Sixteen Horses

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The very sensitive reader will no doubt be shaken by the fate of the animals in the story, and that fact may cause a good many of them to leave the narration unfinished, opting for something lighter and perhaps less assaulting on the emotions. To discuss with other players and join a community of writers/story-enjoyers, request access to Greg's Discord here: https://forms.gle/hsy3SdS5sTYh6pkE6

Sandy Thomson, trainer of first-fence fatality Hill Sixteen, is adamant the 15-minute delay caused by protesters to the start of the 175th Randox Grand National at Aintree was the major contributory factor to the horse’s fall. Many thanks to Net Galley, Pan Macmillan, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily. The mystery element is what kept me reading and I managed to finish this one, despite the actual reveal and the motivations behind it being utterly unsatisfying and it left me shaking my head at it. They were arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including conspiracy to cause public nuisance, obstructing highways and possession of controlled drugs,” officers added. WARNING TO READERS WHO CANNOT ABIDE ANIMAL ABUSE, the scenes are not cruelly graphic but imagination can sometimes be our worst enemy.Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide.

The narrative was very fragmented and at times became hard to follow. It was quite a disjointed reading experience which made it less enjoyable. Although many of the characters weren't 'what they seemed' they weren't fleshed out enough for me to become invested in.

Autor Greg Buchanan hat hier einen ganz besonderen Roman erschaffen, der für mich jenseits der Grenzen eines normalen Krimis liegt. Die Handlung ist weder gradlinig noch leicht nachvollziehbar und bietet viel mehr als einen einfach Kriminalfall. The instigation of the action in Sixteen Horses is the grizzly discovery of sixteen horses heads found half buried, each with one eye staring at the sky, together with a knot of tails on a farm outside of the coastal British town of Ilmarsh. The act had taken place on Guy Fawkes Night when the horses from various places around town had been sedated so as not to be spooked by the fireworks and everyone in town was at the pyre. Local detective Alex Nicholls, a man with deep secrets who himself is barely holding things together, is out of his depth and a forensic vet, Cooper Allen, is called in to help with the investigation. But just as it seems they are getting somewhere the story and the narrative takes a wild swerve, the town put in quarantine following the long term consequences of the World War 2 testing of anthrax spores and Alec’s eighteen year old son goes missing. Cooper is asked to stay on to investigate. I have trained racehorses and practised as a vet for many years, and my motivation for working in this sport – like everyone in the industry – is my deep respect for thoroughbred horses. I fully understand why there is a lot of anger directed towards the protesters today by my industry colleagues and lovers of the sport. No one can accept fatalities as a certainty at any race and no one, least of all anyone in racing, wants to see what we witnessed in Saturday’s National.” Animal Rising claim their actions aimed to prevent deaths

On a lonely farmstead, an old woman falls down outside and, unable to move, is consumed overnight by two of her pigs. The protesters' actions could have potentially endangered horses and people, while purportedly being carried out in the name of safety. Nevertheless, my colleagues and I will continue to dedicate our lives to looking after these wonderful animals, who are bred for this sport which brings such a wonderful quality of life to so many horses.” This is one I’d like to read again for the pure joy of it. Hard to put a tag on it. Noir? Gothic? Thriller? Police procedural? Social commentary? Unlike anything else you'll read this year, Sixteen Horses is a deeply disconcerting ride. Irresistible' - Val McDermid, author of Still LifeVal McDermid describes it as deeply disconcerting. She is not wrong. From the start this is a traumatic tale. Disturbing in many ways. I normally read crime and horror fiction but I have never read anything like this before. Wow, it is traumatic from start to finish. halfway through I had to stop reading for 24 hours - it is rare for an author to do that to me. But I finished it, the twists and turns kept coming. Illmarsh is a town that feels forgotten. It added to the atmosphere. I could picture the town on the coast very well, and Greg Buchanan evokes a real sense of place in his writing. Sixteen Horses is a very immersive book. It will definitely appeal to you if you’re a fan of Chris Whitaker. Dark, visceral and disturbing, this highly suspenseful and beautifully written thriller is totally gripping from start to finish. A hugely impressive debut.” —Alex Michaelides, author of The Silent Patient and The Maidens Set in the English seaside town of IImarsh, a town that is well past its sell by date and falling apart(as much the star of this book as the characters),when a farmer and his daughter discover the heads of sixteen horses buried in a circle on their land one early morning, Alec, the local detective goes out to investigate. The heads are buried on their sides, all with one eye above ground, the tails in a bundle near by. Dark, visceral and disturbing, this highly suspenseful and beautifully written thriller is totally gripping from start to finish. A hugely impressive debut.” - Alex Michaelides

As a huge fan of Sixteen Horses I was eager to read Greg Buchanan's second novel, I was immersed immediately and throughout. Utterly brilliant. Poetry and cinema at once. If this isn’t one of the biggest titles of 2021 I’ll eat my hat.” Where do I start with this one? A first time author I believe? If so, what a debut! Maybe not without it’s faults, and I’m sure it will not be for many people but, I was absolutely mesmerised by this. Sixteen submerged heads, all apart, all with only the barest strand of skin on display, all with a single eye left exposed to the sun.”In a small English town, sixteen horses heads are found buried on a nearby farm. Local detective Alec is on the case, but they call in forensic vet (who even knew that was a thing?) Cooper to help out. His hunger outlives him. His teeming gut, his microbiome aflame with all the bacteria and symbiotic juices, they carry on. All that life within him continues consuming and breathing until it can breathe no more. He digests himself.' The claustrophobic foreboding that has been created by the author was simply brilliant. The sounds, the description of the town and its people, the atmospheric thrill give a gothic vibe that was mind-blowing. But there were parts of the story, like in the middle, that lost its grip on me. It doesn’t matter thou, honestly, even the unveiling of the mystery didn’t seem important whilst reading, coz the author mesmerizes you with his story-telling. The whole uneasy unsettling dark aura that Greg Buchanan creates in his debut is worth a read and for that alone, I am going with 3.5 stars. cooper’s therapist is the biggest joke of all. What kind of therapist keeps interrupting her patient who’s talking about her trauma to ask her how she feels about it? Instead of letting her speak uninterrupted? The whole therapy is just a way for us the reader to finally get to know the crime. So dumb. Simultaneously captivating but at the same time, deeply disturbing, Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan gives a new meaning to the word ‘UNNERVING’.