Safe Return Doubtful

I’m new to the writing of John Blackburn, but the experimental nature of his work, and his refusal to follow any sort of norm, has already grabbed me.

Here he introduces the reader to three quite bizarre narrative threads.

In London a man pays a prostitute to just sleep with him “because he was too frightened to sleep alone”. The sex worker suggests he sees a clairvoyant aware that she is nine-tenths a fake. He does, but the session abruptly and and with horrific results.

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic off Northern Ireland is an apparent case of toxic pollution, which has led to the food-poisoning of guests at a dinner party from tainted oysters. A reputed scientist is appointed to investigate and comes across some highly questionable practices in the company involved.

Most fishy though is the third thread, set in the Treflys valley of North Wales, in the shadow of Cnicht mountain. Local folklore results in the inhabitants being “morbidly superstitious” as they believe in a legend older than the Celts of “hill demons” which tell of a demoniacal leader with the name of Daran. Cnicht is a mountain I know well, and a perfect setting for this part of the book.

Part folk-horror, part murder mystery, part eco-thriller, this is fine storytelling, first published in 1974, and ahead of its time, only receiving its appropriate readership on a reissue from Valancourt in 2022. Blackburn does his twists very well, and there are 3 or 4 that are particularly rewarding, not least the last one. I read of Lovecraft being one of his influencers, but I would add Arthur Machen to this, a fellow Snowdonian. But influences only, as this is stamped with uniqueness, he may well have been the earliest genre writer who saw the nightmarish possibilities of eco-terrors. In turn, he has influenced many who came after him.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5