raphael, Sam and their team race to find the answers in time to avert an impending disaster. But mysterious forces are already gathering, determined to stop them.

Review:

(Book provided by the author through ReadIt & Reap 177 in the Shut Up & Read group, in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is based on interesting premises, using the theme of natural energies being gathered for a purpose, as well as people (and/or their deaths) playing a role in it. I liked the diversity of characters, each of them having their own significant traits, including strengths and witnesses and even, for some, potential for complications later on, especially in trems of relationships. I also liked how the author depicted the small town and the countryside where the investigation takes place; it had all the charm of what I imagine to be a typical English town, and even though some might say those things are cliché, they still allowed me to picture the setting very easily. The same kind of detailed description was given to death scenes, making them pretty vivid (as paradoxical as this choice of words may seem!) and pulling me in.

The story itself, alas, proved hard to read in the long run, probably because its pacing felt rather uneven, with disjointed scenes and point-of-view jumping. While Sam and Raphael found their right place as far as roles were concerned, they also seemed to overshadow the other characters in terms of development, which in turn made me feel like said other characters weren’t really needed. I think what bothered me the most, in fact, was how in the end, lots of things were left unexplained, and not only the ones that were clearly kept in store for a next novel (Sam’s family, for instance): I would’ve wanted to read more about the paranormal aspects. Another weird thing was how everything unfolded, leaving the main characters confused as to what happened, and I as a reader wondering what was actually the point of having them investigate at all if it was to have the whole mess solved by a third party.

It’s the kind of book I usually tend to enjoy, and I wished I had liked this story more. I really do. But I prefer to be honest here, even though there were interesting elements in “Earth Power”, and I think those can be appreciated no matter what.