The Wind in My Heart By Douglas Wynne – A Book Review

Blurb:

Miles Landry is trying to put violence behind him when he takes up work as a private detective focused on humdrum adultery cases. But when a Tibetan monk hires him to find a missing person, things get weird fast.

Charged with tracking down the reincarnation of a man possessed by a demonic guardian from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Miles is plunged into a world of fortune-tellers, gangsters, and tantric rituals. The year is 1991 and a series of grisly murders has rocked New York City in the run up to a visit from the Dalai Lama.

The police attribute the killings to Chinatown gang warfare. Miles–skeptical of the supernatural–is inclined to agree. But what if the monster he’s hunting is more than a myth?

Author: Douglas Wynne

Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing

Genre: Horror/Urban Fantasy/Noir

Release Date: 15/01/2021

Pages: 129

My Chosen Format: Kindle

My Rating for ‘The Wind in My Heart’: 5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Review:

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Something about the mash up of genres in this one (it has elements of horror, noir and urban fantasy) really appealed to me and seemed like the perfect fit for my post Christmas reading. Douglas Wynne did not disappoint with this fun, fast-paced novella.

At first, I had serious doubts as to whether the writing style/character voice used was the one for me but I quickly began to love it. The story being told was always interesting and gave enough away to keep you engaged but not entirely enough to make you think you had everything figured out too quickly.

My only downside to Miles is that he seems a lot older than he actually is. When his age came out I was a little shocked as I pictured him being a good fifteen years older. But, I suppose, he is a guy that’s seen a lot of life’s hardships and than can weary a man into a youthful old age. He certainly comes across as a guy that’s weathered a lot and wears the erosion of such weathering as a badge of honour.

The ending felt like it couldn’t possibly fit into the final pages as everything seemed to be happening at once but, much to my surprise, it was all brought to a close in a way that I wasn’t entirely expecting and one that didn’t feel like the brakes had been slammed on too quickly and everything was squeezed into a few pages. So well done to the author there.

All in all, I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed this one and had a lot of fun reading it. After spending so long reading books that lead on to sequel after sequel, it felt so refreshing to read something with an actual ending. It also left me with a bit more of an interest in the Buddhist faith. Would highly recommend this to anyone who fancies a novella length, darkly fun page-turner.