A masterful, thoroughly original spin on a classic tragedy jazzed with action, horror, and Egyptian superstition.
A twist on the story of the Titanic, accessorized with mummies, grave robbers, and a high priestess.
Kirch’s tale of seafaring horror introduces archaeologist and famed author Dennis Parker, who is busy digging for ancient artifacts in early 1900s Egypt, hoping the “land of treasure” will produce the windfall he greedily craves. Funded by his family fortune, Parker’s excavation, aided by his dutiful and trusty assistant, Amin, of a sacred tomb was illegal; he never secured the necessary dig permits. So his discovery of a 3,000-year-old tomb—containing the mummified remains of the powerful, evil, and greatly feared Egyptian Priestess Ka-Re—was the find of a lifetime. The legend of Ka-Re tells of her obsessive desire to become pharaoh of Egypt by way of capturing and tainting human souls, but ultimately, she was buried alive. Throwing a wrench into his plans to exhume her is Sahish, an exploitive, cutthroat French government official bent on keeping any new discoveries for himself. Meanwhile, the Titanic launches. Shipyard manager Thomas Andrews is surprised to find his longtime friend Parker onboard. And Parker is terrified to find Sahish hot on his trail. Parker convinces Andrews to pick up and transport his precious mummy cargo on the great vessel’s voyage from Ireland to America even while Sahish deviously plots to steal the burial coffin for himself, with horrific results. In a scene straight out of classic horror films, Ka-Re’s putrid, mummified body robotically limps out from the cargo hold bent on mercilessly destroying everything in its path; when her “ancient eyes” meet a victim, she paralyzes him “with the power of a cobra.”
Once Kirch establishes his period-centric collection of central and peripheral characters, including a flirty chambermaid and a retired Jack the Ripper–era Scotland Yard inspector, and launches his clever plot at full sail, the story continues on several interesting detours by way of gory slashing and an Egyptian relic wreaking havoc on the passengers of the storied ship. Kirch captures all of the spectacle, the thrill, and the enchantment from the Titanic’s voyage and whips that well-known event into a frightening horror epic—the first in a planned Tales of Horror & Suspense! series. He also injects Ka-Re with a uniquely vain personality and vivid details, animating her wholly as she stalks the ship enacting a diabolical plan drenched in her victims’ blood and cloaked in ancient magic. Kirch’s most memorable character, Sahish, is consistently greedy and comically disagreeable, but he is no match for that iconic iceberg. This is an engrossing, wonderfully creative, open-ended novel that packs a literary punch and will appeal to readers of noir horror, suspense, and historical fiction.
A masterful, thoroughly original spin on a classic tragedy jazzed with action, horror, and Egyptian superstition.Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5211-5065-8
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Well-drawn characters introduce the criminal underworld to the occult kind in a breathless and compelling plot.
A Yale sophomore fights for her life as she balances academics with supernatural extracurriculars in this smart fantasy thriller, the second in a series.
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is a member of Lethe House, the ninth of Yale’s secret societies. And not just any member—she’s Virgil, the officer who conducts the society's rituals. In the world of Bardugo’s Alex Stern series, Yale’s secret societies command not just powerful social networks, but actual magic; it’s Lethe’s job to keep that magic in control. Alex is new to the role. She had to take over in a hurry after the previous Virgil, Darlington, her mentor and love interest, disappeared in a cliffhanger at the end of the first book. He appears to be in hell, but is he stuck there for good? Alex and Pamela Dawes—Lethe’s Oculus, or archivist/administrator—have found a reference to a pathway called a Gauntlet that can open a portal to hell, but can they find the Gauntlet itself? And what about the four murderers the Gauntlet ritual requires? Meanwhile, Alex’s past as a small-time drug dealer is catching up with her, adding gritty street crime to the demonic white-collar evil the Yale crowd tends to prefer. The plot is relentless and clever, and the writing is vivid, intelligent, and funny at just the right moments, but best of all are the complex characters, such as the four murderers, each with a backstory that makes it possible for the reader to trust them to enter hell and have the strength to leave again. Like the first book, this one ends with a cliffhanger.
Well-drawn characters introduce the criminal underworld to the occult kind in a breathless and compelling plot.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-31310-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Vintage King: a pleasure for his many fans and not a bad place to start if you’re new to him.
The master of supernatural disaster returns with four horror-laced novellas.
The protagonist of the title story, Holly Gibney, is by King’s own admission one of his most beloved characters, a “quirky walk-on” who quickly found herself at the center of some very unpleasant goings-on in End of Watch, Mr. Mercedes, and The Outsider. The insect-licious proceedings of the last are revisited, most yuckily, while some of King’s favorite conceits turn up: What happens if the dead are never really dead but instead show up generation after generation, occupying different bodies but most certainly exercising their same old mean-spirited voodoo? It won’t please TV journalists to know that the shape-shifting bad guys in that title story just happen to be on-the-ground reporters who turn up at very ugly disasters—and even cause them, albeit many decades apart. Think Jack Torrance in that photo at the end of The Shining, and you’ve got the general idea. “Only a coincidence, Holly thinks, but a chill shivers through her just the same,” King writes, “and once again she thinks of how there may be forces in this world moving people as they will, like men (and women) on a chessboard.” In the careful-what-you-wish-for department, Rat is one of those meta-referential things King enjoys: There are the usual hallucinatory doings, a destiny-altering rodent, and of course a writer protagonist who makes a deal with the devil for success that he thinks will outsmart the fates. No such luck, of course. Perhaps the most troubling story is the first, which may cause iPhone owners to rethink their purchases. King has gone a far piece from the killer clowns and vampires of old, with his monsters and monstrosities taking on far more quotidian forms—which makes them all the scarier.
Vintage King: a pleasure for his many fans and not a bad place to start if you’re new to him.Pub Date: April 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3797-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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