The Dark Splendor [Paperback]

Les Visible (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Les Visible is a writer and recording artist. He has had a lifelong love affair with the Hermetic Sciences and the Martial Arts. He is a seasoned traveller in psychedelic realms and prefers the Devic Kingdom over the suffocating confinements of the Sub-Matrix. Along the way he has matriculated from the military to prisons and the maximum security wards for the criminally insane. He lives somewhere in Europe with his wife Susanne and his memories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: Mandrake (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1869928695
• ISBN-13: 978-1869928698
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,352,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great! I couldn't put it down., October 6, 2004

By 

Gabrielle Anwar (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Splendor (Paperback)

This is a really different kind of thriller. I don't want to even try to describe it except to say that I couldn't stop reading it and it pushed nearly every one of my buttons. I should add that there's some squirm-making scenes of graphic gore and violence. Then, strangely, the book would soar into Siddhartha-like flights of poetry and esoteric introspection. It's been weeks and scenes from the book still flash into my mind every day. Highly recommended!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A real edge of the seat experience., October 7, 2004

By 

Jennifer Dupont "I read for fun." (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Splendor (Paperback)

I like a good intricate read, something that pulses with energy and makes me race through the pages. The problem is that there are never enough of them around. I also like a book that pushes my imagination and makes me think. This book is in a class by itself. It's reminiscent of the works of Richard Laymon, early Clive Barker and early Steven King; both of the last two are terrible these days and not worth reading any more. This writer blows them off the map.

At first you think it's just an ordinary crime novel with a lot of salacious touches. It's gritty and dark and well-written enough to have succeeded very well in this regard. There is also a good dose of gallows humor and wry sardonic insights. But as the book expands you find that you are not where you thought you were and that you are going somewhere you never expected to be.

There's reincarnation, a horrific Satanist (I don't know what else to call him), a holy man from the east and a number of other characters to flesh out the plot. I read the book in two days. It was very difficult to put down. I found myself always wanting to know what was next and that is a quality all of the better books possess.

On the downside the print was small and there were more typos than I have seen in awhile. It's hard to understand why something this well written was so poorly edited. I only give it four stars because of these distractions. Otherwise, it's just great.

This is one of the most refreshingly different books I have read in years. The author has an original style that makes the book all the more enjoyable. I can't wait for his next one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a dark sexy read, October 12, 2004

By 

Ronald Coleman (Macon, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Splendor (Paperback)

I'm a novel freak and I expecially like risk taking in style and subject matter. This book is very hard to define. It's part Steppenwolf, part Moonchild and part I don't know what. The writer has an awesome grasp of occult principles which he translates very well into common experiences. You're reading a crime novel that might have been done by George Pelecanos if he was on psychedelics.

There's some of the best cop humor I've ever seen and some ugly villains. The nasty parts comes across almost cimematically a la Quenton Tarrantino. You're crusing along through noir territory when you suddelny fall through a trap door into another reality altogether. It's the writers ability to make this work that adds so much real enjoyment to reading the book.

There's so much going on it's impossible to give a real idea of what happens, except to say that you've got realistic martial arts encounters; farting beer guzzling druggie serial killers, a Hannibal Lecter type of criminal mastermind with all kinds of psychic power, an immortal Tibetan spiritual master, a sexy teenage girl, a reincarnated New Orleans psychic detective, a Hawaiian mass murderer. You see what I mean and I haven't listed half of them.

There were some printing errors early on that were surprising considering how well the book was written but they soon faded. For all I know they continued but I was so glued to the book that I didn't notice anything after that. After I read this book I immediately read it again, that's how good it was.

At a certain point you wind up asking yourself how is he going to resolve all of this. A lot of books fall apart at a certain point where the writer has gotten himself into a bind or has become impatient. this didn't happen. The book ends in one of those scenarios you'd like to see on the screen. This book begs to have a movie made out of it.

If you are looking for something wild and different this is the book. As outrageous as some of the scenes are; at one point the Village People appear on a table with centipede pincers and attack the main character, it never seems contrived or unbelievable. There's an old school style to the writing that isn't in evidence much these days. I liked that feature a lot.

You get the impression that the writer has lived a lot of what he writes about, though it hardly seems possible. When I read the back of the book jacket and saw that he'd been locked up in prisons and mental institutions I wasn't a bit surprised.

This is definitely worth the money and you will find yourself reading it several times. You can't possibly get it all on the first read through. More, please!!!