Bernard Taylor - The Reaping (1980) This Paperbacks from Hell reprint collection is pretty good, not only because the books themselves are a good selection but because there is plenty of variety within the horror genre. The Reaping is a more literary and very British addition to the collection. It's no surprise that the main character finds himself in a room watching Don't Look Now at one point of the novel. A slow burn as the horror takes a while to take shape, it's also a relatively short novel, so you don't have much to wait and fortunately Taylor is talented enough to be able to write a good slow burn. His prose is a joy to read, and as the domesticity of the first few chapters is described you are already hooked by the novel even when nothing too interesting is happening. Our main character is a painter, hired to paint a portrait of a lady for a huge amount of money. Of course not all is at it seems, but Taylor populates the world with interesting characters and a thoughtful protagonist. In fact the weakest bit of the novel is probably the revelation towards the end of why he was chosen... it's milked for too much and pretty annoying when you get it some 5 pages before the narrator, I was just screaming at the book at that point. Still other than those 5 pages this was a enjoyable, really well written and eventually pretty disturbing horror story, well worth reading. (4/5) #bernardtaylor #paperbacksfromhell #book #books #bookish #bibliophile #bookgram #bookstagram #bookporn #bookworm #booklover #bookcover #horror #horrorfan #horrornerd #horrorgram #horrorgeek #horrorclub #horrorfans #thereaping (at Lisbon, Portugal) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_iPdz-lDXx/?igshid=lm6b6u7nziq6
