“Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?

As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to hand the blog over to my guest reviewer extraordinaire, Ryan, who is going to share his thoughts on Love Will Tear Us Apart, the third book in The Stranger Times series by C.K. McDonnell. Love Will Tear Us Apart was published by Bantam Press on 9th February 2023 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow.

Here’s what Ryan thought…

Before I start this review of Love Will Tear Us Apart, the third book in The Stranger Times series, there is something you need to know.  It is very  rare for me to pre-order a book. We’re talking the “getting struck by lightning whilst looking at a blue moon” style event. So how did I find myself checking the video doorbell from work to see if this blue jacketed, slightly mirrored tome had reached the damppebbles residence?  The reason is simple, I loved The Stranger Times and This Charming Man and I was desperate to find out where this series was going to go next!

For those of you that don’t know, C.K. McDonnell (or Caimh to the readers of his other series!) is a former stand up comedian who has created a world (a slightly different Manchester) that I would love to visit but certainly not like to stay! It’s a world where magic is starting to reappear and leak out from the previously tightly bolted social door that kept normal people, like myself, happily unaware of the talking dogs and strange powers that lurk around each corner! Each book in the series introduces more fantastical characters orbiting around the motley crew of The Stranger Times. We understand more about why the previous agreements that kept the magic hidden are breaking down and the threats posed to inhabitants of the city.

The book is a brilliant addition to the series and whilst it can be read as standalone I would start back at the beginning and meet these wonderful characters and follow their backstories in books one and two. Once you have you started Love Will Tear Us Apart you will be shocked to find that stalwart Hannah has up and left the office with zero notice. Such things are not unusual when Vincent Banecroft is the editor of your paper, a broken shell of a monster with the empathy of a turkey twizzler. But as Hannah was the glue holding the office together the fallout from her leaving is dramatic. Add to this Banecroft’s continual search for the truth about his wife, missing people, mysterious new colleagues and you have the ingredients for a wonderful adventure.  The missing person is an ex-contributor to the paper and their colleagues have the tough job of working out which article has clearly upset the wrong people. If you are a fan of the occasional article from the paper popping up in these books then I can thoroughly recommend the Stranger Times Podcast which features short stories from the same universe and starts with other articles from the papers archive!

As a reader you are fully invested in what is going to befall McDonnell’s characters. Which is why I will be pre-ordering Stranger Times book four as soon as it is available, and making sure the video doorbell is fully charged! A fantastic story which further develops this wonderful series. I would thoroughly recommend this series to lovers of Brookmyre, Pratchett or Urban Fantasy in general.

Love Will Tear Us Apart by C.K. McDonnell was published in the UK by Bantam Press on 9th February 2023 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop |  damppebbles amazon.com shop |

C.K. McDonnell is the paranormal pen name of the Irish bestselling author Caimh McDonnell. Born in Limerick and raised in Dublin, Caimh is a former stand-up comedian and TV writer. He performed all around the world, had several well-received Edinburgh shows and supported acts such as Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney on tour before hanging up his clowning shoes to concentrate on writing. He has also written for numerous TV shows and been nominated for a Kid’s TV BAFTA.

When not writing about the adventures of the staff at The Stranger Times in his adopted home of Manchester, he is the author of the Increasingly Inaccurately titled Dublin Trilogy of books and the various spinoffs, all of which have been Amazon bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Caimh lives in Manchester with Wonderwife and their two dogs. To find out more about him, visit whitehairedirishman.com, and to find out more about The Stranger Times, and to join the mailing list for updates plus a free short story collection, go to TheStrangerTimes.com.

Also check out The Stranger Times podcast, available almost everywhere, and featuring short stories set in the world of The Stranger Times, written by C.K. and read by some of the finest stand-up comedian talent that are willing to do it for the money.