READ: Flora Reviews… The Unhappy Medium: a paranormal comedy by TJ Brown. PDF, EPUB online free reviews.

Flora Reviews…

The Unhappy Medium: A paranormal comedy by T.J. Brown

Read: 1st – 10th July 2017

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

…So what’s this book about?

The Unhappy Medium is a standalone novel of approximately 394 pages (although word on Mr Brown’s website is there’s a book 2 on the horizon). It is a paranormal novel but would happily sit in the urban fantasy or science fiction genre due to the content/plot. The tale is set in our modern world and features evil dead people, evil living people and those tasked with the thankless job of thwarting their evil plans.

If you’ve read any of my reviews before, you’ll know, I don’t post spoilers of any kind or reveal any plot twists in my book reviews, so here’s what the official blurb has to say about the story:

When even the laws of physics let you down, the absurd, the ludicrous and the frankly impossible may be all you have left

Dr Newton Barlow has everything a theoretical physicist could ask for – a glittering career both in the lab and on television, a beautiful wife, and best of all, the opportunity to promote his rock-solid certainty that supernatural and religious beliefs are nothing but complete and utter hokum.

But Barlow is about to take a tumble. Mired in accusations of fraud, incompetence and malpractice, Newton is cast out from the scientific establishment and ejected from the family home. With his life in tatters, he descends into a wine-sodden wilderness.

Then, after three lost years, Barlow is suddenly approached by his old mentor and fellow sceptic Dr Sixsmith with an extraordinary proposition, an offer that Newton simply cannot refuse. There’s just one small problem:

Dr Sixsmith is dead.

Thrown headlong into a new reality that simply shouldn’t exist, Dr Newton Barlow is about to come up against the best and the worst of human nature: tooled-up vicars, paper-pushing ancient Greeks, sinister property developers, a saucy rubber nun and possibly the most mean-spirited man ever to have walked the earth (twice).

From the dusty plains of Spain to the leafy vicarages of Hampshire, Dr Barlow will have to contradict everything he ever believed in if he wants to save this world – and the next.

So, what did I like about it?

Oh, loads! Where do I begin…

T.J. Brown is a new-to-me author and I found his writing style very easy to read. His descriptions, characters and plot development engaged me from the very first page and kept me reading. The first few chapters set up the feel of the story (think Horrible Histories for adults or Discworld irreverence) and I loved the way that Mr Brown wove facts, stories and theories from history and science throughout his tale.

There are a lot of great characters in this book, all of whom have their own back-story, complexities and foibles that make them feel real.

Now of course, being a ‘paranormal comedy’ this book made me laugh but the emotions didn’t stop there, the mystery kept me intrigued, the injustice made me cry and the romance made me smile. The story kept me guessing and kept me turning the pages – I was gripped.

So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Nope – hence the 5 stars!

…So, basically what I’m saying is…

This is a great paranormal tale, I really enjoyed it; it was such a fun read! The characters were entertaining, the plot was interesting and I enjoyed the twists & turns. I would recommend this book if you like stories from paranormal, urban fantasy or science fiction genres.

So, has my review of THE UNHAPPY MEDIUM: A PARANORMAL COMEDY sparked your interest? Just click on any of the links below to check out the book yourself, or to find out more about other books I’ve read, take a look at my profile on Goodreads.