Review: The Rainbow Man / Author: P.B. Kane / Publisher: Rocket Ride Books / Release Date: Out Now
The Rainbow Man is an emotionally charged novella detailing an ancient horror that falls upon the quiet island of Shorepoint. The morning after a ferocious storm, Daniel and his friends explore the island’s beaches looking for treasures when they stumble across a man seemingly washed up by the tide.
Taken to the local hospital, the stranger – John – survives his experience and becomes regarded as something of a good luck charm by the island’s inhabitants when a series of fortuitous events soon follow. People come into money, terminal diseases go into remission, fishermen catch the haul of a lifetime. The world starts smelling of roses. But Daniel is not convinced. Although not sure why, he’s the only one who sees John as something different – someone to be feared. Just what is John doing when he visits the island’s inhabitants? And surely Shorepoint’s good luck will one day run out. What happens then?
Paul Kane writes with confidence and skill, crafting a gripping YA novel that once started can not easily be put down. The great thing about this story is that it can be enjoyed on different levels: the emotional context of Daniel’s family life, the awful gap left by the death of his father, the horror of the Rainbow Man and the social commentary of how, sometimes, we often fail to see what is right under our noses. And like all good YA books it doesn’t really matter what age you are, the story is strong enough to carry the reader through to the final page.
P.B. Kane is an award-winning writer and editor with a host of books and comic books to his name. What he doesn’t know about horror isn’t worth writing down. Well worth a read.
