The Road of The Dead - Kevin Brooks

"On a storm-ravaged night, a 19-year-old girl is killed. Three days later, her two younger brothers set out in search of her murderer. Cole, 17, is a dark-eyed devil who doesn't care if he lives or dies, while Ruben, 14, is a strange child who sometimes, inexplicably, experiences sensations above and beyond his own. This is the story of the boys' journey from their half-gypsy home on a London junk lot to the ghostly moors of Devon, where they hope and fear to find the truth about their sister's death. It's a long road, cold and hard and violent. It's the road of the dead."

Not what I expected. When I picked this book up I was expecting a paranormal maybe supernatural thriller. I didn't get that at all. Instead you get a brutal story which was far to real to be enjoyable.

This book in well written but it is fundamentally about vigilante justice with no real consequences (other than being severely beaten up). While no one dies, at least not on the page, no one exactly survives either. By the end of the book, it felt like a lot of destruction just barely contained within the narrative framework. The story is hard and wrenching, but it felt like it was swimming in dangerous waters.

The beginning is slow, dark and broody and then gets suddenly very violent and action-packed (but still dark and broody!). The mystical aspect of Ruben's trances/visions/whatever-they-were didn't seem to be consistent to me, especially when they became more like an out-of-body experience. There were aspects of the mystery that were solved suddenly with no real explanation, and although I thought I would enjoy the setting (English moors), it ended up too depressing and stark.

I liked it, but I won't recommend it to anyone. Age rating I would say 14+. Dark, gritty and disturbing. It touches on some uncomfortable topics and isn't a pleasant read.