Necroscope by Brian Lumley
Mar. 31st, 2011 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The outer limits of horror ...
From the undead vampire in the Romanian mausoleum, Boris Dragosani tries to draw an evil force so powerful he will gain supremacy in the ultra-secret paranormal agency he works for in Russia. His official job is as a NECROSCOPE – his speciality is tearing secrets from the souls of newly-dead traitors.
And England too has her necroscope – her communicator with the dead. When Harry Keogh is recruited by the British Secret Service to take on the paranormal menace from behind the Iron Curtain, the stage is set for the most horrifying supernatural confrontation ever ...
Boris Dragosani works for a secret paranormal agency in Soviet Russia. He’s a necroscope who hacks up bodies to force the dead to give up their secrets and his speciality is getting information from traitors. But Dragosani has ambitions of his own. As a child he discovered the grave of a vampire in a Romanian mausoleum and the two share a psychic connection, one that causes Dragosani’s powers to grow. Dragosani thirsts to know more and obtain more power, no matter what – or who - the sacrifice.
Britain also has a necroscope in Harry Keogh. His powers are less intrusive than Dragosani’s – he can talk to the dead without bodily contact and from them he learns secrets and develop new abilities. Initially his focus is on gaining revenge for his mother’s murder, but when he’s recruited by Britain’s secret paranormal branch, he realises that there’s more at stake and the stage is set for a showdown between two real superpowers.
Brian Lumley’s horror novel, the first in a long-running series, is a densely plotted affair that’s split between Dragosani’s and Keogh’s stories. There’s a lot of set-up with Lumley going into considerable depth with Keogh’s childhood to establish his gift and how it manifests and also with Dragosani’s growing relationship with the vampire and his research into their abilities. There’s also a great deal of time jumping, with Lumley bouncing between the present, when a mysterious ghost is dictating a story to the temporary head of Britain’s ESP unit, Dragosani’s present and childhood and Keogh’s childhood.
There are some chilling scenes in the book – notably those where Dragosani practices his art and the scenes between him and the vampire (which play out like a chess game). The idea of the vampire as a symbiotic parasite was well executed and there’s some interesting play on vampire mythology in terms of what is and isn’t true.
However some scenes that are pure shlock and/or titillation – e.g. an orgy from Dragosani’s childhood produced some unintended chuckles. My biggest issue though is that the last quarter of the book is very rushed and has a deus ex machina feel to it with Keogh suddenly learning new key facts and abilities.
All in all, it was an entertaining enough read that kept me turning the pages.
The Verdict:
The first in a popular horror series, this book was densely plotted with some chilling scenes and plays around with vampire mythology via the idea of vampires as symbiotic parasites. However some of the scenes offer little other than schlock and titillation and the pacing falls apart in the final quarter, with Lumley trying to do too much at once, which creates a deux ex machina feel. Still, it kept me turning the pages and I will probably check out the others in the series.
From the undead vampire in the Romanian mausoleum, Boris Dragosani tries to draw an evil force so powerful he will gain supremacy in the ultra-secret paranormal agency he works for in Russia. His official job is as a NECROSCOPE – his speciality is tearing secrets from the souls of newly-dead traitors.
And England too has her necroscope – her communicator with the dead. When Harry Keogh is recruited by the British Secret Service to take on the paranormal menace from behind the Iron Curtain, the stage is set for the most horrifying supernatural confrontation ever ...
Boris Dragosani works for a secret paranormal agency in Soviet Russia. He’s a necroscope who hacks up bodies to force the dead to give up their secrets and his speciality is getting information from traitors. But Dragosani has ambitions of his own. As a child he discovered the grave of a vampire in a Romanian mausoleum and the two share a psychic connection, one that causes Dragosani’s powers to grow. Dragosani thirsts to know more and obtain more power, no matter what – or who - the sacrifice.
Britain also has a necroscope in Harry Keogh. His powers are less intrusive than Dragosani’s – he can talk to the dead without bodily contact and from them he learns secrets and develop new abilities. Initially his focus is on gaining revenge for his mother’s murder, but when he’s recruited by Britain’s secret paranormal branch, he realises that there’s more at stake and the stage is set for a showdown between two real superpowers.
Brian Lumley’s horror novel, the first in a long-running series, is a densely plotted affair that’s split between Dragosani’s and Keogh’s stories. There’s a lot of set-up with Lumley going into considerable depth with Keogh’s childhood to establish his gift and how it manifests and also with Dragosani’s growing relationship with the vampire and his research into their abilities. There’s also a great deal of time jumping, with Lumley bouncing between the present, when a mysterious ghost is dictating a story to the temporary head of Britain’s ESP unit, Dragosani’s present and childhood and Keogh’s childhood.
There are some chilling scenes in the book – notably those where Dragosani practices his art and the scenes between him and the vampire (which play out like a chess game). The idea of the vampire as a symbiotic parasite was well executed and there’s some interesting play on vampire mythology in terms of what is and isn’t true.
However some scenes that are pure shlock and/or titillation – e.g. an orgy from Dragosani’s childhood produced some unintended chuckles. My biggest issue though is that the last quarter of the book is very rushed and has a deus ex machina feel to it with Keogh suddenly learning new key facts and abilities.
All in all, it was an entertaining enough read that kept me turning the pages.
The Verdict:
The first in a popular horror series, this book was densely plotted with some chilling scenes and plays around with vampire mythology via the idea of vampires as symbiotic parasites. However some of the scenes offer little other than schlock and titillation and the pacing falls apart in the final quarter, with Lumley trying to do too much at once, which creates a deux ex machina feel. Still, it kept me turning the pages and I will probably check out the others in the series.
