The Shadow People by Graham Masterton

​Graham Masterton has long been one of my all-time favorite genre authors. Though admittedly I’ve not followed his recent work too closely; the man began veering into detective stories, worse yet detective series and so my interest ebbed accordingly. But this novel promises such exciting things – cults, cannibals, subterranean terrors – that it seemed like the right choice to check out if only to see if Masterton still got it. And surprise, surprise, he definitely still does. Way to age properly, like some sort of nightmare wine.
This is actually one of his detective series novels, from somewhere in the middle it seems, and I didn’t even care. The way the book is structured, it doesn’t really seem to require any prior knowledge of this world going in. There are two detectives, a Muslim woman and a white (I think? Is it ever specified?) man in England who headline the team of investigators assigned to a terrifying series of brutal murders. To uncover the truth, they’ll have to descend into the world below the streets of London, the world of abandoned metro tracks and forgotten secrets.
I love that for a book setting, one of my favorite books is set below London’s streets. The cannibal thing…well, it’s pretty brutal even among the famous cannibal fiction. Masterton is certain to remind you throughout this book time and again that though he may be branching out with detective aspect, he is still very much a teller of terrors and a whisperer of visceral nightmares.
There are other things here that are very much Masterton of old, including a killer backstory with a Nazi connection no less and fascinating esoteric religion/mythology angle. And overall, this is just pure fun. Gory AF, but lots of fun.
The writing is dynamic, the characters are likable or interesting or both, Masterton even proves his hip and woke status here and there (way to stay current), and the story is genuinely entertaining. Despite being over 400 pages, it speeds by too. Don’t know why I stayed away from these books for so long. Lesson learned. Fans of the Masterton of old, rejoice, the man is still fun to read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.