Stav Sherez - The Black Monastery

For some reason, I thought that Stav Sherez wrote spy thrillers which are not my cup of tea.  However, as part of the "Which author are you snuggling up with tonight?" single-question interview which Roman, Liz and I put to writers at Harrogate Crimefest in July, I discovered that I was completely off the mark!

Not only is Stav a gentleman and a lover of poetry, he also writes exactly the kind of crime fiction which I love - darkly atmospheric with strong overtones of religious and/or superstitious creepiness!

I promptly went to the WH Smith bookshop to buy one of his books.  As I couldn't choose between the blurbs of those in stock, I had to buy all three:-

The Black Monastery
A Dark Redemption
Eleven Days


I started reading The Black Monastery on the train home and it proved such a page-turner that I was half way through it by the end of my journey.  Set on a Greek Island, it is a tale of murder, love and mystery with a generous helping of sinister mythology thrown in for good measure.

Detective Nikos has been brought back to the Island of Palassos from Athens to deal with the increasing drug problem on the island.  Palassos is his home, but his reasons for leaving it all those years ago were entirely justified.  Now the nightmares of the past are starting up again and they are threatening all that he cares for. In theThe Black Monastery, three strangers come together to solve an intriguing mystery for very different reasons.

The prose is delicious (the author's love of poetry is clearly an influence) and the atmosphere is positively cloying.  I was hooked from the start by two of the principal characters, Kitty and Jason whose reasons for visiting the island were not all they seemed to be.  What were their secrets?  Could there be forgiveness?

Sherez maintains pace and tension through the use of short chapters and alternating points of view as the various strands of the novel unravel.

I found the novel effortless to read and it kept me hooked till the end.  I think that Stav Sherez novels will appeal to fans of Andrew Taylor.


Highly recommended.

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