Reliquary

How it reads

Reliquary is horror (archaeological techno-horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the recent past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are survival, secrets and nature. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. The ending resolves happily. At 464 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.