Review of "Cage of Night," by Ed Gorman

 Review of

Cage of Night, by Ed Gorman, ISBN 1565049403

Five out of five stars

Hints of occult just may be madness

 The storyline in this book provides strong hints of powerful dark forces capable of taking control of human minds and convincing the victim to kill others. Yet, those hints are countered by strong counter hints that it is just innate human nature being driven by an extremely powerful femme fatale. Throughout the book there are short tangential pages alluding to a man about to be executed for murder, yet until the end, there is more than one potential murderer.

 Spence is a man that was just discharged from the American Army and is back in his hometown, a small place where everyone knows each other and most of their secrets. While it is the time of the Vietnam War, Spence never left the states. He was somewhat awkward before he left and that has not vanished due to his service. However, his brother Josh has lost his adolescent gawkiness and is now an attractive, popular high school student.

 The femme fatale is Homecoming Queen Cindy Brasher. She is drop-dead stunning, and Spence falls for her hard, even though she is dating a star of the high school football team. She admits to having been treated for mental illness and Spence simply cannot keep her out of his mind. It becomes an obsession to the point of stalking.

 In a secluded area out of town there is a shack with an old well that is the subject of old rumors. It is purported that a meteor landed in that area and it deposited space aliens capable of controlling human minds. Cindy is a believer in that rumor and at first convinces Spence. When the star of the football team commits a senseless murder and then is gunned down by a cop with a rapidly changing personality, there is fuel for the space alien hypothesis.

 However, it takes several additional deaths and other unusual behaviors before the story ends. Unlike many other mysteries, this one does not end with the discovery and punishment of the perpetrators. The ending is very dark, and there is no resolution. There is plenty of fuel for a continuation of the tale of the insanity/dark forces destroying lives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "The Autumn Dead," by Ed Gorman

  Review of The Autumn Dead , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345356322 Four out of five stars An aging ex-cop is handed a case to retrieve a case   Jack Dwyer is an ex-cop that now works for a private security agency. Most of what he does is bust shoplifters and other petty criminals. He is a bit overweight and has few prospects to improve his situation. However, he has an interesting past that is focused on his high school years.   A woman that was a flame of his in high school and has retained her beauty suddenly pops back into his life. She offers Jack a significant amount of money to retrieve a suitcase from the house of a man she had been living with. Since she has a key and claims that the suitcase is really her property and she still has a significant sway over Jack, he agrees to take the job.   When he gets there he finds the owner unconscious from a blow on the back of the head. This is the first hint that the case is much more complex than Jack thought. Hi...
Read more

Review of "The Forty-Minute War," by Janet and Chris Morris

  Review of The Forty-Minute War , by Janet and Chris Morris, ISBN 0671559869 Three out of five stars Absurd initial premise and bad ending   This book begins with an absurd premise, not the event, but the context. A group of committed terrorists manage to acquire a nuclear weapon and a plane. The manage to fly it from Saudi Arabia to Washington D. C. where they detonate it. Distraught over the knowledge that his wife and family have been killed, the American President orders a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. They retaliate and it is all over in 40 minutes. After ordering the strike, the American President takes a gun and kills himself.   There are two reasons why this premise is absurd, one major and the other minor. The major one is that the intelligence services of the United States were aware of the nuclear weapon and had an elite anti-terrorist team on the ground ready to take out the terrorists. However, the team was given a stand-down order. Whil...
Read more

Review of "Heat," by Mike Lupica

  Review of Heat , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 9780142407578 Five out of five stars More about life than sports   Satchel Paige is arguably the all-time best baseball pitcher. One of his teammates once said, “The good lord didn’t give Satchel an arm, he gave him a whip.” Michael Arroyo was also born with what his father said was, “the arm.” Even though he is still young enough to play Little League baseball, Michael can throw an 80-mph fastball and he has excellent control. His goal is to help his team move on to the Little League World Series.   While baseball is his joy, his life is complicated. His father brought Michael and his seventeen-year-old bother Carlos with him in an escape from Cuba and they now live in New York City. Their father died suddenly of a heart attack and the boys are terrified that social services will learn of their plight and either separate them into foster care or send them back to Cuba.   With the help of some kindly neighbors, the ...
Read more