The Final Transmission – Book Review

by | Aug 18, 2015 | Book Reviews, Reviews | 0 comments

the-final-transmissionThe Final Transmission
Brian F.H. Clement
Damnation Books
December 1st, 2013
Reviewed by Stuart Conover

The Final Transmission is Brian F.H. Clement’s debut novel and in it he mixes science fiction, a murder mystery, and horror for a fast paced action ride that doesn’t let up. I do have to point out that while this is Clement’s debut novel that he has quite a bit of writing for low budget films under his belt. There are a few moments where the writing doesn’t seem to solidly flow forward but the unique and original story completely make up for that.

Did I say original? When you are 3/4th of the way through the first chapter you might be thinking that the novel is following tired but true horror trope formulas. However, by the time the first chapter comes to a close it is pretty clear that there is still room for original ideas and Clement pulls you in with his.

In the novel we follow a rather typical gumshoe named Michaud and his assistant Karen as they take on a case that is more dangerous than they could possibly imagine. It boils down though to our detective ending up in the middle of two rather Lovecraftian sounding cults, and any fan of the Cthulhu mythos knows that nothing good can come from that. We see him at odds with a man named The Cleaner who has a device to take out his enemies that is both exotic and unexpected all at the same time.

While the crossed genres can get a little blurry at times they never get in the way of the enjoyment of original work that Brian puts forth on page and this was truly a fun read. I’m looking forward to reading out the sequel, The Assimilation Protocol. If you enjoy suspense mysteries tossed in with your horror that has a dash of Lovecraft to boot, this is a novel you are going to want to pick up.

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