⭑⭑⭑⭑ The Stranger Times is a fun, off kilter romp around shining light on supernatural hi jinx occurring in the Manchester metropolitan area. And who better to unveil the truth of magical anomalies and broadcast it to the wider world than The Stranger Times newspaper? Having just read the brilliant Slough House by Mick Herron I see a number of parallels, though not even remotely similar in content or subject matter. An unruly team of misfits (Slough House's slow horses) is captained by a rude, overbearing, bitingly sarcastic, potentially washed up man (Slough House's Jackson Lamb) as they strive against all odds, and general reason, to unearth the truth and deal with it. An age-old, proven formula that works so well here in a bonkers kind of way. Hilarious stuff, to be sure, but with a dark underbelly that is both frightful and disturbing.
The Stranger Times does contain everything you could possibly want in an underdog story - fighting against convention the disparate parts of the team work together pooling their talents to get to the bottom of recent occurrences. The characters are each in their own way unique and likeable. Hannah, the most conventional character of the lot, is finding her way in the world after a messy marital break-up is exposed to a world she never dreamed of. It is a funny, cheeky story that isn't constrained by reality and that is best part of it. If you want a delightfully distracting story to take your mind off the current troubles, it is here my friend.
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