I purchased this book from Amazon, and I am voluntarily posting my honest review here.

       The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square combines the virtues of a Dean Koontz thriller, a time-traveling sci-fi adventure, and a save-the-world fantasy as original as the Chronicles of Narnia.

         Kirkwood Scott (don’t call him “Kirk”) is a young Irish bachelor who drifts through a dreary life spending the weekdays in a dead-end temporary job and the weekends either drinking heavily or sleeping it off.

         Since childhood, Kirkwood has played with a fort and toy soldiers — most of them from Wellington’s battle of Waterloo, where they were killed. Kirkwood’s fort and soldiers are so real to him that their draconian commanding officer, named Skelly, gives Kirkwood dreadful orders daily.

         Kirkwood is compelled by his own Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to carry out Skelly’s horrible orders, believing that if he fails to complete an order, real people will die. Kirkwood’s own father was the first death, in fact.

         As it happens, Skelly is a very real, interdimensional, thoroughly evil being who plans to destroy the earth. The only thing standing in his way is called The Presence.

         The ineffectual Kirkwood is, unknowingly, one of three people who constitute The Presence. The other two are Emily (who has died) and Meredith (a homeless alcoholic who sees messages from Emily in the graffiti on a Belfast street).

         You will want to discover for yourself how Kirkwood and his two unlikely associates are drawn together to face the final battle, and whether they ultimately survive.

         The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square submerges readers in the streets and culture of Belfast through the use of sublime prose, suspense, humor, irony, courage, despair, reluctant heroes, and a battle for good against evil, with the earth’s very existence at stake.

         In addition to writing astounding fiction, in his spare time, he says he also “runs marathons and consumes ridiculous amounts of honey-comb ice cream.”

         You will not be able to believe The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square is the author’s first novel. Expect great books from Stephen Black, and be watching for them. You won’t want to miss a single one.

The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square is available on AMAZON. Follow the author on AMAZON or GOODREADS.

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