b
y Paul Kearney
Titan Books, out now
A batch of anomalies are detected on a small island off the Irish Coast…
The Primeval novels continue to expand the series’ scope of operations, with this story again set well away from the UK mainland. Paul Kearney puts Cutter and his team in a survivalist environment, where they don’t just have to deal with creatures from various different time zones, but the very terrain itself which seems to be fighting them.
The characterisation is spot on. A sequence at the top of chapter six gets the Abby/Connor relationship exactly right, and there are some well-drawn moments between Cutter and Stephen which allow both men to discuss Stephen’s affair with Cutter’s wife, something the series didn’t have time for. Although, like Shadow of the Jaguar, this is set in the second series, there’s no sign of Oliver Leek, but that’s a minor anomaly which unfortunately again removes a foil for Lester.
The military who accompany Cutter’s team are also well portrayed: there’s a harshness and roughness to them which seems more realistic than the show usually has been. Although we can be reasonably certain that none of the ARC team will lose their lives, all bets are off as far as the soldiers are concerned. At least some survive!
A well-told Primeval tale. 7/10
Paul Simpson
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