Freebourne by Salman Shaheen, a book review

I was sent a copy of Freebourne by Salman Shaheen for free in return for my honest review. It’s taken me a while to get around reading it because of the holidays and other things. But, I really wish I’d picked it up sooner. You can read my review later, first here is the Blurb and book details.

Freebourne by Salman Shaheen

The Blurb

After learning of his wife’s affair with his best friend and business partner, divorced and unemployed MindTech entrepreneur Dr Harry Coulson arrives in the idyllic English town of Freebourne, looking to start a new life. But any hopes of quietly picking up the pieces of his broken world are shattered when he steps off the train to discover the body of a young woman lying in the snow. It’s almost as if she’d been left there for him to find. Harry does everything he can to help. But as a stranger arriving on the night Freebourne witnesses its first murder in over a century, he not only becomes a suspect in the woman’s killing but finds himself caught in a deadly game between science, faith, and free will – in a secret far darker and more terrifying than anything he could have imagined.

My Review of Freebourne

I was gripped from the first page. Imagine arriving in a new town to start a new life after losing your wife to your best friend and the first thing that happens is that you stumble upon a dead body of a young woman. Poor Dr Harry Coulson was taken in for questioning. It was at this point that we realise the book is set in the future, but not too far in the future. They talk about the last murder in the town being over 100 years ago in 1945.

Harry makes enemies before he makes friends, but he also gets backing for his invention which he wants to complete. This takes away pain by a small disc that send signals to the brain.

Soon after the first murder, there is another one. One of the main suspects in the original woman’s murder. It all starts to get quite dark.

Harry makes friends who agree to help him with his work and also meets a new woman who he ends up starting a relationship with. The only problem is a group called Anthropros who want to stop all experimentation with the human brain and free will.

The story is fast paced and you are left wondering what the heck is going on. There are many subjects for the murders and it’s hard to work out who might be behind it all.

I don’t want to give away spoilers but the book gets darker and there are more murders and it all starts pointing to Harry. Then more scientific brain modifiers are exposed and everything gets very intriguing. The ending is bloody and scary and even if you have worked out the murderer you will still be shocked.

The book is a mixture of crime, horror, sci-fi but also has much softer sides of friendship and helping people. It’s a definite page turner and full of twists and shocks. The characters are all fleshed out perfectly and you feel as though you are in Freebourne with Harry, going through it all with him.

I will certainly look out for more by Salman Shaheen he has mixed up my favourite genres and done it well.