Wranglestone

Product Information

Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the Transylvanian Express - and it's up to you to solve the case! Now he must help rancher Cooper, the boy he's always watched from afar, herd the Dead from their shores before the lake freezes over. His lifetime obsessions with the National Parks of America, horror, film music and 80s kids movies have all worked their way into his writing. With the COVID-19 outbreak, Wranglestone now feels exceptionally timely and prescient, dealing as it does with a viral outbreak that changed the way people lived. Wranglestone is set in a post-apocalyptic America after a plague has brought back the dead, and follows the lives of people surviving in a settlement.

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton | Waterstones

It's isolated, post-apocalyptic National Park setting is beautifully atmospheric, creating an aura of both bucolic serenity and claustrophobic threat. On the mainland, the young lovers uncover an earth-shattering secret and it’s not long before Connor’s situation is seriously comprised, leading to Peter stepping-up and standing tall. This also meant that we got some nice visual descriptions in the process which really helped with the world building. But just like life, when you first step into a more complicated adult world, I think it’s fair to say that the story spins on a dime. Well, I’m not sure I can say much without giving things away, but yea I’m busy writing a concluding sequel.

A brilliant new take on zombies with a chilling setting and a truth long buried, Wranglestone had me gripped from the very first page and swept me up in its romance-filled snowstorm of zombies and secrets. Peter and his dad are living by a lake when, one evening, Peter allows a stranger to come far to close, not realising the danger it would put himself and the others in. Look, my book isn’t going to make someone gay any more than Wuthering Heights managed to make me straight.

Darren Charlton | Waterstones

Chilling, atmospheric, and beautifully written, Wranglestone is a thrilling apocalyptic tale with a tender love story at its heart. Author Luke Palmer introduces his new book, Play (Firefly Press) about four boys growing up together, the challenges, the friendships, and what hap. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.

Rid the world of it” - this is how encounters with the zombie Restless Ones must be handled, a mantra soon-to-be-sixteen-year-old Peter struggles to follow. Darren lives in London with his partner, Shaun, and works in the voluntary sector for a homeless organisation. A bucolic, intimate twist on the zombie/post-apocalyptic story, I found the wild setting particularly evocative. Hitchcock’s rule of suspense was to let the viewer know something’s awry, then let them sweat waiting for it.