Mystical Circles by SC Skillman

Book review: Mystical Circles by SC Skillman

Throw a bunch of youthful eccentrics together in a claustrophobic environment and you have the perfect recipe for paranoia. The better people get to know each other the more suspicious they seem to become. Given that the leader seemed like he was trying to run a cult I feared a dark and nasty end to this one but I was pleasantly surprised at how the author turned things into a feel-good finish.

A female journalist finds that her much younger sister has joined a residential group ‘wheel of love’ and fallen for the leader. She goes there with the leader’s permission (who wants publicity) to write an article but with the ulterior motive of bringing home her sister. It is quite a brave move given the confined environment but she fits in reasonably well and likes several of her new companions.

The closed environment gives the author an opportunity to introduce some unpredictable but interesting characters. The group includes a welsh poet, a cleric in trouble with his boss for writing blasphemy, a potentially nymphomaniac girl (though I was pleased to find out later she wasn’t - one of the advantages of a female author), a shaman and a psychologically damaged young man, Rory, who threatens some very nasty moments. It is probably just as difficult to control this group of characters in a novel as it would be in real life but the author does this really well.

The countryside environment with woodland walks and pleasant views took me out of the city and reminded me a need to get away more often. It was easy to see how this could be a restful place where one could readily fall in love with a stranger.

An accountant property guy (the leader’s father) was also staying to try and persuade his son to give the whole thing up due to financial losses. This was made difficult by their personal history going back to marriage break up many years earlier.

All in all it had many possibilities and every time I worked out what I thought would happen in this mystical mystery I was soon proved wrong. Along with Disconnect this is my favourite read of the year so far.