David Barnett. Canelo, (352p) ISBN: 9781835983195. Horror, read 08/01/26, Paperback ★★★★★

Scratch Moss

I’ve really loved this folk horror universe that David Barnett has developed and this book, Scratch Moss, is the third in the series and I was so looking forward to reading this and thankfully Canelo and David sent me an early copy to review.

Let’s get this out the way straight away, I wasn’t disappointed!

There is one clear message in this universe.

Appease the old gods, it’s for your own good!

Scratch Moss sees us visiting an old mining village that was devastated by Thatcher in the 80s, but there is far more to the village than that, a dark secret waiting to be unearthed.

(Got to say the taxi scene was so familiar, when I went back to my old area in Edinburgh it was always by bus as no taxi drivers would go there in the 80s)

Initially set in 2025 we travel back in periods of 40 years to uncover the source of Red Clogs and the sacrifice, then we move forward through time again in 40 year periods tying all the loose ends up, driving the story onward faster and faster to the conclusion.

I loved this mechanism as it felt as though we were digging deeper and investigating the secret with the people but also going down and coming back up to the light is a very important theme in the story.

This is another slow burn, but at no point is it dragging, creeping tale. Full of dread and dawning realisations of just what is going on in the world. But that slow burn becomes almost frantic as the time turns and brings us back to the present.

Oh, and the magpies…

This is yet another fantastic book from David to growing his world of dark gods, spirits, and thin spots. Fluidly written with a flare for understated horror that gradually creeps up on you until the full extent of it is unearthed and you want to go mad along with the characters.

This is going to be a hard one to beat for best read of the year.