The Eyeball Collector

Toe-curlingly gruesome and macabre, this book is deliciously dark. It links well with the previous two books – with letters to Polly from The Black Book of Secrets – but is able to stand entirely on its own.

Hector is a lepidopterist bent on avenging the wrongs perpetrated against his father that led to his death. Just as the creatures he looks after metamorphose from one form to quite another, the villain Hector seeks appears capable of adopting other guises with similar ease.

The novel is set within Urbs Umida and this framework allows F E Higgins to create, construct and embellish an entire imaginary city that feels real in every detail from the letters of its inhabitants, to the newspaper articles and reports of discoveries made therein. Hector’s desire for revenge leads him to the diabolical Lady Mandible and culminates in a startling ending to what has been a slippery story throughout. F E Higgins’ writing is assured and lively and The Eyeball Collector cements her position as one of the most stridently original and engaging of storytellers. In less capable hands, the threads of this story might have felt cumbersome and complicated; here they come together with deceptive ease in a way that inspires awe and leaves readers gasping for the breath they have unwittingly been holding.