Book review
Written by Paul Kane
Tasmaniac Publications paperback
Release date Out now

Matthew Daley, who’s been dead and buried for seven years, returns to visit his family…

The American title for the early British horror film The Quatermass Experiment was The Creeping Unknown, and that would be a very apt alternative title for Paul Kane’s excellent novella. The Quatermass analogy is more appropriate than simply that: like Nigel Kneale, Kane describes an extraordinary event in the lives of every day people, the sort you meet in the pub or the supermarket.

As Matthew Daley comes into contact with more and more people, the effect of his influence becomes more noticeable, until something even more extraordinary starts to happen, leading, almost unbelievably, to a happy ending – something very rare in horror fiction.

By maintaining an almost prosaic style, Kane ratchets up the tension throughout the novella, deliberately leading the reader in false directions so that when Daley’s motives are finally revealed, you almost feel as if you’ve cheated yourself by reading too much negativity into him. It’s a neat trick, and one that might not be easy to pull off a second time.

The second short story, Dead Time, also has a ‘shock twist’ but this time it’s a little too obvious. The tale of a zombie attack is appropriately graphic and floridly described, but there’s no real surprise when you reach the last page. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 8/10
The Lazarus Condition is a gem, and well worth seeking out.