Five for Silver: The Diabolical Pact of Leanne Labbartu

Sometimes, evil can begin with an act of apparent kindness. When St Mark’s Church can’t fill three of the places on its annual Confirmation Class weekend, the ever-resourceful Mary Kennaugh asks the Council if they know of any deserving cases to fill the empty slots. As the weekend progresses and the isolation of their location in the Brecon Beacons begins to register, tensions between the church members and their guests begin to emerge. With suspicions aroused and accusations voiced aloud, a series of strange and unnatural events only serves to crank the tension up even higher. Are these experiences real, or just tricks of the imagination? Are there outside forces at work or is the group being attacked from within? When the mysterious Mister Pye turns up with answers to many of their questions, the members of the mismatched group are forced to reconsider their beliefs. But that’s not all; Mister Pye appears to offer a solution for their dilemma, but his methods are highly unconventional. Can he be trusted? Five for Silver is a psychological and supernatural thriller full of unexpected twists, where nothing is quite what it seems and each step takes you in an unexpected direction.

About the Author

Justin Peter Beaney currently lives in Berkshire, England with his wife Karen and two mischievous cats. He is the author of 'Kâsdejâ's Children' and 'Painted Gold - The Long Night of Evan Raby', and his latest novel 'Five for Silver - The Diabolical Pact of Leanne Labbartu'. So what can readers expect from Five for Silver? "At its root, it's a story about intolerance and the conflict that can arise when it takes hold. The characters are all just ordinary people, but they suddenly find themselves thrown together in this confined, almost claustrophobic setting. There are things going on that they simply don't understand and they quickly find that they're all way outside their comfort zones. The book explores how that not only generates great fear but can also push people's views into very extreme territory, with potentially dangerous consequences." As well as enhancing Justin's reputation for creating gripping tales with a unique supernatural twist, Five for Silver continues to reflect his love of all kinds of folk tradition - from faerie tales to classical myths, and pagan beliefs to Christian history. "The first goal is always to try and create something new, and produce a story that people won't have read before," he explains. "But if along the way I can reference something that's already a part of a much older tradition, I personally find that very satisfying." Justin is adamant that such an approach needn't constrain his storylines, nor stifle his creativity. "Actually, the opposite is true. What usually happens is that I'll pick up on an interesting connection or similarity between a few disparate things - it could perhaps start with a line or two from a nursery rhyme and I might match that up with something from, say, Sumerian religion, witchcraft, or Scandinavian folklore. That can open up all kinds of interesting possibilities, allowing me to mix these strands together and provide a new interpretation of what's gone before. After all, most of the folk tales we recognise today are probably corruptions of much earlier sources, so it's great fun to look at something and think: what if the fairy tale we happily tell our children was actually based on something very dark and very, very real?"

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