The Tower

by Simon Clark

Review by Stephen Clark

Simon Clark heads the small, but very talented, array of UK horror writers that came to power throughout the nineties…and hasn’t let up yet! The Tower is the latest novel to come from ‘the big fella’, which doesn’t disappoint.

A group of young, wannabe musicians seize the opportunity of caretaking a huge house that will lie dormant for a month. It’s the perfect place to rehearse their songs for an upcoming demo session where they’ll be no distractions. The Tower sits in isolation within rural Yorkshire alongside a crumbling, disused airstrip from the Second World War that’s slowly sinking into the surrounding swampland.

During the journey, they pick up a stray dog and let it tag along – but you begin to wonder who’s picked who. Within The Tower there chimes a ghost clock (its mechanism hidden within the structure’s interior) that infuriates the band’s leader, Fabian, and orders the clock to be found and disarmed. That’s when the trouble starts!

We’re shown a formidable property that’s been housed over a smaller dwelling - one that dates back hundreds of years. When a member of the group finds the clock, and touches the bare wiring, she’s knocked unconscious and dreams of being murdered in a most torturous manner. She tells her dream to the bass player, Fisher, during a midnight liaison, before sneaking back to her own room…and isn’t seen again.

You have a wise dog with undying loyalty, a pain-ridden groundsman who skewers rats on a stick for relief, and a fledgling band who must learn to work together before they’re all picked off like lambs to the slaughter. If you hear the chimes – take care!

Publisher: Leisure Books (2005)

ISBN 0 8439 5492 2   Paperback (353 pages)