Somehow, whenever writers opted to pen about the future earth, they love to make it an Utopian land. A place technologically far ahead of our times, people have anything and everything for their physical comfort, the political turmoil has gone southward giving rise to peace everywhere and there is no scarcity at least for food,cloth and shelter. There are Dystopian exceptions and  Here Lies Love  falls in that genre.

Set in the backdrop of an unnamed time in future, when the world is rotting in the absence of sun, Here Lies Love by Dan Thompson is  a dark pursuit in the life of a teenage girl, Abbey. Sold by her father to a dying psychopath, she discovers that life could be more hellish than the most grotesque nightmare. The monstrous man, Stefan, gets sadistic pleasures by brutally torturing young girls, captivates them in cages like animals and treats them as his ‘commodity’ which he buys in lieu of some tokens. An intransigent Abbey refuses to succumb to her fate and uses all her strength to fight back. Stefan brutally ruptures Abbey’s virginity but fails to make her a pet.

All Abbey wants is freedom…..freedom from that demonic clasps of Stefan. And she wants revenge , on Stefan and on her own father. Will she be ever able to forget the nightmarish experiences of her life ? Or whether her most coveted freedom will make her even more fragile and vulnerable to the cruelty of the outside world ?

Dan is naturally skilled to raise the suspense and thrill. While reading the book, it was hard for me to keep patience to reach to the end. The detailed visual descriptions and imagery have made the narration all the more captivating. I was totally hooked by phrases like ” metallic taste of blood ” or the way he has described hope as “ …a funny thing. An intangible prospect of pure goodness just around the corner “. Language has been used according to the characters and circumstances. Colloquials and grammar-less form of English for Tristan and Ryan have been aptly used to make the characters realistic. I liked the author’s playful use of language.

The character of the protagonist, Abbey, has been portrayed vividly and with care, though the author has taken much pain to build every single character in the novel. As I’ve already mentioned, detailing is a treasure for this book if you can keep patience.
At the end, you are likely to love Abbey, for her indomitable spirit to fight against all odds in spite of the tenderness and understanding which she naturally bears.

The graphic description has its drawback too. It has the ability to make you shudder if you’re not so accustomed with hardcore dystopian novels or if you’ve a frail heart. It was perfect for me though.

I enjoyed reading the book but as it has a dark theme, I’ll recommend it for mature readers only.

From my side it’s 4/5

About The Author

Dan lives in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire (England) with his young daughter and his shabby dog, Skye.He is the Author of the charity poetry book Life is all but a vast array of Colours and phobia Novella The Caseworker’s Memoirs. His first full length novel, A YA Fantasy entitled The Black Petal will be available soon. Here Lies Love is his first foray into the NA and Dystopian genres.

A lover of YA and fantasy fiction, you can often find him writing on his blog, writing book reviews and connecting online with other writer-type people and interviewing authors. Dan grew up reading Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five series, secretly coming up with his own inventive adventures, and R.L Stine’s The Goosebump series, before turning to the works of Philip Pullman, Eoin Colfer and Marcus Sedgwick and slipping away into alternate realities. He also loves a good Historical Thriller too. Deborah Harkness, Danielle Trussoni and Dianne Gray are some of his favourite authors who write for adults.

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Book Links

Amazon UK ( Kindle edition) | Amazon US ( Kindle) | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords