A Death Displaced by Andrew Butcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first of the novella of Lansin Island Series, the author seems to have kick started a chain of events that could invoke a kind of interest in paranormal suspense thrillers, book after book. The author freaks out on paranormal suspense, thrillers, fantasies etc in his works.
Nicholas Jack Crystan, a young boy in early twenties, works part-time, in a small novelty store, in Lansin Island, a tourist haven, in Europe. His father John and twin brothers stay separately. A depressed family which faces the brunt of the sudden disappearance of his mother, Samantha, one day. He once day dreams of an accident near his work place which shortly turns into a reality. This is when he discovers that he is blessed with ability to foresee future. He saves Juliet in the real accident, whose soul is said to have departed her body, when some other woman, dies in her place. She suddenly gets to see the souls of dead people who interact with her, as she is said to be anchored between the physical and spiritual world (The Otherworld) as she is said to have defied death against the fate.
This is when Samantha’s soul appears and informs her to take Nick and his twin brothers to Grendel Manor, where she lost her life, in the hands of a wicked and sadistic owner Aldrich, who practices a special skill of controlling one’s mind, getting all bad things done, as he wants through them and later erases their mind of whatever happened through them. With this power, he is said to offer young children of Lansin Island, as sacrifice to a German/Phoenician God of Child Sacrifice, called Moloch, to attain immortality, over many decades.
Lansin Island, having a history of being inhabited by hundreds of witches, practicing witchcraft in the sixteenth century, witnessed the burning of all those witches in groups of thirty on a special platform built for the purpose by the Government officials as per the King’s order. But they were ignorant of the fact that these officials were mind controlled by Aldrich who reached Lansin Island at that time and got the witches killed, in order to take control of the island, as per his false God’s order.
After many series of events that occur, ultimately, Aldrich is put to death, by one the twin brothers of Nick, after having learnt that Aldrich was responsible for his mom’s brutal murder, when she denied his order to bring her children for sacrifice.
The story ends with Ryan, who works for Aldrich in Grendel Manor, and also boy-friend of Juliet’s close friend, burning down the entire Grendel Manor. Aldrich’s body is also cremated on the same platform where the witches were burnt down alive, some centuries ago.
The book has many open ends with so many character roles unfinished and questions unanswered. Some of them are like how can such a powerful Aldrich die so easily? Is Juliet destined to live with her spirit sighting ability forever? Were the Crystan brothers out of danger forever? Probably, the author has plans to answer all these questions in his next book in the series.
The author has built in many morals in between the story which are to be noted.

My rating is 3.25/5


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