The The Wanderer in Unknown Realms

A digital only short story from John Connolly, The Sunday Times bestselling author of the Charlie Parker novels.

Lionel Maulding, a rare-book collector, has gone missing from his country home in Norfolk. When his nephew approaches Mr Maulding's solicitor, Mr Quayle, to look into the matter, the investigation is passed on to Soter, a WWI veteran, who has done similar detective work for Quayle.

From the nature of books in Lionel Maulding's impressive library at Bromdum Hall, it is clear that he was greatly interested in the occult. But how far did that take him? There is evidence of the withdrawal of £10,000, an extraordinary sum of money for the purchase of a single book.

As Soter delves deeper into the connection between Lionel Maulding's disappearance and the possible existence of the rare book Atlas of Unknown Realms, he starts to question his own sanity. Did Lionel Maulding release evil into the world, or is Soter suffering from post traumatic stress?

As we follow Soter from the slowly decaying Bromdun Hall to the sinister bookseller in Chelsea and the book scout in Whitechapel, we enter his nightmare world where his horrific experiences in the trenches echo the fearful reality unleashed by his search.