Wrath of the Land by Oli Jacobs

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When the plumbing around the centre of West Crumb starts to overflow, everyone believes the problem is a series of badly blocked drain.

What they don't expect is a fatberg the size of a double-decker bus.

Council worker Ronald Pile is tasked with clearing the horrible mass, but soon finds himself dealing with a bureaucracy that works deep behind the scenes of the local council. Meanwhile, student Laura Bennett begins to notice how the fatberg seems to be influencing those around town.

Then, the reality of what the fatberg contains is revealed, and it begins to sprout.

Author of horror titles such as Deep Down There and Wilthaven (Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Finalist 2021), Oli Jacobs brings another tale of everyday life being suddenly disrupted by the arrival of something out of this world. And as always, he hopes you enjoy...

 Wrath of the Land reads like an invitation to Lovecraft’s love child. Accomplished storytelling that ensures that Jacobs has a revered seat at the horror table.

Wrath of the Land is yet again another stellar outing by Oli Jacobs. I’m not sure just how this author keeps getting better and better, but he simply does. He has developed his own brand of comedy horror and I felt this story is his best yet. The writing style reminded me of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I won’t ever get over the feeling of familiarity every time I read one of Jacob’s stories. It emits a sense of coming home after being lost in the woods…there’s still darkness but the light is somewhere on the horizon.

Chapter one had me fastening my seatbelt and preparing for the ride that had me chuckling and shivering in equal measures. You know something is wrong. The descriptions are hilarious, and the one liner kept me suitably entertained whilst awaiting the truth to be uncovered much like the curtain being pulled back to reveal the horror of humanity. I don’t know how Oli Jacobs does it but his narrative style always manages to plunge me into his world by not only my emotions but my senses too. He makes me feel so many things – What is going to happen? Will unsavoury characters come to a well-deserved end? It’s those kinds of questions that push a reader to continue.

Imagine waking up one day and your small town being overtaken by a tumour that consists of thousands of missing persons DNA and waste. No one knows what’s caused it or how to eradicate it.

The story is told in dual POV’s – Laura, a student at the local University and Ronald Pile, Head of the recreational department with the county council. Laura is mildly inconvenienced by the fact that she can’t take a shit when she needs to because of this giant mass that’s blocking up the residents’ toilets. She epitomises the typical student, loves a drink and survives on largely beige foods. Laura was my favourite character, and her assumptions of the situation really had me laughing out loud. She has no patience for the local loony conspiracy theorists.

Ronald on the other hand is exhausted with the levels of bureaucracy that seems to surround him with the discovery of the fleshberg. He’s a man that’s always been overlooked and mocked. He has several ideas on how to deal with the tumour under the streets and all of them fail – one being that they can’t break it up because it starts to bleed. It doesn’t make any sense but bleeds all the same. He has a hard time fielding the numerous phone calls that seem to haunt his every movement. He begins to wonder what the solution is going to be when his office is bombarded with Agents from “The Bureau.” Why are they so moody and eccentric and why do they want Ronald to act as a distraction to what is going on?

Oli Jacobs doesn’t spare the reader anything, nothing is sugar coated. I put myself into the position of Laura multiple times and I kept thinking that I’d have probably spent the majority of my days drunk too!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Oli Jacobs is a bearded chap who enjoys spinning a yarn or two. While now a hermit, he has been rumoured to be seen drinking beer and enjoying chicken in the wilds of Southampton. If seen, please approach gently as he has severe anxiety and may cry.

As well as Wilthaven, Oli has also wrote other Horror (The Children of Little Thwopping, The Station 17 Chronicles), Comedy (the Kirk Sandblaster series), Thriller (the Mr Blank series), and short stories (the Filmic Cuts series).

As always, he hopes you enjoy.

Oli Jacobs