Sally Malcolm’s No Man’s Land is a darkly chilling paranormal historical romance set in 1917 that draws on ancient folklore and superstition to weave a compelling (and scary!) story of secrets, lies, and betrayals as the war raging in Flanders threatens to bring the horror of the battlefields to the streets of London.

Josef Shepel is a conscientious objector who drives ambulances for the Red Cross, transporting the dying and wounded between the dressing stations and clearing stations behind the front lines. It’s a gruesome business with little respite (this is his sixth night without sleep), and after he pulls up outside one of the bombed-out farmhouses the medical corps has co-opted into service, he climbs out of his vehicle, stretching out his back and looking around at the remains of barns and woodland silhouetted against the pre-dawn sky. Walking around the side of the building for a smoke, he doesn’t immediately notice that he’s made his way into the dying ground, men brought back from the front who hadn’t survived the journey, or hopeless cases who are deemed beyond help. Taking a furtive look around, Josef takes out the camera he keeps well hidden, and crouches to take some photographs, centring on the deathly face of a young man. For this is his true purpose in coming to Flanders; Josef works for the Daily Clarion, a small, London-based newspaper that campaigns on socialist issues such as universal suffrage and education and workers’ rights, and he believes, passionately, that the people back in England should be told the truth about the war, that once they know the truth about the needless, unending slaughter of their sons, brothers, fathers, they will rise up and demand an end to it.

Josef is startled when the young man he’s chosen as a subject croaks out a request for water – he’d thought he was dead. Quickly, Josef sets his canteen to the man’s dry lips, noting as he does so the strangeness of his glassy blue eyes and the awful stench coming from the putrefying wound on his arm. As Josef lays his head back down, he hears the clipped tones of an officer calling out to him, asking if the wounded man is still alive. The officer makes his way over in response to Josef’s affirmative; he’s wearing an RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) armband and a captain’s insignia, and Josef is more than a little surprised at his vehemence when he insists on being told everything the dying soldier said. Even though he’s not in the Army and thus not subject to the captain’s orders, Josef tells him – there’s nothing to hide, after all – angry at the other man’s assertion that “there are worse things than death.” It’s just another fucking platitude from a toff, he thinks, slightly mollified when the captain – Winchester – adds – “I meant suffering, of course.”

Josef crosses paths with Captain Winchester again a few days later, when he brings a patient into the resuscitation tent and Winchester is there, standing beside the bed of a man on the far side. After Winchester leaves, Josef makes his way over to the patient he’d been examining, and sees the wound on the man’s thigh – marked by the same creeping black putrefaction he’d seen on the arm of the boy he’d helped at the dressing station.

A couple of nights later, Josef meets Winchester once more, this time at a bar in Poperinge, and their encounter takes a much more pleasurable direction. The spark of attraction that flares between them burns bright and unmistakeable, and when Winchester – Alex – invites Josef to his rooms, they spend a glorious night together. When Josef wakes in the morning, however, he’s alone… and his camera is gone. In its place in his pocket is a short, handwritten note: “Take nothing home but yourself; souvenirs are dangerous. And stay out of the shadows.”

When he gets back to London a few weeks later, Josef, still smarting at Winchester’s betrayal, is even more fired up and resolute in his mission to expose the truth of what he suspects is the government’s creation of a new weapon even more deadly than the guns and bombs and gas that are already killing millions. His editor is less enthusiastic – the Defence of the Realm Act means that newspapers have effectively been gagged from printing anything negative about the war, and she’s worried that Josef’s story will get the Clarion shut down. Another chance encounter with Winchester – who, he learns, is not Captain Alex Winchester at all, but Lord Beaumont, the second son of an earl – makes Josef more determined than ever to get to the bottom of things, despite Alex’s repeated warnings about the danger he’s putting himself in. Josef isn’t deterred, and soon finds himself caught up in something far more sinister and fantastical than he could ever have imagined. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

No Man’s Land is an unnervingly creepy story that was impossible to put down and which had me on the edge of my seat on several occasions. Ms. Malcolm has done a superb job of injecting a real sense of encroaching dread and uncertainty into the novel as Josef’s investigation takes him further into a shadowy, hidden world he’d had no idea existed. The narrative moves along at a swift pace as we head towards a tense and exciting finale, a nail-biting hunt through the sewers and a terrifying race against time through the abandoned tunnels of the London Underground.

Having Josef as the sole narrator helps heighten the tension as he is never sure who to trust – much as he wants to trust Alex, he can’t; Alex is keeping too many secrets – and it also means that the reader is as much in the dark about what Alex is involved in as Josef is, and enables us to make discoveries alongside him. Their romance is nicely done; there’s a strong connection between the two of them from the very start and they have excellent chemistry. There’s no doubt about their growing feelings for each other as the story progresses and their eventual HEA is hard-earned and well-deserved.

The author’s research into and knowledge of the period really shines, and all the folklore, myths and superstitions that appear in the story are known to have existed. The anti-war sentiment is strong – which makes sense given Josef’s status as a “conchie” – I enjoyed the social commentary on the events and attitudes of the time, and the underlying theme of ‘what is the difference between man and monster when man seems so intent on destroying humanity?’ permeates the story without being overwhelming. The one criticism I can make is that (being vague to avoid spoilers) the method by which the deadly third-act peril is resolved is something of a deus ex machina.

But that’s a minor blip and didn’t impact my overall enjoyment of this utterly gripping tale. No Man’s Land is a terrific blend of horror and mystery set in an unusual (for historicals) time period, wrapped up in a heartfelt and satisfying romance. I wholeheartedly recommend it – and if Ms. Malcolm wants to write more stories set in this world, I certainly won’t object!