Dandelion by Mark Lowes

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You can buy Dandelion.....Here

You can follow Mark Lowes...Here

The Blurb...

He is on a journey of change, pushing himself to feel... something.

When he meets Violet, an innocent, life-affirming young woman, he's tempted into being something tame. Something he's not.

Then he discovers George, a sociopathic serial killer.

Both are now in a tug-of-war for his loyalty.

Who will he choose?

Can a criminal psychopath really change?
Dr Raveed Makesh is delving deep into the mind of one of Cardiff's most deadly killers, revolutionising therapy for criminal psychopaths.

Is Makesh successful? Or just another victim of his games?

If you love American Psycho or Hannibal, Dandelion is the book for you. A dark, literary thriller that will have you second-guessing yourself and, in the end, agreeing with a criminal psychopath.

My Review...

If you want rainbows and lollipops this is not the book for you.

It tells the tale of Cardiff's worst serial killer and his fractured mind.

It is dark. How dark is it? It's darker than a pint of Guinness in a cupboard under the stairs, in the basement, at midnight, in a power cut.

From the absolute sledgehammer of an opening line it is relentless.

This is a scary book. It is scary precisely because it does not deal in the gothic monsters of literature. No werewolves or vampires or even zombies. No, it deals the most terrifying thing known to man, the dark corners of the human mind. These monsters are real and they can lead a man to kill. It is a complex book, in that you will spend your time trying to decipher who is real and who is in the patient's head. The book is given added gravitas because it is written in epistolary form, using Doctor's notes, diary entries, screen grabs of text messages and even a DNA report.

This is a very good book. The only caveat I can find is that the author does leave a few questions unanswered. What was the patient's job and how did he get fired/resign among them. 

The author does however have a gift for making the reader uncomfortable through the book. He does this in two distinct ways. 

One is a small  twist on general language for example, instead of "day turned to night" we get "Outside, the night had crawled over the day."  Subtle yet dark. He is very clever in that they are sparingly used and if you are not looking for them you wont see them (but you will feel them.)

The second method of keeping the reader uncomfortable is used more often. This method is dropping what I have called "cynical society truth bombs." Ideas and tropes that occur in our culture, of which you have probably given little thought to, are deconstructed in a scornful and sceptical manner and you end up thinking Yes, I can see the sinister, prophetic truth in that line. e .g. "Nothing excites me anymore. Nothing. When I was young I felt some excitement in discovery and enthusiasm in the unknown. as I grew up things became more and more mundane. That's the nature of growing up, we are worn down."

So he makes us uncomfortable, but he makes us come back for more, time and time again. It is like an addiction. It is like having a guilty pleasure. 

This is the second Mark Lowes book I have read and although you can see the influence of Stephen King, Robert Louis Stephenson and others in his writing he has a style all his own. His forte is describing and manipulating the conflicting thoughts and emotions in a person's mind and soul.

 His prose is simultaneously disturbing and, when called for, mouth-wateringly rich.

This is a very gifted writer. He deserves to be more well know and he deserves to be snapped up by a publisher ASAP.

I have been lucky enough to interview Mark. The interview will be on this website within the next two weeks

Selected Quotes...

"We sat for a while without talking, the silence mulled between us, waiting, brewing ageing."

"They say we're a democracy but we're democratic to a choice. A choice that is limited. A choice that is wrong. I don't want to choose from a bad lot. It's like choosing between having cancer or being cremated alive."

"Parents were what I considered to be comforters, enablers, disciplinarians. They were a trust fund. They gave birth to you then provided. Perhaps it was a strong sense of responsibility brought about by law, misinterpreted as love."

About the Author...

Mark is a former teacher, current early childhood educator and a dad. He lives in Cardiff, Wales. while he is not working with deaf children and their families he's writing dark and twisty fiction. His books tend to be quite genre fluid but he's dedicated to scaring the shit out of you. Mark is an associate member of Crime Cymru He is also the winner of Litopia's Pop-Up Submissions  and of a pitch contest at the Cardiff Book Festival.