A goofy, flamboyant, and breathless horror adventure by one of the genre’s sharpest creators.
Supernatural agent “Coop” Cooper returns in an overstuffed, hyperkinetic sequel to The Everything Box (2016).
To recap, inveterate thief Coop is a fast-talking criminal making his way through a supernatural substratum of society. Last time around, he saved the world and has now reluctantly been seconded to the Department of Peculiar Science, a Los Angeles–based task force that deals with all things spooky. “I don’t want a desk,” Coop protests. “I’m a crook. Crooks don’t have desks. We have tools and cars and six ways out of town.” The gang’s all here, including Coop’s partner in crime Morty Ramsey, fellow agents Bayliss and Giselle, and a new addition: Dr. Lupinsky, an Egyptologist who got mixed up in some bad juju and is now a half-cat, half cybernetic octopus, as happens sometimes. There’s not much to the plot, carried along as it is by Kadrey’s manic dialogue, phantasmagorical imagery, and the occasional dirty joke, but it’s plenty for fans of this strain of comic horror. Coop’s boss, Woolrich, orders his team on a new mission: “A simple theft. A local museum has a mummy on display. We’d like to have it instead of them.” What sounds like a simple heist quickly becomes mortal danger when they accidentally awaken Harkhuf, an evil mummy imbued with dark magic, which is totally the worst kind of magic, apparently. Harkhuf seeks a powerful amulet and an ancient book to resurrect his queen, Shemetet. (Yes, this is pretty much the plot of the Brendan Fraser movie; it’s a book that name-checks Bubba Ho-Tep, so just go with it.) Other figures in this cavalcade include an undead mailroom manager plotting revenge; a car salesman given to dressing like the Electric Cowboy; and a cop named Jim Rockford, no less. Readers who appreciate restraint may find this cartoonish adventure overwhelming, but those who want a Quentin Tarantino joint crafted with the juvenile humor of Christopher Moore will find themselves in good company.
A goofy, flamboyant, and breathless horror adventure by one of the genre’s sharpest creators.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-238957-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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