Publication Date: January 2017 from Headline
Source: Proof copy
In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road.
The moment locks them together.
Here and now it’s dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet.
These voices have purpose.
And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Defender pulls you on a wild ride to a place where the voices in your head will save or slaughter you.
2017 is shaping up nicely for reading fanatics and if you are a post apocalyptic Stephen King loving reader with a rebellious streak and a penchant for a DARN good story then Defender is the book for you. Even if you are just the last of those things this will hit the spot.
I blew through this one and by about 30 pages in I was loving it with the fervour of a true fanatic, my conversion to the world of Pilgrim and the girl he meets by the side of the road (aka Lacey) was complete. I didn’t then put it down until I was done. And done for. Seriously. Book trauma alert.
Anyway what Ms Todd has done in Defender is pay homage to old school King and given it her own twist, with a touch of almost drug like addictive prose, a set of characters to die for and a sprawling, clever often heartstopping tale where humanity for the most part has turned on itself and all that are left are the fated few all struggling to make sense of it all. And to quite simply survive. Underneath it all though something is brewing…
Enter Pilgrim – he has a voice in his head. “Voice” is dry, often funny, always present. Lacey wants desperately to find her sister and her niece, determined that against all odds they will have survived. So off the pair of them set (Pilgrim somewhat reluctantly) on a bit of a post apocalyptic road trip. And thats all I’ll say.
The world building is brilliant because you see all of it, sense it as you read and there is a terrific haunting feel to the entire novel, that little sense of something building, something you can’t quite see but somehow dread anyway. This author isnt pulling punches, some of this is hard hitting, the vagaries of human nature at its very worst but also at its very best, in a highly imaginative setting that allows for the exploration of it.
There were some points in Defender where I was quite literally on the edge of whatever seat I was sitting on. I’m not even exaggerating.
I was not at all sure what to expect going in – Defender surprised me with its sheer presence, stamping its authority all over my reading brain and this is yet another novel I came out of slightly dazed and with a strong emotional charge that did not dissipate for a while. I LOVE those books! Right?
Defender is insane, intelligent, beautifully plotted, intensely absorbing and will enfold you in a vice like grip from the first page until that very last sentence. Banging!
Highly Recommended
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Want a beautiful signed copy slightly earlier ? Well Goldsboro have your back…
Or Pre-Order Defender HERE in the usual type way of things…
Either way do it!
#HearTheVoices
Happy Reading!
