The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce by Tom Gillespie

The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce by Tom Gillespie.
Published 21st July 2020 by Vine Leaves Press.
Read April 2020.

Dr Jacob Boyce becomes obsessed with a mysterious painting, that he believes holds some important life changing message - if only he could decipher the clues. He has been trying to crack the code of the painting for months, letting all areas of his life slide - including his marriage.

So when his wife goes missing, the police put her disappearance down to a marital dispute, but Jacob is convinced that her absence is somehow linked to the painting that has captured his attention.

When Jacob follows his wife's trail to Spain, he embarks on a cat and mouse chase that leads him into the realms of madness and eventually takes him to an art forger's studio in Madrid, where he comes face to face with the horrific truth.

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The Strange Book of Tom Boyce is a difficult book to describe, but I am going to start with calling it a mind-bending, intense adventure incorporating the history of art and the occult. Intriguing, no?

Dr Jacob Boyce becomes obsessed with a strange painting, purported to be a work by the famous Spanish artist Diego Velazquez, that he comes across in a Glasgow art gallery - one that will alter the course of his life. He believes that this painting contains hidden clues to a riddle he has been trying to solve for months, and may in fact have been painted by an almost unknown artist called Maneul Pinero, who was an apprentice of Velazquez. But the truth that he is searching for remains tantalisingly out of reach, no matter how many hours he spends studying it. His findings are meticulously recorded in his most precious of possessions - his notebook. 

Quite how this is related to his subject of Earth Sciences, that he teaches at the University, is beyond the understanding of his wife, Ella, and his colleagues. His obsession consumes him to the point that is is the most important thing in his life, so we are not surprised when his wife does a disappearing act. But there is something not quite right about her departure and Jacob becomes convinced that this has something to do with the strange painting. 

Following a bizarre series of clues, Jacob pursues his wife to Spain where he learns that she has been travelling in the company of a mysterious man. What follows is a surreal odyssey that brings Jacob into contact with a series of curious and increasingly nightmarish characters, who fuel his fixation on his search for truth about the artist Manuel Pinero. As Jacob's sanity starts to fracture, he becomes ever more desperate to find his wife, convinced that she is in terrible danger. The fabric of his reality starts to fold in itself and Jacob is no longer sure what is real and what is not.

But Jacob is right about one thing. There is something very unnatural going on here and it seems Pinero may have been meddling with more that just the spectrum of paint colours when he was creating his unorthodox paintings.

This is the kind of book that messes with your head. At points you are sure you are keeping up with Jacob's journey of discovery, painstakingly piecing together each little clue, and can almost see the answers he is looking for, but then the story takes an abrupt turn towards the chilling territory of a full-on horror novel and completely knocks you for six. It becomes a different sort of creature altogether and will have you questioning what exactly the story is all about by the time you reach the end. I am still pondering this one and will be for some while, I think.

There are some delicious elements to be picked out here, that certainly get under your skin. Inevitably, there is a comparison to be made with The Da Vinci code (fast paced adventure about clues to be garnered from works of art..you get the idea), but The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce also put me in mind of a couple of films too - they are After Hours (a surreal film about a night in New York that goes bad real quick!) and the Johnny Depp film The Ninth Gate (loosely based on the novel The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte, in which a rare book dealer becomes obsessed with finding a book that purportedly contains the secret to summoning the devil).

This is a weird one, but there is something compulsive about it too. I confess I am not entirely sure I understood this book, but is is definitely one that I will be thinking about for some time. I am convinced that this is the kind of book you need to read more than once to appreciate fully - the kind of book where you will understand more each time you read it. 

It's a book that demands to be discussed over a glass of finest Rioja, so would make an excellent choice for the more daring book clubs among you - give it a go, you may find you have a taste for the more bizarre...and the Rioja!

The Strange Book Of Jacob Boyce is available to buy from your favourite book retailer from 21st July 2020, or via the link HERE.

Thank you to Tom Gillespie and Vine Leaves Press for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Kelly Lacey of Love Books Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

From the cover of the book:

A spiralling obsession.

 A missing wife. 

A terrifying secret. 

Will he find her before it’s too late?

When Dr Jacob Boyce’s wife goes missing, the police put it down to a simple marital dispute.

 Jacob, however, fears something darker. 

Following her trail to Spain, he becomes convinced that 

Ella’s disappearance is tied to a mysterious painting whose hidden geometric 

and numerical riddles he’s been obsessively trying to solve for months. 

Obscure, hallucinogenic clues, and bizarre, larger-than-life characters, 

guide an increasingly unhinged Jacob through a nightmarish Spanish landscape 

to an art forger’s studio in Madrid, 

where he comes face-to-face with a centuries-old horror, 

and the terrifying, mind-bending, truth about his wife.

About the author:

Tom Gillespie grew up in a small town just outside Glasgow.

After completing a Masters in English at Glasgow University, he spent the next ten years pursuing a musical career as a singer/songwriter, playing, recording and touring the UK and Europe with his band.
He now lives in Bath with his wife, daughter and hyper-neurotic cat, where he works at the university as an English lecturer. Tom writes long and short stories.
His stories have appeared in many magazines, journals and e-zines.
He is co-author of Glass Work Humans-an anthology of stories and poems, published by Valley Press.

Visit Tom at: tom-gillespie.com/