My 10-year-old daughter used to beg for scary movies with the excuse ‘But I LIKE having nightmares, Mum.’ (This has changed recently, not least since I took her to the Edinburgh Dungeon, where famed cannibal Sawney Bean attempted to eat her and she almost fell into an open grave. But I digress.) Regardless of anything she says in an attempt to see Pan’s Labyrinth, she would not like the nightmares that visit the heroine in the opening chapters of Bryony Pearce’s debut novel ANGEL’S FURY…

Cassie Farrier has bad dreams. Not just any old bad dreams, but the kind that make her terrified to fall asleep – and she has them ALL the time. As a confirmed rabid insomniac (just ask the guards here in the caves) I could completely relate to Cassie’s problem – except that I don’t dream about little German girls dying in village massacres.

Cassie has suspected for a while that her nightmares of the girl Zillah’s death are based in reality – but that’s confirmed only when she takes a school trip to Germany, and is instrumental in uncovering a mass grave from many years ago. It’s the last straw for her long-suffering parents, who agree to send her for treatment to the strict, unconventional, and somewhat sinister Dr Leaza Ashworth.

And that’s when the nightmare really begins.

I love books where you’re never quite certain of anyone’s motives, and who is on the side of the angels. Actually, that’s a bad way of putting it – since in this gripping novel, being on the side of the angels is not necessarily a good thing. Bryony Pearce is fantastic at playing with your expectations, and her themes of reincarnation, redemption and vengeance are perfect vehicles for doing just that.

There are monsters aplenty, but they’re not always immediately recognisable. And as the true nature and identity of Cassie and her fellow inmates is revealed, there’s more than one shocking twist. It’s not just scary, gruesome, and unputdownably thrilling – it also takes some very brave turns with its characters. And that’s the kind of book I love.

It might not be for the youngest of readers, but if you like ‘em scary and thrilling, with a good dash of very horrible history and myth, you’ve got to read this one. I’m looking forward to Bryony’s next with a pounding heart…

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