** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

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The Black Magic (Series Starter)
by Dennis Wheatley
★★★★☆
918 Pages
Themes: Paranormal, Magic, Romance
Genre: Historical, Supernatural, Thriller, PNR
Content Warning: mentions of black magic, the devil, satanism, cannibalism, nudity, possession, psychic influence, hypnotism, vampires, the Angel of Death, shape-shifting, necromancy, werewolves, orgies, Nazi's, the French Revolution, war, bombings, lynchings, torture and mutilation of a dead body, Voodoo, zombies, deaf-mute characters


Book 1: The Devil Rides Out
1-33%
★★★★☆

This is my first foray into Dennis Wheatley's books, though I've been meaning to read them for years. The Devil Rides Out is a great first book to delve into and has everything you could hope for from a paranormal horror/thriller story.

The book begins with an intriguing Introduction by Dennis Wheatley's grandson, and while this was extremely interesting I have to note that without it you wouldn't immediately know the timeline of the story that follows. It's never mentioned anywhere in the plot what the time frame is except for a few vague references to “recent” events being in the early 1910's, but the Introduction does mention that “the first de Richleau stories were set in the years between the [world] wars”. Personally, that's the only thing confusing or missing in the story, because the rest of it was fantastic.

The story features the main character of the series The Duke de Richleau, who is an older man, almost twice the age of the other characters, who has experience in war, travelling and white magic, enough to make him the best counter-agent to the black magic involved. His dear friend Simon has got himself caught up in black magic without realising or understanding how dangerous that is.

The cast is solid:
de Richleau is intriguing and knowledgeable, as well as being versed in war
Simon is young, kind and quite innocent but curious, which is why he's caught in this muddle
Rex Van Ryn is their mutual friend, strong and opinionated, a American with respect for de Richleau's knowledge and maturity
Tanith is a young woman caught up in black magic just as Simon is, though for her own reasons
Richard and Marie Lou Eaton are mutual friends of the three men and are brought into the story when they need a safe place to hide.
Mocata is the practitioner of black magic and the man who has roped Simon into his evil plans

We get POV's of everyone except Mocata, as well as a few minor characters, such as Max the Eaton's servant, and an inn owner Jeremiah Wilkes. The POV's are shown in omnipresent POV, so you'll often see all the POV's in one chapter, but because they only appear when absolutely necessary and sometimes only for a few lines at a time, it makes sense to be written this way.

Another brilliant deviation from the usual style of writing is during Chapter 14, when a car chase is shown in a timeline format. The time is given, with a brief sentence or two to detail what is happening in that moment, through whatever POV is important to that event. It's very quick, clinical and yet captivating at the same time, giving you all the facts without lingering over them too much.

The entire story is fast-paced and thrilling, from start to finish. Everything that happens is well written, placed with thought and consideration for what is and what isn't important, and dealt with in the appropriate amount of detail. When the psychological and thrilling magical aspects appear, they're written in a way that any layman will understand, even if reading magical or paranormal stories isn't what you're used to. Yet, they're not written in a play-by-play, but only in a clear, understandable way that is easy to follow.

While the book is listed as horror, I think the changing times are the reason that I probably wouldn't list it as “horror” anymore. There are so many paranormal books now, in comparison to then, that don't delve into horror but still have a thrilling or supernatural quality and they don't all qualify as horror. I think book falls into that intermediary category. It's supernaturally thrilling, but there isn't any gore or outright violence that I would consider horror.

Similarly, I think the changing times are why it read quite dated in terms of language use. There were certain words that I won't repeat – such as the N word – and views and opinions that were typical of the time the book was written but which are no longer appropriate. I did have to brave myself a few times and cringe inwardly at them, but I do accept that this was the language used at the time, rightly or wrongly, and tried to block out the outdated aspects to enjoy the story regardless.

The language use and timeline issues are part of the reason that I rated this a 4 instead of a 5. I also had a few places where I felt confused about what was going on, and where certain events were glossed over or contradicted what was happening. For that, I couldn't give it a 5* rating, but I really did enjoy the overall storyline and the characters. I'll definitely be continuing with the series.

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Book 2: Strange Conflict
33-64%
★★★☆☆

Strange Conflict is the third book in the series, and in this compendium.

The story begins with the Duke meeting up with Sir Pellinor Gwaine-Cust to discuss a serious issue in the war. The story takes place during the 1940's on the cusp of the second world war, however it takes quite a while to find out that it's actually a few years after the events of Book 1.

The gang is all back together: Duke, Rex, Simon, Richard and Marie Lou. This time, their daughter is safely with relatives.

The plot itself was interesting. I liked the concept of astral projection, and how the Duke and others with great experience of the astral world could help the recently dead cross over and find peace. That was a really nice concept. But, for as fast as the plot moved, it felt like a lot of nothing happened. It was mostly the Duke's companions plans being foiled over and over again, with not much happening until the last 10%.

There's a lot of talk about WWII, with the bombings of London, Rex wounded as a pilot, but I think the thing that bothered me the most was the sort of White-Saviour complex that ran throughout the novel, with the Duke and other characters going on and on about how Britain were the saviours of the world and how they led other countries and peoples to better lives. It was all a little much and exhausting, considering hindsight and what we now know about British history.

There were also a few strange and out-dated opinions about Haiti, slaves and black people, with mentions of lynchings, Voodoo, and using seriously out-dated terms and phrases to describe people of colour. It made reading the book quite uncomfortable, which really took me out of the plot, especially when there were great swathes of passages about the savage and primitive way Haitians etc behaved.

Add onto that, there was almost an entire page talking about how suicide was the sign of a weak person and a coward, which really didn't sit well with me.

In the end, there were too many outlandish foiled plots, a predictable bad guy, a slow pace with an excess of action that went nowhere, and way too many out-dated concepts and terms to feel comfortable. While the story had potential, it went a bit too far with the Pro-Britain, White Saviour complex for my comfort.

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I ended up not reading : Book 3: The Haunting of Toby Jugg
64-100 %

Te language is really out-dated and with the massive spider on the cover, and the fact that the stories don't flow between each other as connected storylines, I don't really feel the need to continue. While the first two books had their merits, I feel like the books aren't a great fit for me, as a reader and there's no point continuing to read something that I don't entirely enjoy.

These were interesting tales of Black Magic and the Occult. They are a little dated but still very good. I had never read any of the authors work before but I am interested in seeking more. It was a good escape.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

collection of Wheatley's classic Satanic books. hits all the horror tropes, though with less pea soup that The Exorcist - not a bad thing!

I read these first more than 50 years ago when I was a teenager. I enjoyed them then and was delighted to see them being reissued. A re-read shows that the style is more than a little dated given that the world inhabited by the central characters has changed out of all recognition but they still zip along and are an easy read. Not quite as shocking as they were first time around which reflects my age, no doubt, but also, sadly, something of the lost innocence of our times.