“His crimes – unforgivable. His death – inevitable. His suffering – just beginning.

Obadiah Stark aka The Tally Man, is executed at ADX Absolom, his death sentence watched by the world’s media, victim relatives and one investigative reporter, Joe O Connell. Penning an account of Stark’s personal history and subsequent crimes in the hope of determining what elements make the sociopathic mind tick, Joe discovers clues and inconsistencies which cause him to investigate Stark’s execution.

While this is happening in the real world, Obadiah Stark awakens to an afterlife where he has a wife and daughter bound to his childhood hometown. Following his natural predatory instinct, Obadiah proceeds to torment the town, committing multiple murders before being gunned down by the police. He awakens to find that everything has reset, with no one recalling his murderous spree a reality which offers no escape. As the scenes repeat, he is forced to submit to emotions he has never experienced before… and with it, a poisonous dose of morality.”

Obadiah Stark is a name which will stick in my mind for some time, I can tell you! Never have I met such an arrogant murderous character in a book (and I’ve read Silence of the Lambs).  It was brilliant!  This is a great read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Stark is a serial killer with no remorse, even when faced with a lethal injection.  The families of those he killed want something from him, some show of regret or emotion but it just won’t come.  He knows what he’s done and he enjoyed every moment of it.

Joe O’Connell is an investigative journalist who has become slightly obsessed with Obadiah.  He plans to write a book about Stark; something new and different, something that hasn’t been done before.  In the course of his investigations he makes certain discoveries that lead him to believe that not everything is as it seems…

Obadiah made my skin crawl at points during the story.  He’s one nasty piece of work.  But I found myself sympathising with him at points (you’ll have to read the book to find out why), something I didn’t think possible so well done David McCaffrey. This book has an american feel to it but the majority of the story is set in Ireland, which I found surprising for some reason.

Heart pounding stuff.  I’m looking forward to reading the prequel and book three at some point soon.

Four out of five stars.

Many thanks to Booklover Catlady Publicity and David McCaffrey for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hellbound: The Tally Man by David McCaffrey was published in the UK on 28th November 2014 by Britain’s Next Bestseller and is available in paperback and eBook format | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com