Renowned for his very spooky young adult novels, Procession of the Dead is Shan’s first foray into the world of adult horror fiction – and it’s certainly creepy.

Procession of the Dead is an odd book in some ways, the structure is vague with surreal sections early on that only make sense right at the very end of the novel.

However the characters are complex and interesting, the supernatural aspects completely unique and the references to our own world and times are thought-provoking.

There’s no real ‘hero’ in the traditional sense in Procession of the Dead.

Shan’s world is dark and underground and creepy.

Capac Raimi is a young man on the make, he arrives in the big city to hang out and learn from his gangster uncle, working their way up the long ladder of crime.

But the guy at the top, the Cardinal, is the man who really runs the city and to get to the very top, Capac needs to make an impression.

Along the way Capac comes face to face with the Cardinal and discovers that the world he thinks he knows is merely a thin veneer over the reality that lies beneath.

The supernatural components slowly float to the top of the story which jumps from a noir-ish crime novel to something entirely different in a couple of chapters.

Shan is an excellent author with a flair for language and detail.

This is the first in a series of novels about the ‘city’ and well-worth reading.

Verdict: New horror with a dark, gritty edge.