Manifest Recall by Alan Baxter #BookReview

Title: Manifest Recall| Author: Alan Baxter | Publisher: Grey Matter Press | Pub. Date: 6-26-2018| Pages: 354 | Genre: Horror | Language: English | Triggers: Reference to Rape| Rating: 5 out of 5 | Source: received a copy from the publisher for review consideration

Manifest Recall

Following a psychotic break, Eli Carver finds himself on the run, behind the wheel of a car that’s not his own, and in the company of a terrified woman he doesn’t know. As layers of ugly truth are peeled back and dark secrets are revealed, the duo find themselves in a struggle for survival when they unravel a mystery that pits them against the most dangerous forces in their lives.

Manifest Recall Review

Freaking. Amazing. This book hooked me immediately and never let go. This is a story of darkness and revenge broken into two parts. Part One felt like the movie Memento and Part Two felt like the movie Scarface. Incredible.

The first part is a fast paced and intriguing look into the life of our hero Eli, a man who experiences black outs but is now forced to remember the darkest moment of his past. Eli’s a complicated hero, certainly not your traditional good guy with a dark past archetype. Really, I shouldn’t have liked Eli. No one should like Eli, but the structure of the plot, the way material is presented to the reader and how he interacts with the other characters make it impossible to hate him. And I had to wonder what that said about myself. After all, he’s a hit man. Certainly not innocent in the tragic events that unfold. And yet, I want him to succeed, to carry out his mission of revenge despite the costs.

After the first part of this book, I needed a break. The intensity of the big dark moment from his past knocked me down and I had to let all the events soak into my frazzled mind before continuing. It’s intense. Real intense. But not in a cliché or cheap shock value way. The characters act authentic to their persona, despite how I desperately wanted their actions to produce a different for Eli’s sake.

The second half of Manifest Recall was more action driven. A lot of blood, gun fights, gore. This part was all about revenge and carnage. There’s a lesson to be learned, although not the one you’d imagine, but overall an incredible tale of the human behavior.

Now, Manifest Recall contains rape, not on the page but referred to several times, as well as tons of violence. Some of it is very unsettling. It’s high action, quick paced, with amazing character development and plot. Absolutely worth a read.

This book is available on: Thriftbooks | Kobo | Amazon | B&N

Nico_B

Nico Bell is a horror and science fiction writer. Her work has appeared in The Second Corona Book of Horror Stories, Drabbledark Anthology and Horror Tree’s Trembling with Fear. She joined the Coolthulhu Crew in May 2018.