博客來The Standing Dead is a folk horror novel set in a fictional UK prison, HMP Page. The story’s primary protagonist is William Lees, a first-time offender who is serving a sentence for manslaughter and it is through his eyes that the reader experiences life behind bars in a medium security men’s prison.
HMP Page is also the site of the re-awakening of an old and malevolent supernatural force, one that embodies violence and chaos without rhyme or reason. Its growing influence amongst the prisoners and staff of HMP Page creates a dangerous and volatile atmosphere, one that could easily explode. This presence is also aware of Lees and he finds himself targeted.
Alongside the supernatural plot, The Standing Dead also confronts themes of guilt, trauma and depression in men. The narrative gives an insight into how men are conditioned to internalise their psychological and emotional pain, and the damage that can wreak on themselves and others.
Book cover blurb text:
Prison can force you to face your demons.
Sometimes though, you have to face more than just your own...
＂Underneath the soil, where the bones of the hanged men stood in their upright, unmarked graves ... blood diffused through the ground to reach them. And, as it did so, something small and dark stirred among the dead.＂
William Lees has been transferred to HMP Page.
It’s an old prison, with even older secrets buried under its soil.
When a shocking act of violence takes place, something awakens.
Something that thrives off bloodshed, that revels in violence.
and it has seen Lees.
The Standing Dead is a tale of monsters, both the ones that live under our beds,
and the ones that live in our heads.
Welcome to HMP Page.
