In the chilling, fast-paced psychological thriller The Custodians (Armin Lear Press), British-American writer Jacalyn S. Burke paints the disquieting picture of a small-town community hiding secrets that date back to the Second World War.
History has a way of invading the present when we least expect it. L. P. Hartley famously wrote at the start of The Go-Between, ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’ – and yet, the lines between the past and the present are easily blurred.
It can be easy to ignore those lessons the past teaches us. We see this as politics, historical events, and cultural phenomenons repeat themselves – and these themes sit at the heart of multi-genre fiction writer Jacalyn S. Burke’s haunting, highly prescient psychological thriller, The Custodians (Armin Lear Press).
When holiday-makers Catherine and Tom Grayston disappear in Rousinac, south-west France, two detectives David Frankel and James Harrison set off to find out what happened. The pair arrive in Rousinac, with no idea how quickly they’ll get sucked into the same black web. A black web spun over 70 years from the town’s castle dungeons.
Reminiscent of Stephen King’s folk horror writing, Burke adeptly dips into the supernatural, as the detective duo investigate the town’s hidden past, dogged by an otherworldly presence.
Soon, a conspiracy emerges from Rousinac’s underground tunnels from the Second World War, with a tight-lipped community hellbent on obscuring the past. Effortlessly weaving timelines, The Custodians’ ageing architecture and supernatural presence shed light on buried secrets.
In our current political climate, Burke’s novel serves as a timely reminder that the past has infinite implications for the present. The Custodians takes us down a rabbit hole, tapping into our collective fears about monsters, conspiracies, and secret societies, with each new revelation pulling the reader into the rich tapestry of the novel.
Burke has the ability to draw you in from the very first page, taking us back to the couple who have gone missing, straight into the mind of the female protagonist, and leaving you with endless questions about what happened. Painting a chilling picture of the small village, what starts as a holiday to re-ignite the spark between a married couple ends in a nightmare.
Throughout The Custodians, the tension is heightened through these opposing themes, such as the claustrophobic atmosphere and the picturesque French village. The supposed idyll of the remote setting clashes strongly with themes of secrecy, complicity, and dark pasts.
Incisive and character-driven, Burke draws on her varied career paths as a writer, artist and entrepreneur for her vivid character writing. She creates a palpable tension from the get-go: forensic expert David’s methodical approach clashes with well-known criminal profiler James’s eccentric intuition, but their skills eventually combine as things go south – their fractured partnership becoming their only asset.
Readers drawn to Tana French, ‘The Wicker Man’, and World War Two-era conspiracy thrillers will be delighted to discover this gripping psychological thriller. The Custodians is an unmissable page-turner with twisting timelines, and Rousinac’s dark, unfolding secret will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The Custodians is available to order fromAmazon and all good bookstores
