A truly compelling and thoroughly original concept in this new Australian weird-horror. A town with an ominous Time Ball Tower which is used to house the worst of the worst criminals. Those criminals were faced with a choice; execution at the hands of the state, or eternal life within the walls of the tower where they slowly decay. The town also provides the "keepers" and a one year contract minding the tower and its prisoners will set a young person up financially for life. This is the story of Phillipa Musket; descendant of the town's population and set on getting in and out of her shift unscathed. What she doesn't bank on though is the slow warping of her mind - the isolation, the noises in the dark, the manipulative prisoners - things get weird. A great read with layers of dread.

An excellent horror novel. The story is told through reports written by the Keepers, who are charged with guarding a group of desiccated, immortal criminals in a tower on an island. The levels of ambiguity, and the various narrators, many of whom are unreliable, give this tale an incredible unsettling quality. Add some piercing commentary about the nature of penal systems, and you get a near-perfect novel. ( )