Sam once again is on the trail of X-Ray and nothing is going to stop him getting his man. There is also the shadowy 'Widower Maker' to contend with, a serial killer who is as gruesome and awful as any character can be. All in all, Sam has his hands full, but, being the man he is, he isn't going to stop until he's won the day. The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here...”. This is a concept book along the lines of Ayn Rand and Lionel Shriver. It’s neither about characters nor story, and, to be honest, there aren’t actually any “characters” at all.

I found the process exciting, but difficult. It’s hard to kill your darlings, as they say, and some of the things Burning Chair wanted me to change, hurt. But the finished product shows that they were right. I think the hardest thing was changing the title. The title is always the first thing I come up with, and it tends to tell the story that I’m writing, so to change that was difficult… but again, I think it was for the best. The new title better describes the essence of the story than the original did.This story is a philosophical journey into the nature of humankind and the quality of (the possibility), of an eternal life.

This Sam is a very different man from that first novel. His alcoholism in that story saw him lurching from reality and actually believing he was in the 1930's. In this story, he has quit drinking, quit smoking, and has started boxing again to get himself straight. However, he is still on the tail of the bad guys, helped this time by the local police chief who relies on his less than 'by the book' abilities to bring in the villains. I started this book as I usually do, right before bed. I generally read for an hour or so then fall asleep around 9:30-10:00-ish. I stayed up till 1:30 in the morning that first night, then read all the next day (even though I read a LOT, I'm a pretty slow reader much to my annoyance). I read this every chance I got until about the 70% mark when I stopped. I didn't want it to end. I loved it so much I didn't want to continue because that would mean I had finished it and would no longer be experiencing it for the first time. Does that make sense? My husband said that made no sense, lol. This fascination with endless life is what drew me into this story, and it was what kept me reading when I became a little weary of the main character. Rob Deakin is equal parts everyman and no-man, but is ultimately generally unlikeable and his “glass half-empty” personality made the times he lived through, and the people he interacted with more ‘history textbook’ and less ‘historical novel’. The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here…”. It's hard to give this story a genre; if pushed I would call it a thriller with a slice of grounded sci-fi. If you enjoy either of these then this book is for you. Whatever the genre is, though, it is simply all you could want from a book; something to take you out of the ordinary and the mundane and transport you into a world populated by characters you'll love (and hate).

The characters are wonderful; not just Willow, but her new found companion Ruby, the mysterious Raven and Rev. Goddard. All of these come across as three dimensional and, good or bad, they are believable. However, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger will change the course of Rob’s life forever… Not only has he been healed, but he cannot die, and he will never age. What if you knew you could never die? How different would your life be? How different would you be? Life is simply a clutter of lines, moving in every direction.” (p99) and it’s was. How differently would we live life if we knew we couldn’t die? Richard Ayre was born in Northumberland, too many years ago now to remember. He has had a variety of jobs including roofer, milkman, and factory worker. Tiring of this, Richard studied for a degree with the Open University and now teaches History for a living.