The Bad Neighbor by David Tallerman
Flame Tree Press (September 6, 2018)
288 pages; $24.85 hardcover; $14.95 paperback;
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington
There’s a new publisher I think we’re going to hear a lot about in the coming months. They call themselves Flame Tree Press and they plan to publish both established authors and new voices in horror and the supernatural, crime and mystery thrillers, as well as science fiction and fantasy.
Their first set of novels include Creature by Hunter Shea, The Mouth of the Dark by Tim Waggoner, The Siren and the Specter by Jonathan Janz, The Sky Woman by J.D. Moyer, Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach by Ramsey Cambell. and the book I’ll be reviewing today, The Bad Neighbor by David Tallerman.
What to do with an inheritance of £54,300? Well, if you’re young and desperate to own your own home and want to pay cash, you can buy a bit of a fixer-upper in a bad neighborhood — but then you might wind up with a bad neighbor the way Oliver Clay did. When one bad decision leads to your life falling apart, a person is likely to make even worse decisions in a desperate attempt to pull it back together.
Even though David’s story is set in his native England, Americans can certainly relate to what’s going on here, as his neighbor Chas and his mates are members of the hate group “Britains For The British.”
While The Bad Neighbor is more of a crime thriller, it did have many horrific elements. It made me angry and caused me to embrace the protagonist’s effort to do something, even if it that something might be considered wrong by some.
This is my first read of David Tallerman, and I must admit I really enjoyed the experience. It was so easy to become immersed in the brutal world in which Ollie finds himself residing.
Strongly recommended.
