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Written by
COLIN CAMPBELL

Billy Rinkfield is a 12 year-old orphan who dreams of escape. Gordon is a rebellious young gargoyle who smokes too much and is afraid of heights. An age old quest to discover the Legend of Roman Krol. On the rooftops of Kendal, an unlikely friendship is formed between the ground-dweller and the roofscaper, but as storm clouds gather over the Auld Grey Town, there are people more frightening than the local legend, and things more deadly than a fear in the night.

This, quite simply, is a wonderful story, brilliantly told. Gordon the Gargoyle is a wonderful creation guaranteed to have children asking and wondering all sorts of things. Billy Rinkfield, meanwhile, is the embodiment of every twelve year old, left at a children’s care home, unwanted and looking for a way out.

Yet it is Campbell’s grasp on description – as shown in his crime fiction – that really catches the eye. The night time atmosphere, the uniqueness of the gargoyles, the almost poetic descriptions of Kendall and its surrounding areas, invite the reader to pull up a chair, make themselves comfortable and finish the book in one sitting.

All of which is no mean achievement when capturing a child’s imagination is such a difficult thing to achieve. Ask J.K.Rowling or Jacqueline Wilson.

With Gargoyles, Colin Campbell has ticked all the boxes and, conceivably, added a few more. Having read Gargoyles, it was then passed on to a friend’s children who – though not particularly avid readers – devoured it whole, much to their parent’s delight.

Colin Campbell’s Gargoyles: Skylights and Roofscapes is a triumph of its genre and adds yet further credence to the author’s burgeoning reputation as a storyteller.
8/10

www.campbellfiction.com

Order this book online - Linghams Booksellers

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