Author: Ian Kingsley

ISBN: 978-1-907756-75-7

Publisher: New Generation Publishing

Click Here To Purchase Sandman

When Paul Vincent becomes embroiled with a young unbalanced lad, Stevie Clark over a nearly dangerous accident concerning his young fourteen-year old daughter Leah, he hasn't a clue what the future would hold for him and his family. And neither did he really know his beautiful and flirtatious wife Sasha, who unfortunately was raped and murdered near their beach hut located in a popular coastal resort town on the south coast of England near Bournemouth.

All evidence, according to Paul, seemed to point to Stevie as the culprit, however, in Psychology there is recognition of a kind of behavior known as cognitive bias which is used to describe many distortions in the human mind that can lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or even illogical interpretation. It is with this in mind, that Ian Kingsley hooks us in with his debut winner Sandman -an author who knows how to draw an array of appealing characters, inject suspense, and paint scenes with the skill of a seasoned travel writer. In fact, Kingsley is the webmaster of his own travel website, synergise.com.

With the yarn gathering force, readers can't help turn the pages compulsively, as we are seduced with small details and quick punchy dialogue that purposely misleads us in jumping to the conclusion that Stevie is the obvious murderer and rapist. And as we are to discover, and a concept that underlies all good mysteries, nothing is as it seems. We likewise fall into the same trap as Paul, who, by the way, doesn't know how to express his feelings concerning his murdered wife, after he painfully finds out that she was unfaithful to him and questions how much “hanky panky” and lovers did she indulge in during their supposedly happy marriage. It was true that he was a terribly jealous husband, however, little did he realize until after his wife's murder, that perhaps his jealousy had been justified. Then again, would his jealousy also lead to the police believing that he is the prime suspect in his wife's murder?

What is intriguing about Sandman was that reading it made me think I was watching a movie focusing on several characters that all are subtly interwoven into the threads of each others lives. In this case, it turns out to be the lives of Stevie, Paul, Leah and another woman, Carol Davis, who was also a rape victim in the same vicinity where Paul's wife Sasha was murdered. Moreover, it is a novel that you may want to re-read, once for the sheer thrill of the story and again to fully absorb its implications.

Ian Kingsley has lived most of his life on the south coast of Dorset, England. He has written a number of non-fiction works on science and technology and has worked as a digital design engineer, technical author and technical publications manager on many military and commercial projections. Sandman is his first work of fiction and I do hope we hear more from this promising author.

Click Here To Purchase Sandman