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.

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.

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.

This series offer the best of both worlds, police procedural and horror. Patel and Pardue are called in to this strange case. The dead walking surrounded by flies also flies around the murders. I've been reading Graham Masterton since The Manitou and he has not missed a beat with this book. Loved it. Thanks to Aries & Aria and Netgalley for this review copy.

The House of flies by Graham Masterton is book 5 in the Patel and Pardoe supernatural detective series. Having read the other books in this series. I couldn’t wait to see what the author comes up with next.
The Reverend Paul Wymarsh 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.
Di Patel and DS Pardoe are appointed the case due to their experience with Supernatural. And that CCTV has picked up a mysterious person feeling the scene without using his legs.
There is a fast-paced police procedural that had me hooked throughout and at the same time in some incidences left me a bit squeamish how some of the victims were killed that others would feel a bit unsettled by it. Setting that aside I couldn’t stop reading and wondering where the author gets his imagination from as his ideas are always fresh but gruesome lol. This is not for the faint hearted. But fantastic read. 5 stars from me.

Over the last decade Scottish horror legend Graham Masterton has been on a fine run of form with The House of a Hundred Whispers (2020), The Soul Stealer (2022),The House at Phantom Park (2022) and the supernatural crime series starring London detectives Jerry Pardoe and Jamila Patel, opening with Ghost Virus (2018) which now totals five books. Whilst most authors who have been in the horror game since the mid-1970s have either quit or slowed down to enjoy the pipe, slippers and whiskey bottle, Masterton remains as prolific as ever. In 2024 he also resurrected his crime horror Katie Maguire series, with book twelve Pay Back the Devil, the first in a few years. I have read a few of those, but he has been too prolific for me to keep up!

House of Flies is the fifth entry in the Pardoe and Patel series, of which I have read the first three, which are interconnected by two detectives who specialise in investigating paranormal crimes in London, nicknamed the ‘Ghostbusters’. In Ghost Virus there was possessed killer clothing (don’t ask!) and in book two The Children that God Forgot freaky deformed kids, nasty pregnancies, and witchcraft oozing from the London sewers caused havoc. The third outing, Shadow People, topped its predecessors for sheer brutality, a gleefully violent romp featuring multiple sequences of cannibalism and torture with punters being nailed to the walls and worse.

Even though I missed book four, What Hides in the Cellar (2023), it was very easy to find my way back into the narrative, with only occasional references to the previous books. If you are new to the series then they also read great as standalone horror murder mysteries. Masterton abandons character development (Pardoe and Patel change little over the course of the five books, except for a promotion) in favour of outrageous plots and fast moving action. The plots of these novels are totally ridiculous and hark back in style to the type of crazy horror which was hitting the bestseller shelves in the eighties.

Just when you think it might be impossible to top the antics of its predecessors, Masterton gives it his best shot in House of Flies. After so many years writing horror I am constantly amazed he can continue to dream up these scenarios and is an absolute master of trashy B-movie style horror. I sped through this romp over a couple of easy reading days, eating up the near 400-pages with little lull in the ridiculous action.

House of Flies delivers an unsettling and original premise that blends police procedural with a developing sense of the supernatural. Opening with the brutal murder of a clergyman, the story fans out into a series of highly disturbing events, including dead bodies climbing out of graves, decomposing bodies close to brutal crime scenes, with everything connected to the unusual activity of seemingly intelligent flies.

Detectives Patel and Pardoe are tasked with solving the case (and because nobody else wants it!), but the mystery deepens with the appearance of a strange figure caught on camera, moving at unnatural speed without moving its legs. The murders continue and edge into the personal lives of both detectives, taking them into both the local ganglands and a local exorcist. There is outstanding escalation with well-known London locations becoming the sites for mass murders.

The pacing is perfect, keeping the narrative engaging from start to finish without any mid-story slumps. While it does not rely heavily on twists or major cliffhangers, the unsettling imagery and brilliant set pieces, threatening menace make it a solid page-turner. As I have lived in south London (including Broomwood Road, mentioned as close to one of the murders) I found it particularly enjoyable, as it was all very familiar and mapped out perfectly.

I really have no idea how Masterton can keep churning out these outlandish plots with such frequency and even though some of the police dialogue and Cockney rhyme comes across as outdated and hammy, it was incredibly easy to get sucked into the plot, with some of the action sequences of the highest calibre. There is no rest for the wicked and I hope the ‘Ghostbusting’ team of Jerry Pardoe and Jamila Patel return for further adventures.

Please see the link for the review.

I have reviewed this title for book sales and recommendation site LoveReading.co.uk. I’ve chosen it as a LoveReading Star Book and Book of the Month.

Horror and humour collide in this police/supernatural tale of weird events in another episode of this series. Lots of clergy of various faiths meet a gruesome end courtesy of swarms of coffin flies ably assisted by dead bodies that have escaped from their graves unaided seemingly! It’s not just clergy that meet their end but gangsters and several others also who are done in due to their closeness to the investigators who manage to escape themselves somehow. Totally over the top but entertaining nevertheless!

Creepy, chaotic, and crawling with dread. DI Patel and DS Pardoe are neck-deep in a case that defies logic. Masterton blends police procedural grit with supernatural horror, delivering a thriller that’s fast-paced, grotesque, and impossible to look away from.