Blog Tour & Book Review: The Last Days Of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp (Orbit 28th July). This comes with a scare warning- be prepared, have your duvet to hand... you'll need it!

 

I recently read a Facebook post listing the top 11 novels Stephen Kings considers the scariest… The Last Days Of Jack Sparks is number 12.   As the title suggests this is about the last days of Jack Sparks, who incidentally is the author of the novel. It is a paranormal thriller/mystery narrated as the manuscript from the non-fiction book ‘Jack Sparks on the Supernatural’ that Sparks was researching when he died.  With transcripts of eye witness observations, email transcripts and accounts of phone conversations interspersed throughout the book, it soon becomes clear we are dealing with a very unreliable narrator- one I would suggest would give Sebastian Faulks’s Engleby a run for his money.

Jack Sparks recently released from rehabilitation for drug addiction, is set to research his

next investigative book, Jack Sparks on The Supernatural. His main aim in researching this subject is to disprove the existence of the paranormal.   In order to do this he travels to Italy to witness the exorcism of a young girl, believed to be taken over by the Devil, by a Roman Catholic priest.  Spark’s scepticism and disrespect for the process sets him on a path that takes him from the UK to Hong Kong and to Hollywood. 

What follows is a scary, mystery that becomes more and more insidious as Jack’s perceptions of his world fluctuate and his interactions with people become more and more extreme.  I found The Last Days of Jack Sparks surprisingly compelling.  His character is fascinatingly addictive and Arnopp’s skill at keeping the reader

on the hop is second to none.

If you like your mysteries with a hefty dose of the supernatural then Jack Sparks is for you… but beware, Arnopp pushes the boundaries as far as he can. 

Despite being completely out of my comfort zone, I loved it.

Available on Amazon kindle £2.99, PB £12.78 and free on audio trial. Click here