Trouble is afoot on the streets of London, and this time it’s come on stilts… The Return of the Discontinued Man sees Burton and Swinburne once again come face-to-face with the perilous Spring Heeled Jack, and this time he’s brought company. Several of them, in fact!

As an unusual red snow covers the streets of London, a rather strange and insane creature is on the loose, hell bent and looking for one man in particular. Spring Heeled Jack returns as he’s on the hunt for Sir Richard Frances Burton and this time he’s not entirely sure why, but he knows that it has something to do with Burton, Queen Victoria and the prime minister.

As an army of bewildered and insane Spring Heeled Jacks descend upon London, Burton and Swinburne find themselves facing their greatest foe yet, as the course of not just Burton and Swinburne’s history, but the entire future of the empire is drastically altered, bringing the somewhat maddening Spring Heeled Jack’s along for the journey.

If the confusing army of increasingly maddening Spring Heeled Jack’s wasn’t bad enough, Burton finds himself hallucinating his past and present timelines, as parallel realities and the future history face a greater threat than ever, and it’s up to Burton, Swinburne and their cohorts at The Cannibal Club to help save the day and the future.

The Return of the Discontinued Man goes beyond the whimsical Victorian world of steampunk into a grand sci-fi adventure as Burton and Swinburne travel through time itself to find and eliminate the source of the dreaded Spring Heeled Jacks, taking them on an unimaginable journey, far beyond the comfort of Victorian London.

A thoroughly entertaining read, making for one hell of a journey through time itself that thankfully won’t involve leaving your sofa!

THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN: THE BURTON & SWINBURNE ADVENTURES / AUTHOR: MARK HODDER / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW