30.10.20

BLOG TOUR, BOOK REVIEW - The Stairwell by Dean Bryant


                                                                 BOOK DESCRIPTION

Frightful visions. An unknown manipulator. A force from beyond reason.

Brandon Chapman arrives home to a horrific scene. His wife, Stephanie, is exhibiting behaviour that he can only describe as that of someone possessed – yet he doesn’t even believe in the supernatural. He soon realises that it was nothing other than a frightful, haunting vision.

After discovering a dark secret about Stephanie, Brandon meets a strange figure with knowledge about his own life that no one could possibly know. As his visions become more frequent and terrifying, he begins to question his sanity.

Brandon must either side with this figure or his wife before his daughter comes to harm.

Alice Hamilton, a shy and quiet university student, meets handsome Niel Curtis whilst on a night out with friends. They very quickly fall for one another, but their happiness is short-lived when Niel ends up in a coma after a traffic accident.

Alice fears he may never wake up again and, unaware of the consequences, strikes a deal with a strange voice. When Niel awakes, his behaviour changes drastically, and Alice – like Brandon – becomes subject to nightmarish, violent visions.

Are Brandon and Alice caught in a never-ending nightmare?

 


OMG,this book is absolutely bloody incredible. This spine chilling story is written in chapters that alternate between Brandon, whose chapters are set in the present day and Alice, whose chapters are set in the past. In Brandon's chapters we learn that he is being plagued by terrifying nightmares in which a horrifying creature who looks a lot like his wife Stephanie has murdered their three year old daughter Lily. We follow Brandon's journey as he struggles to save his marriage whilst battling with depression, his conscience and the mysterious voice inside his head. A voice that sounds remarkably like his new friend, the sinister figure that Brandon keeps seeing everywhere and who keeps insisting that Brandon must kill Stephanie before it is too late.

 In the chapters set in the past, Alice is in her first year at University and is struggling to fit in. She is a pretty girl although she thinks she is plain and overweight so she is therefore shocked when she is approached at the students union by handsome Nial and they end up spending the night together in her tiny room. Nial is kind hearted, loving and caring and soon the pair are inseparable, even Alice's parents like him. By this point me and probably many other readers are thinking, yep, I know where this is going, whirlwind romance, perfect boyfriend it's all too good to be true. And you would be right but Alice's life doesn't turn into a living nightmare due to the usual reasons. Apart from the terrible visions that she has suddenly started experiencing, all is going well in Alice's life until Nial is involved in a terrible accident and Alice is so desperate to have her wonderful boyfriend back that she forgets the golden rule, be very careful what you wish for. Her wish is granted but she swiftly starts to wish that is wasn't after she finds herself being terrorised by someone who looks a lot like her once loving boyfriend but whose personality has changed beyond all recognition. Two vivid characters, two time frames, two spine chilling stories. Are these two characters connected in some way? Why are they both suddenly having terrifying dreams and visions? How does their stories end? If you want to know the answers to these questions then you are just going to have to get your hands on a copy of this chilling thriller and find out.

Wow....just wow and Omg, this is a intricately plotted, extremely well written, spine chilling thriller that has a large dash of the supernatural and horror thrown in for good measure. It's a creepy, dark, mesmerising story that had me glued to my kindle and frantically turning the pages. The plot contains a couple of ingenious twists and that ending, it gave me goosebumps, it was so chilling. I would love to watch a film adaptation of this incredible book. Worth far more than five stars and definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of this year.very very highly recommended. 

                                                                      AUTHOR BIO

Dean has always loved writing, ever since his primary school teacher wrote “another cracker from the pen of Dean Bryant” on his English homework. He loves writing horror and dark thrillers as they allow him to be as imaginative as possible. He won a nation-wide poetry competition when he was 11 and went on to never write another poem.


He’s a huge fan of the classic horror authors Stephen King and Dean Koontz, with Midnight being his favourite book of all time. He studied Psychology at university which made him the friend everyone goes to for advice.

Dean lives in London with his partner of ten years, who also doubles as a beta-reader and critic. He is a type 1 diabetic, which hasn’t stopped him eating cake, he just has to do a lot of mental math first.


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PUBLICATION DATE: 30th October 2020

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