THOMAS

A rousing tale of horror and heroism, this last prequel to the Deptford Mice trilogy stands well alone, as the doughty shipmouse Thomas Triton at last reveals his tragic past. Thomas, then surnamed Stubbs, and his best friend, the sensitive fieldmouse Woodget Pipple, are led through a romantic misunderstanding and a dockside scuffle into a wild seafaring adventure with the peg-legged Mulligan and the lackwitted Dimlon (neither quite what they seem). They are then drawn inexorably into the ancient battle between the noble Green Council and the vile Scale, plotting to restore the grisly domination of the serpent-demon Scaraphion. Deptford fans know just what to expect: overstuffed plots, dense with tragedy and treachery and true friendship, rife with occult allusions and an undercurrent of brooding menace. The heroes are stalwart and true; the villains sadistic and grotesque; and the nonstop action builds through gruesome gusts of shuddering violence to an apocalyptic climax and a bittersweet epilogue. Backwards are the sentences shaped, and deep the clauses piled; lush and vermilion are the adjectives thereof. The end result ought to be risible, but Jarvis pulls it off, to stunning effect. (Horror. 10-14)