• Author: Mark Towse
• Publisher: JournalStone Publishing
• Publishing year: 2022
• Number of pages: 86
• ISBN: 9781685100353
• My rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Nature’s Perfume—the new novella from the author of Nana, Crows, and Hope Wharf.

Four close friends arrange a trip to the Amazon, all aware this is likely to be their last group outing before the responsibilities of adulthood take them in separate directions. High on adrenaline, plans for an early night before the hike quickly fade, an overindulgence in liquor and drugs setting the stage for the strangest of tales from the locals…and one hell of a hangover.

Fairy stories for adults? Folklore to keep the drinks flowing?

Grab your backpack and mosquito repellent. There’s only one way to find out.

Includes bonus novelette “The Masterpiece.”

Tom has a masterpiece inside him.

The little devil on his shoulder told him so…and that he should do whatever it takes to make it happen.

https://journalstone.com/bookstore/natures-perfume/

Review:

Nature’s Perfume

Let’s take a walk in nature, a forest walk with the most majestic creatures and most beautiful flowers, with their sweet scents filling our nostrils! But don’t go too deep because what might lay waiting may hold you back to return home! Maybe hold your breath?

Mark Towse has given us some great stories till today, this one was another cruel one. after letting the Crows free and Nana having her party, Nature’s Perfume combines a M. Night Shyamalan directed story with Scott Smith’s Ruins!

Love and respect nature but don’t expect nature to do the same with us human interlopers.

Cruel, dreadful and eerie, typically Towse!

The Masterpiece

My favourite of both stories in this novella. Gave off the same vibe of a Stephen King story. Very well written and even though it’s a short story, it has the same power of a thicker novel.

Paranoia, a secondhand bewitched typewriter and a henpecked husband make for a creepy little tale with disastrous consequences!

Probably even my favourite Towsey so far!