Coffin Maker

by Mark L. Fowler

The Coffin Maker lives and works alone in the Kingdom of Death. When he completes a coffin a life on Earth ends. That's how it's always been. One day as Coffin sits writing in his journal, The History of Death, trying to sum it all up in one perfect sentence, a note sails past his window. Is he about to gain a glimpse of the elusive Divine Plan that has eluded him for centuries? Is life in the Kingdom of Death about to change forever? There are rumours that the devil is finally arriving in the guise of Colonel Gouge. Rumours started by a priest who has upset the Church by writing a book: Coffin Maker. A book written to comfort a bereaved nephew. A book that appears to prophesy not only the arrival of Gouge, but also the cataclysmic events about to unfold in the Kingdom of Death...

306 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

Mark writes in a number of genres, including detective crime fiction, psychological thrillers, and Gothic fantasy.

He is the author of the popular Tyler & Mills detective crime series set in Staffordshire in the noughties. RED IS THE COLOUR was shortlisted for the 2018 Arnold Bennett Prize and begins with the grim discovery of a schoolboy who disappeared thirty years earlier. BLUE MURDER involves a missing singer and a murdered guitarist, elevating an obscure band to sudden fame and fortune. THE DEVIL WORE BLACK unveils the mystery of a crucified priest. THE SMELL OF COPPER, finds Tyler out on a limb as the detectives uncover police corruption. SCARLET RIBBONS investigates the brutal murder of a sex worker. The latest book in the series, BLOOD ORANGE, concerns the death of a local greengrocer. All the books can be read as standalone crime novels.

Other detective mysteries include THE BATHROOM MURDERS. A series of women are found hacked to death while taking a shower. This is the first in a new series set in Manchester, featuring female detective Charlie Reed and her sidekick Paul Rigsby.

TWIST has the eponymous private investigator returning, against his better judgement, to the city of nightmares to look into the strange case of a dead philosophy student.

THE MAN UPSTAIRS introduces hard boiled Frank Miller, discovering he’s a fictional detective and that his author is plotting to kill him. This is the first in a series of crime fantasy novels, and the second book in the series has now been published: THE POISONED EYE OF A LOVING GOD,

Mark also writes psychological thrillers. SILVER finds journalist and crime writer Nick Slater obsessed with an unpublished manuscript that a best-selling author was working on when she was murdered, and which her family refuse to publish.

SEXTET explores the twisted rivalry between twin sisters, the weird games they played as children, and the rising murder rate in a small English town.

COFFIN MAKER is a Gothic tale. Death is sent two apprentices amid warnings from an out-of-favour priest that the devil has arrived on Earth.

PAINTED FIRE finds a writer travelling to America’s West Coast in a desperate bid to find a cure for a baffling illness afflicting his wife. An anonymous benefactor has offered to help, but at what price?

Reviews

[Caz C Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coffin Maker is an intriguing philosophical dark novel. A tale of good and evil, of action against introspection, of life on Earth and the Kingdom of Death

— Introduction —

“I love them I hate them”

To the Coffin Maker, these perfectly balanced words are the ultimate paradox and show how he regards human life and death on Earth. Now the Coffin Maker feels worthy of the honorary title ‘Poet of Death’. Who is this Coffin Maker – a mere skeleton body of bones barely held together by parchment skin? What he does is clear enough but is he human or an Angel of Death? The plotline on Earth is entwined with what goes on in the Kingdom of Death – the reign of the Coffin Maker. In the Kingdom, a coffin is made for everyone born on Earth. When the last nail is driven into a coffin, a human life on Earth ends but how and when is within the Coffin Maker’s jurisdiction.

— Storyline —

To understand the Coffin Maker we take a peek into his private journal ‘History of Death’. That perfect harmonious sentence “I love them I hate them” is what the Coffin Maker considers his greatest achievement and therefore this must be the “Poet of Death’s finest hour.” Ironically these are also his last hours of solitude. Because surprisingly a bit of paper enters the Kingdom of Death and the Coffin Maker trembles in anticipation. Is he finally allowed to learn the Creator’s Divine Plan? Instead, he is informed of the arrival of two apprentices, Hieronymus and Beezle, totally opposite characters according to their names. Hieronymus is the philosophical one, questioning and defying everything. He feels making coffins is a sacred mission, gently guiding humans towards their inevitable death. No pushing but granting last wishes, like seeing a sunset or witnessing the birth of a grandchild.

In Hieronymus’ way of thinking death is inseparable from life which is a journey for humans, learning all there is to know. Hieronymus death is a peaceful and compassionate life companion. Beezle however, is a creature of mindless action and hammers day and night, preoccupied as he is with making as many coffins as possible. His death is a blunt force of evil, violently tearing humans away from their Earthly life amidst fear and terror. His perfect death: complete desolation and obliterating every single life on Earth. On Earth, father Henry passionately preaches about the coming clash of good against evil – the good represented by President Doveman, the evil by the devilish Colonel Gouge. Beezle intends to keep Colonel Gouge alive who will stop at nothing to brutally slaughter and massacre humans. Hieronymus needs President Doveman to be strong to fight evil and restore peace on Earth.

The Coffin Maker seeks to understand the Earthly goings-on as well as the antagonism between his two apprentices. In his search for the truth, he comes to doubt everything – his existence, his ultimate goal and whether he will ever reach the Creator’s Divine Plan. What is it about those two apprentices that on the one hand irritates the Coffin Maker and on the other causes something close to fatherly feelings? They sneak behind his back and follow their own plans seemingly obedient to him, their Master. To prevent emotional attachment to human lives he has divided Earth in numbered Zones but now he experiences feelings of …. responsibility? Does he want to save the world with Hieronymus or is he content with Beezle’s efficient way of destroying all life on Earth? His ‘raison d’être’, his personal ‘Journal of Death’ and his poetry – what are they to him, the Coffin Maker?

— My Thoughts —

This is a journey into the darkest places of a man’s mind – if a man he is. What else can the Coffin Maker be? A merciful Angel of Death, the Grim Reaper or the Devil creating death and destruction, obsessed with the task given him by the Creator. The events in the Kingdom of Death and on Earth (Zone 666, to be precise) are entwined, linked together – the precious balance of life and death of good and evil disturbed forever. Take your time to read this complicated, compelling and intriguing dark novel that left me bewildered and in awe. Be prepared as this excellently written literary work is not an easy, at times even gruesome read but it is thoroughly worth your while. Mark Fowler has expertly created a mystical and brutal world to take the reader with him on a philosophical journey into life’s existential questions regarding good and evil – life and death.

Read the review on my website: http://www.bitsaboutbooks.net/coffin-...

[Susan Hampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't even read what this book was about I just saw the author's name and thought oh yes! Mark Fowler has such a unique writing style, I would love to be inside his head just to see how all these ideas come together. He is the odd ball to me, the soldier walking out of step with the rest of the platoon, but in the best possible way. A category just for himself.

This story is about death, not dying but death himself, the coffin maker but he has lost his way a little and doesn't know where he sits in the grand scheme of things. As death or the coffin maker, he creates a coffin for every person gradually building it as we go through life and when the last nail is banged in we die. Just to complicate things even more death is given two apprentices Hieronymus and Beezle both extremes of each other in outward appearance to their characters. Life was simple before but not now. With Mark Fowler it is never simple, complicated no, just very diverse with not a cat in hell's chance of guessing where all this is going, but boy I wanted to go with it.

You have to read this book with a very open mind, don't second guess and let Mark Fowler just take you along, leave all the normal stuff behind and let him fill your head. There is some very gruesome stuff at times but there again this is death so expect anything, well anything bizarre. I won't ever hear an helicopter again without thinking of this book. You have to see it to believe it and he does put these images in your mind! I just hope the Mark Fowler is working hard on another book, Awesome.

I wish to thank the author for a copy of this novel which after reading I have chosen to review.

[Kath Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Coffin Maker strikes the last nail home and the coffin is completed, that's when the intended recipient dies. He has been doing his job as long as life has existed. In effect, he is Death, Life's antithesis. Father Henry has written a story about him and given it to his little nephew. This book is almost a fable or dark fantasy, dealing as it does with Coffin Maker and his two recent companions; his apprentices. Something, some evil being, has entered the world while Coffin was distracted and that's never happened before.

How do I categorise this book? It’s got elements of fantasy, mythology, philosophy and metaphysics. The story is both full of action and somewhat introspective and I very much enjoyed Coffin's internal dialogues, his insistence upon being The Poet of Death and keeping a journal, and his conversation with the apprentices. I can imagine this story not appealing to some people but I found it very compelling indeed. I couldn't imagine how it would end, and I loved the way it did.

[Laura Furuta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coffin Maker
By Mark L. Fowler
5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading the book Coffin Maker by Mark L. Fowler. It is an intriguing story that had me hooked from the very beginning. It is a story that includes danger, mystery, and characters that I loved reading about. One of them is The Coffin Maker. When he completes a coffin, a life comes to an end. He also keeps a journal. What does he write in there and is life in the Kingdom of Death about to change? The Coffin Maker is a character that is interesting and complex. There is also Father Henry who has written a book that has upset the church. It is called Coffin Maker. It is a book that includes prophecy. Will it come true? This is a story that had me turning pages wondering what was going to happen next. It also is a book that has suspense, conflict, and at times turns philosophical. The author does an amazing job of making the story and the characters come alive on the pages. Don’t miss out on a book that you won’t want to put down until the final page. I highly recommend reading it.

[Pam Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coffin Maker is my first read by author Mark L. Fowler and its definitely one which I'll remember.
I've read a few books where Death is a character, Terry Pratchett's Discworld springs to mind, but they usually have a scythe to cut the last tethers of the dying person from the land of the living. In this book Death uses a hammer, as he hammers the last nail into a coffin lid a person on earth dies, thus the Coffin Maker. But this harbinger of death fancies himself as a wordsmith and writes a journal he calls The History of Death and he's searching for the perfect sentence. Things start going array for him on the arrival of two apprentice coffin makers, does He have a plan the Coffin Maker knows nothing about? Or are the apprentices really from somewhere an awful lot hotter? Why have these two been sent to him to try what little patience he has?
While chaos ensues in the Kingdom of Death, on earth things aren't much better, has the Devil finally come from the Underworld to kill off the human race?
In places this is a difficult book to read, requiring the reader to think about Good and Evil and just about every shade of grey in between, but there's also a huge dose of comedy levelling out too much introspection.
Fowler takes the classic Good versus Evil tale and turns it on is head. Definitely worth reading.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first time I read a book by this author. I found it well written, quirky, a horror story, but very interesting. I enjoyed it and if I find any more books by the author, I'm reading them for sure.
Many thanks to a FB group I am a member of for allowing me to review the book

[Beccy Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book Mark has created, I honestly don't know where his ideas come from but WOW!
Its a book that's not about death/dying really more about the coffin maker/death himself. He's lost his path and seems untethered somehow.
A really good read that I cannot pigeon hole into a genre

[Kaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Coffin Maker is unlike any book I have read, and very refreshing too loose oneself in the dark and mysterious world that is The Kingdom of Death, all rather magical in it's description by the author Mark Fowler, what an imagination he has. The Coffin Maker is Death himself, his whole purpose is to make coffins, continuously for every person on earth, and when he hit's the final nail in a coffin, a person on earth will die.Thing's start to change when he is given 2 apprentices, his cosy existence will be no longer, and the battle between life and death begins, who will survive in this battle, good or evil?, beautifully written, characters that come to life, sometimes quite vivid in it's description, but definitely one that will hold your attention as the story unfolds.If you want something different then this could be for you.I loved it.

[Chris Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Mark L Fowler's novel Silver and thoroughly enjoyed it, I was delighted to be asked to review Coffin Maker, expecting more of the same. However, this is a gothic horror novel, a genre I have little knowledge of and therefore outside of my normal ambit. The tale is set between our world and the Kingdom Of Death, and the eponymous protagonist spends his time tapping nails into coffins, each one of which represents the end of a life. The Coffin Maker learns that he is to be sent two apprentices, amid rumours of the imminent arrival on earth of the Devil himself. This is a very well-written novel and no doubt of great interest to those with a passion for the genre, but I am only able to award it three stars as it failed to convert me, sadly.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coffin Maker by Mark Fowler.
The Coffin Maker lives and works alone in the Kingdom of Death. When he completes a coffin a life on Earth ends. That’s how it’s always been.
One day as Coffin sits writing in his journal, The History of Death, trying to sum it all up in one perfect sentence, a note sails past his window.
Really enjoyable read with great characters. This was a different read for me. I loved the story and the characters. 5*. Thanks to tbc on fb.

[Simon Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have already read one of Mark's other books, the man upstairs, and thouhg it was great so jumped at the chance to read this one when Caroline asked me to be involved with this one.

The book starts with a priest writing a book about a coffin maker andcswitches berween the two people, this does make it a bit confusing in places but is still a great read. It is a very hard book to review as it is so different from any book I have read before.

The Coffin Maker has a coffin for everyone on earth and once the coffin with your name on it is finished it is your time to use it. His peace is ruined when he gets given two apprentices which starts a chain of events with good v evil.

This is is very dark story which I loved and give it 5 stars. You should definitely read it to find out what thewell deserved hype is all about

[Julie Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb:

The Coffin Maker lives and works alone in the Kingdom of Death. When he completes a coffin a life on Earth ends. That’s how it’s always been.

One day as Coffin sits writing in his journal, The History of Death, trying to sum it all up in one perfect sentence, a note sails past his window.

Is he about to gain a glimpse of the elusive Divine Plan that has eluded him for centuries? Is life in the Kingdom of Death about to change forever?

There are rumours that the devil is finally arriving in the guise of Colonel Gouge. Rumours started by a priest who has upset the Church by writing a book: Coffin Maker. A book written to comfort a bereaved nephew. A book that appears to prophesy not only the arrival of Gouge, but of the cataclysmic events about to unfold in the Kingdom of Death...

I hadn’t read any reviews of this book, so had no idea of what it was going to be about, apart from the title ‘Coffin Maker’. It’s a very well written book, with some funny moments, but also some earth shattering moments.

While reading it I felt confused and still don’t really know what to make of it. Because of this my rating is 3*

[Jackie Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank the author for this book which I voluntarily reviewed.
This is not the kind of book I usually read but I'm so glad I ventured outside my comfort zone to read it.
It's difficult to say exactly what kind of book this is as it's got so many different elements. It's a fantasy/paranormal/action and adventure/philosophical book.
The character Coffin Maker is certainly different. He's very good at what he does and has been doing it since the start of time. He loves his job even though each finished coffin represents the end of someone on Earth's life.
If you want to read something that will make you think, I'd certainly recommend this.
I look forward to reading more of Mark Fowler's novels.

[David Gilchrist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my normal choice of book, having been given an ARC by the author, I felt compelled to read it. Enter a dark mysterious world that is intriguing and compelling. The book is well written the characters well developed. The author writes about a strange dark world, it will appeal to many.

[Jennifer Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this intriguing philosophical dark novel I enjoyed reading the book Coffin Maker by Mark L. Fowler. It is an intriguing story that had me hooked from the very beginning. It is a story that includes danger, mystery, and characters that I loved reading about. If you're looking for something a little different then this is for you. I happily endorse this story to any who is looking for an enjoyable read and a completely different experience than anyone could imagine on their own and this is the first book I read from this author and let me tell you that I loved it! Such a good book with great characters that keeps you obsessed with every page since the first one. The ending of this book.. come on! I just didn´t expect it! Can´t wait to read other books from this great writer! Amazing job! a must-read!. A fantastic novel that has it all! I highly recommended to everyone

[Michele Northwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Coffin Maker Mark L Fowler
This is a book that hooks you from the first page. It starts with a priest writing a book set in the Kingdom of Death, where a Coffin Maker lives and works alone. Whenever he completes a casket, someone on earth is destined to die. When he receives two apprentices to train, both with very different approaches to the job, things begin to change, and the Coffin Maker is forced to question everything he has ever believed. While things go awry in the Kingdom of Death, the earth is also in turmoil. Has the Devil (disguised as Colonel Gouge) come to kill off humans? The plot is much more convoluted than this, but I don’t want to give you any spoilers. This is a spin on the Good versus evil paradox, but who will win this time? Well written, thought-provoking, and well worth a read.

[A.J. Griffiths-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a superb book! A highly imaginative tale about Coffin, the controller of fate & death, and his two unruly apprentices. The writing is wonderful as the author paints a beautifully descriptive backdrop of the Coffin Maker at work in his immortal tower high above earth, monitoring the different zones & preparing to pop the final nail in each wooden coffin as death claims his victims. But there is trouble afoot as opposing forces of good & evil on earth threaten to turn Coffin’s world upside down. A book that had me gripped from the start & an absolute treat to read.

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, old-fashioned, Gothic horror with a touch of whimsy. Eerie, odd and quirky - but only in the best of ways! A captivating, suspenseful and spooky delight!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

[Kamini Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Coffin Maker literally is death. And he hasn't really questioned it... Warning, this is a deeply philosophical book. Perhaps too deep for me given current personal situations. Coffin has 2 new apprentices with very differing approaches to the job of death. The decisions they make regarding the tasks they perform make Coffin question everything he knows and all of his actions.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a different style of book that I’ve never read before. It was so good.
Good & evil, are they about, around or in.
Coffin makes, well coffins & he gets assistants. Question is will they actually help or hinder.
This story was dark, magical and at times deep.
Really enjoyed it and the tale was so well written.

[A.A. Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fantasy of good and evil is off the scale of strangeness - reminiscent of Mervyn Peake but far, far more weird. Very well-written, it's a compulsive read that keeps you guessing even when you've finished it.

[Joanna Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different read, asks you to reflect on the idea of good and bad gets you thinking maybe a little too much for me or maybe I'm just not quite as philosophical as I think I am! Not my favourite of the authors but will look forward to his next!

[Lins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently constructed and a very clever, but at times macabre plot

I’ve read a few of Mark’s books now, this one is totally different to all the others. It’s not my normal genre, but after reading the reviews, I decided to buy it. I’m so glad I did. It’s very cleverly constructed and despite being very macabre, it carries a very strong message about the human race. I found it quite prophetic on a number of occasions, as it was published in 2015, and there are some characters who instantly made me think of people living today, as well as events that are currently happening. Even if, like me, you don’t normally read this genre, I highly recommend you give it a try. I loved it.