Maniai: The Girl and the Blood Slide - George Saoulidis

What If There’s a Pattern to the Madness?

More and more people are reported being obsessed with unusual tasks and tested positive for rabies. But when an investigator finds a pattern to the madness and tries to tell people, will anyone listen?

Do you want to know what’s next for the inexperienced investigator? Do you wanna meet the crazies? Then read this thrilling patchwork of the weirdest bio-scare ever encountered.


To start, I need to tell you that I do not usually pick up novellas unless I have already read part of the series. I also don't pick up mystery titles, and yet this one intrigued me. Under the genres of the book were Greek mythology and sci-fi, and I thought 'wow, I wonder what those two look like when they're all mixed up'. To be frank. I was disappointed.

I'll start with the good. The two main characters were likeable and believable, even if I can't actually remember their names. They didn't get built up on yet, but I noticed a small amount of chemistry that no doubt will end up being used to its full potential later in the series. The others? Well, you don't really get much more than snippets of the other characters.

It is a good, intriguing story, and by the end i would say most people would be completely hooked. The story builds for a long time, and nearing the end some rather exciting things happen, so it was such as shame for the very end to be a let down.

This novella is clearly the first in a series, and therefore there is a fair bit of build up, but being completely honest here, the things that grabbed my attention in the blurb didn't make an appearance at all in my opinion. No mythology, no sci-fi, just a mystery that actually doesn't get solved at all.

This book ends with the story in mid-swing, leaving questions I would rather have been answered. Perhaps if this novella was wrapped up a bit more neatly I'd have read the next case file, but as it is, I don't think I will be taking this nay further. Great for adults who like a good mystery, but at the moment, there's not much more to it.

1/5

The Girl and the Blood Slide on Goodreads

Thanks to Mythography Studios and George Saoulidis for the e-book - this has not affected my judgement.