THE LAST DAYS OF MADAME REY
by A.W. Hill
White supremacists, gypsy fortune tellers, a volcanologist, a wise rabbi and an unorthodox private detective are joined in a curious tale.
Stephan Raszer (Enoch’s Portal, 2001) is not your typical California gumshoe. A tragedy caused him to rebuild his life right down to a new identity. His latest mission is to extract gay Jewish lawyer Fortis Cohn from his bizarre position as legal advisor to a group of neo-Nazi thugs holed up in a compound on Mt. Shasta. When the mutilated body of Cohn’s friend is discovered, Raszer connects him to Madame Rey, a gypsy fortuneteller who eventually hands over a coded message the murdered man left with her after his disquieting Tarot reading. Raszer has arranged to go to Mt. Shasta posing as a geologist helping to monitor the mountain, which has developed disquieting underground activities since the arrival of the neo-Nazis. Raszer’s sometime operative, hippie chick April Blessing, cozies up to Bronk Vreeland, leader of the Military Order of Thule, in hopes of opening a crack in the organization Raszer can slip through. What they discover about the group and its activities has alarming global implications. More murders are the least of Raszer’s problems as he tries to derail the maniacal organization.
Raszer’s case, likely to appeal to fans of mysticism and sci-fi, is a Tolkien-like battle between good and evil that obviously demands a sequel.