#BlogTour ‘Half Past Tomorrow’ by Chris McGeorge

About the book…

Shirley Steadman, a 70 year old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long dead abusive husband, she doesn’t like being alone much.

One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before. It is a pirate radio station, and as she listens as the presenter starts reading the news. But there is one problem – the news being reported is tomorrows. Shirley first thinks it is a mere misunderstanding – a wrong date. But she watches as everything reported comes true. At first, Shirley is in awe of the station, and happily tunes in to hear the news.

But then the presenter starts reporting murders – murders that happen just the way they were reported.

And Shirley is the only one who can stop them.

My thanks to Tracy Fenton ( Compulsive Readers)and publishers Orion, for the blogtour invite and gifted e-arc of Half-Past Tomorrow by Chris McGeorge, which is out now in paperback and e-book editions! I have read his high concept thrillers before so a new novel by him is always a treat.

I loved everything about this novel, it’s an enigmatic paradox of a tale which has, at times, you questioning what the hell is going on. At its heart is the formidable and stoic Shirley, eeking out the twilight of her years in Chester-Le-Street, volunteering for hospital radio, taking requests, meeting with her local embroidery groups, fending off well meaning daughter, Deena, and caring for her cat Moggins.

Oh, and making bacon and banana sandwiches for the ghost of her son Gabe who has been haunting her for the past year…

When she tunes in to a radio station, Mallet A.M which she had no idea existed, she hears news from the future. Thinking she is losing her marbles or having an extended case of deja vu, she doesn’t pay much attention. Until it comes true. Small things happen at first, and then, then comes a murder. And another one.

What I loved so much about this book is how it had you trying to think ahead and work out what is going on, but how do you do that when the story is 6 steps ahead of you?

What the hell is going on?

Having lived in the North East for some years, I got the warmest feeling from reading the dialect which peppers the narrative, it brings the characters closer to the reader and makes you warm to them very quickly.

The mystery of what is going on is the central point of ‘Half Past Tomorrow’ however, it is Shirley who is the cornerstone of the book. She refuses to go quietly into that good night, but her character really shines a light on what we expect old people to die, simply fade away and die. How do you even approach any kind of authority about the fact you are being haunted by not just the ghost of yet to come, but also of the son you lost ?

As the book goes on, Shirley comes completely into her own and refuses to be pigeon holed as an old biddie with too much time on her hands. this is reflected in how sweary she gets , and how she keeps on fighting her hardest to find the truth of whether it is her mind, or someone playing an exceptionally cruel trick on her.

Who doesn’t love being challenged by a novel like this?

This reader is always up for something mind bending and twisty and yet again, Chris delivers the goods and then some!

About the author…

Chris McGeorge has an MA in Creative Writing (Crime / Thriller) from City University London where he wrote his first crime novel Dead Room for his thesis. He constantly told stories from a young age, whether they took the form of comics, short stories or scripts.

He is a lover of Golden Age crime, like Christie and Conan Doyle, leading his crime stories to be a mix of the old and the contemporary. He likes weird and wonderful plots, with plenty of intrigue and twists.

His often coherent ramblings about everything pop culture can be found on his blog Festival of Blood and occasionally he produces the Sarcasmicast podcast with a group of friends.

Twitter @crmcgeorge @orionbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n