I have reviewed many novels, but never employed the phrase, tour de force that denotes a literary work considered an impressive achievement of great creative skill. I’ve avoided the usage in fear of sounding too pretentiously highbrow. That changed, however, after I read the first novel, “LEECH,” by Guyanese author Jasmaine Payne. I consider it a tour de force and an unusual Guyanese supernatural thriller that will stand, deservedly, alongside Michael A. Jordan’s KAMARANG.

LEECH is a riveting story that vividly explores the underbelly of 18th-century London through the eyes of a maniacal gentleman-killer who considers himself a medical genius, who dies and finds himself resurrected into modern-day New York, where he possesses a young Guyanese writer who must tell his grisly story of exploits that rival Jack the Ripper’s. For me, LEECH by Jasmaine Payne is a rare Guyanese thriller that one will be advised to read well before nightfall.