House of Pigs

Christopher Ritchie shows he's a skilful writer, with his 'The ordinary' an A world where nothing is as it seems. When officer Joe Gullidge is sent on a routine police call, the situation rapidly descends into a sequence of horrifically unsettling events that eat into the very depths of his soul. As 'Gully' is dragged into a reluctant search for the truth, his conscious mind struggles to separate reality from the suggestion of a parallel world. Is Gully's journey a metaphor for the deeper reality of an inescapable past - or is the explanation more straightforward than it initially appears? House of Pigs doesn't fall into the 'easy read' category given the complexity of its ideas and multiple layers of interpretation - but these are strengths not weaknesses. This is a grippingly surreal novel with an edgy narrative and visual touches reminiscent of Stephen King's The Shining."