Another superior supernatural thriller from Cottam. I've read and enjoyed several of his novels and consider him one of the best horror writers around today. THE COLONY is a really tense thriller about what happened a couple of centuries ago on the remote New Hope Island in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. In 1825, a colony that had settled there simply disappeared without a trace. The colony was founded by a former sea-Captain, Seamus Ballantyne, who dealt in the slave trade. So what happened to the people there who vanished without a trace? Alexander McIntyre, a rich media mogul had been fascinated with the disappearance for years and is also a proponent of UFOs and alien life. Could the people on the island have been abducted by aliens? When an old film from the 30s is discovered showing some kind of disturbing presence on the island in the form of a spectral young girl, he decides to form an expedition to the island to try to solve the centuries old riddle of what happened there. He puts together a group of experts including an archaeologist, a psychic, a UFO expert, a virologist, a priest and a group of security personnel to go to the island and get to the bottom of the disappearance. But as soon as the group gets there, people begin to disappear and a very dark presence is perceived to be there. So what exactly is happening and what could possibly account for the disappearances in the past as well as the present?

Cottam really knows how to spin a good paranormal tale of terror. He included a great memorable cast of characters in this novel and throws in some interesting historical facts as well. Although the treatment of prisoners on a slave ship is pretty well known, some of the details in the novel still provide a shock. Overall, a high recommendation for this one. There are a couple of sequels to this novel that I will also be looking out for.

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