2.5*

Full disclaimer - I was so excited to review a new Masterston that I didn't do my due diligence until I opened Goodreads and discovered that this is the 5th book in an ongoing series focusing on two defectives. If you're a fan of the Patel and Pardoe books I wouldn't be surprised if your thoughts differed greatly to mine - after all, I'm missing out on presumably a lot of character development and back story, dropping myself into their relationship and history completely blind. With that in mind, please take my review with a pinch of salt.

House Of Flies combines the kind of classic British terrestrial TV series with supernatural horror, and is sure to get under the skin of anyone with an aversion to insects. Victims are found murdered, covered in - and sometimes full of - flies. Bodies that have been long buried are exhumed, seemingly digging themselves out of their grave. Clergymen and criminals, religious people and those on the underbelly of society alike, are turning up dead. It's on our two lead detectives, who have a reputation for solving the strangest of cases, to find out what's going on - as their investigation proceeds, they start to question if a demonic force is behind these biblical slayings... or perhaps even an angelic one?

The book zips along at a fast paced, rarely far from the next grisly discovery. There's a real escalation in stakes as the story continues, building to an intense final confrontation. Unfortunately I found the build up a little repetitive at points, with similar events occuring a few times in a way that occasionally slowed the momentum down. I also wasn't very enamoured with the character of Pardoe. Perhaps it'd be different if I started the series earlier, but I found his quips usually more tiresome than funny, and generally a difficult protagonist to relate to.

Masterston is a great author, and he hasn't lost his writing spark here. There may be a lot here for diehards, but if you're a relatively newbie to his work, I'd suggest starting with some of his horror classics, or even beginning with the first of the Patel and Pardoe books. There's a lot to like about House Of Flies, but as a standalone read without prior context, I found myself feeling like I was missing something.

Received a copy from Netgalley to review, below is the blurb:

"A clergyman is murdered in his bed in the dead of night, triggering a chilling chain of events, each more bizarre and unnerving than the last – brutal killings, corpses vanishing, decomposed bodies digging their way out of graves.
These shocking events seem unconnected but, at each scene, people report witnessing swarms of flies – hundreds, thousands, even millions of them.
As DI Patel and DS Pardoe hunt for the mastermind behind these atrocious crimes, they are forced to ask: is this person human – or is all of this linked to the mysterious figure caught on CCTV, running at speed without moving its legs?"

Before I start my review I should say that I have read most if not all of Graham Masterton's horror and he is one of my favourite authors. I think I have read all of the Patel and Pardoe books and I thought this one was one of the better ones. It kept me hooked and a little on edge. The deaths are many and gory and flies now make me nervous. Don't want to give too much away but don't worry if you haven't read any other of the previous books as it is readable as a stand alone novel.

Having read all of the Katie Maguire books, my interest was piqued by this latest book from Graham Masterton. I didn’t realise it is book five in the Pardoe & Patel series, but I have to say it reads well as a standalone. As I expected from this author, the narrative is gripping from start to finish and the pacing is great - there aren’t many action-free sections. The author skilfully blends police procedural with the supernatural, which in turn creates a somewhat creepy atmosphere throughout. I will admit that I struggled to like Jerry Pardoe – his constant wise-cracks and rhyming slang became irksome around the mid-way point and I found myself wanting to hear more from Patel, whom I found much more interesting and grounded. All in all, an eerie and atmospheric read that had me feeling horrified and gratified in equal measures.

House of Flies delivers an unsettling and original premise that blends police procedural with an edge of the supernatural. The story opens with the brutal murder of a clergyman in his own bed and quickly spirals into a series of increasingly disturbing events — bodies vanishing, decomposed corpses clawing their way out of graves, and witnesses swearing they have seen swarms of flies at every scene.

Detectives Patel and Pardoe are tasked with uncovering the truth, but the mystery deepens with the appearance of a strange figure caught on CCTV, moving at an unnatural speed without moving its legs. The investigation forces them to consider whether the culprit is even human, as the swarm seems to grow stronger and more dangerous with each attack.

The pacing is excellent, keeping the narrative engaging from start to finish without the typical mid-story slump some detective tales fall into. While it does not rely heavily on twists or high-tension cliffhangers, the unnerving imagery and strange, creeping menace make it a compulsive read. Fans of Masterton’s dark imagination will find this both inventive and satisfyingly creepy.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Stunning in every way. The only mistake I made with this book was to read it during the hazy season of high summer with the occasional fly buzzing around me. Terrifying and made me exceptionally jumpy to say the least.

Graham has a fantastic skill for summoning the supernatural and combining it with the real world to a point where anything he writes is entirely believable. At times the reality was so expertly blended that I was unsure whether I was reading horror, police procedural or passages from religious text with probably several more genres combined.
He has a great knack of quickly setting scenes and investing us in new characters only to gruesomely kill them off pages later. The descriptions are entirely addictive and I was pulled through the book quickly, always wanting to read just a bit more to see what would happen, fantastic storytelling indeed.

Definitely one of my favourite authors, I can always rely on being entertained and horrified at the same time along with being unimaginably impressed by his never ending imagination and creativity in the storylines. I have no idea how you sleep at night but thank you for yet another stunner. I’m genuinely gutted that I’ve finished this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I’ve not involved myself all that heavily with Masterton’s
books (shocking for a horror reader, I know), so getting approved for this ARC was a welcome surprise. I didn’t realise at the time that it was part of a series, but to be honest, it didn’t really matter- the story is of the kind that allows you to pick up no matter where you come in.

We follow our two detectives, Patel & Pardoe, as they deal with a decidedly weird case of coffin flies invading the bodies of people they have no business flying about in. Some of the gore and descriptions of the violence and deaths that occur were absolutely epic, whereas others felt a bit laughable (looking at you, fuzzy grey man).

I think the concept was really strong, but it just could have gone a little harder into some of the themes. If you’re going to have the dead walking, give us a little bit more of a description and nastiness. The flies were definitely in the lane of gross, however, and I found that compelling as a device.

I understand why Pardoe is our main protagonist, but I did find him a little tiresome at times. The repetition in parts of this one too also did get to me a bit, but it was still a fun, supernatural police procedural. With a little more cutting and some little changes to the language, it would have been an easy four star for me.

DI Patel and DS Pardoe are the police's answer to ghostbusters and once again they are back with another wacky supernatural case to solve, this time its dead bodies and flies, lots and lots of flies, this has Graham Mastertons old school style of writing, (please don't be offended Mr Masterton) but it's clunky, cliched with awful cockney and heavy on the gore and quite frankly mad and brilliant at the same time, please don't read it, expecting the great writing that he does with his Katie Maguire series, this isn't it, but read it without any expectations except a gore fest and you will be fine, my only criticism would be that the end was rushed, it could of been fleshed out a lot more.

House of Flies blends supernatural horror with procedural police drama, delivering a story that moves at a steady, almost episodic pace—much like a TV crime series. The plot revolves around a series of eerie, insect-infested crimes, with swarms of flies acting as harbingers of something far more sinister.

It features disturbing imagery—particularly the recurring swarms of flies—and incorporates religious themes to support its horror elements.

However, while the premise is compelling, the experience is marred by occasional moments of unnecessary racism that felt out of place and off-putting. These moments disrupted the flow and detracted from the overall story. Despite the well-paced structure and intriguing supernatural twist, House of Flies ultimately wasn’t for me.

The idea of supernatural detectives pulled me in right away, and the pacing was refreshingly consistent—no slow, saggy middle like many mysteries fall into. While it didn’t offer much in terms of twists or tension, it stayed engaging throughout. That said, the repetition got tiring fast; I lost count of how many times I was reminded that they’re the pair for supernatural cases. Still, despite an ending that felt a bit too far-fetched for my taste, it was an easy, enjoyable read with a fun premise that kept me turning the pages.

This was another Patel and Pardoe novel which features the two detectives investigating cases which appear to be linked to the supernatural. An easy read.

What an interesting concept this was! The pacing was also fantastic sometimes with detective stories they’ll start with a lot of action and then simmer down until it’s almost a race to the finish. This was engaging throughout, though there is no real tension or twists. At times I did get a bit sick of the repetition, how many times did I need to learn they were the pair who dealt with supernatural cases. Overall this was a very easy read, maybe the ending was a bit too far fetched for me, but it was still enjoyable.

Masterton delivers a police procedural with a supernatural twist with his latest novel in the Patel and Pardoe series.
This time the detectives find themselves investigating a series of strange deaths by a mysterious figure targeting Catholic religious figures in which the bodies are left bloated and crawling with flies.
It's a mostly solid procedural that clicks along at a brisk pace and shows glimpses of Masterton's horror smarts - particularly with a number of gory death sequences. But the mystery kind of just unfolds without any real twists or tension, making this a breezy if somewhat forgettable read.