So you’re investigating this supposedly haunted house and you watch in horror as your partner experiencing beetles emerging from her every orifice. Would coming to the conclusion of haunted then be a safe bet? That’d be the box I’d check! Such is the start of BLACK CATHEDRAL, the first in L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims’ planned series of novels featuring the British supernatural investigative unit known as Department 18.
That sac-grabbing start is a mere prologue for the main plot, as the requisite old, spooky house on the remote Kulsay Island is used as a team-building exercise for a week by your various corporate douchebags. Before their stay is up, all of them die — like one guy who gets halfway swallowed by a porch — and disappear.
Department 18 — if you’re thinking X-FILES, you’re thinking correct — is called to investigate. Leading the team is Robert Carter (the guy who watched his former teammate bug out) and Jane Talbot, whose husband leaves her when she skips time with him for this assignment.
Freaky stuff happens not long after arrival, like stone cherubs moving their faces to follow our investigators. But BLACK CATHEDRAL unfortunately is more interested in the personal relationships among the 18′s members, and all their family squabbles. I’m naturally attracted to both haunted house stories and supernatural mysteries, so it was disappointing to see such a strong start get squandered in slow execution. An entire third of the book is gone before the investigation truly gets underway, and even then, it doesn’t see serious action until the last 50 pages.
The explanation for the deaths and other happenings is kind of a mumbo-jumbo one, further depressing what I hoped would be a solid kickoff for a cool series. BLACK CATHEDRAL isn’t awful by any means, but I’ll be reluctant to go along on Department 18′s next outing. —Rod Lott
“It seemed to last an age, lips bruising, tongues tangling, Celeste’s hands on her breasts, kneading, her pelvis thrusting against Jessica’s leg like a bitch on heat. … She stood before her, naked, then brought her hand up between Jessica’s legs and stroked the small bush of pubic hair, savoring the moistness.”
Related posts:
- Showcase Presents The Phantom Stranger: Volume 1
- Showcase Presents The House of Secrets: Volume 1
- Showcase Presents The Phantom Stranger: Volume 2
- Fast Ships, Black Sails
- Showcase Presents The House of Mystery: Volume 2
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Yeah, the book had a killer first act and…well, eveything after that certainly paled in comparison to the paranormal investigation classics The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and Hell House by Richard Matheson. Hell, even Soulstorm by Chet Williamson was better.
And the “theology” at the ending confused the hell out of me. No pun intended.