Customer Reviews

December

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you've been reading the standard Koontz, King and Laymon fare prepare yourself for December. The characters are so much more vivid and likeable or hateable. The story blends modern rock music with ancient tales and the supernatural, musos will find many in jokes and references. But overall this is just a damn good book, you have to read it at least twice to understand the complex storyline, I have read it 4 times because I love it so much. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

If you are digging into the horror novels that Phil Rickman wrote prior to his wonderful Merrily Watkins series, you will meet four of the characters in "December" (1994) who later appear in "The Cure of Souls" (2001): Moira, the folksinger; Simon, the vicar; Isabel, the sex-starved, wheelchair-bound accountant; and Prof Levin, the alcoholic recording engineer.

Boy, will you meet them--and like them too, even though Moira is a recluse who might be responsible for the death of her mother; Simon is a self-confessed homosexual necrophiliac; Isabel's first sexual adventure killed her partner; and Prof Levin stays drunk through most of "December" (a very reasonable response to finding oneself in the midst of a Rickman horror novel.)

What little sex there is in this novel is very dark, as in corrupted, or sometimes darkly humorous, as in Isabel's aerial deflowering. Loathsome, brown candles are a regular supernatural visitation foretelling death and/or really hellish sex. However, this book isn't really about sex (even though I keep talking about it.)

It's about music.

I learned more than I thought I ever wanted to know about John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, and even Simon and Garfunkel--well, Goth horror is something else this book is not--mostly it concerns musicians from the 60's who didn't make it very far into the 80's. One of the main characters, Dave the guitarist, is plagued by the notion that he could have prevented John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980. Dave has some pretty snappy dialogues with Lennon who now seems to be living in his head.

Dave isn't the only one with a psychic problem. All of the musicians who attempted to record an album in an ancient abbey-turned-recording-studio on the date of Lennon's death are traumatized by a tragedy that gradually works its way to the surface through the course of this novel.

Rickman piles horror upon horror until thirteen years after Lennon's death, the musicians are compelled to return to the abbey to complete the song that had called up an ancient evil.

You'll be reading this one through the night--even though you shouldn't.

He's my current favorite author, and if Rickman keeps writing for the next fifty years I will be one happy reader! I started with the Merrily Watkins series, which led me to start reading the standalones... hence DECEMBER.

The coolest thing that happened, reading the books out of order as I've done, is that I'm finding characters in DECEMBER that I recognize from other books, particularly from the Merrily Watkins series. They're not major characters, for the most part, but there's a wonderful glimmer of recognition as I encounter them in the book, and a certain, "Aha! So *that's* how they met!" sort of thing. It gives a sort of organic continuity to his work that I find fascinating.

DECEMBER is another ghost story of sorts, shining and complicated, with characters' paths crossing and re-crossing to weave a fascinating tapestry of relationships and a slowly building sense of immediacy and fear. Yet another book (like *all* of Rickman's) that was stunningly difficult to put down.


--- Jeannette Angell, author of Callgirl

December was a well written and original novel albeit one in need of an editor. 1980 and 4 psychic musicians are brought together to record in an old Abbey in Wales with a bad history. They spend the next 14 years mentally tortured by the experience. 1994 and they are brought together again at the Abbey to finish the recording. They are all frightened but know they must finish it to dispel their personal demons. There's a lot more to the story and a lot more characters which is part of the problem. I found the idea to be very original and interesting, especially the history of the Abbey. The book is generally well written and the characters well drawn. You are however kept from completely losing yourself in the book or feeling any real dread or fear because it goes on too long with too many people criss crossing too many paths. At some point, as interested in the story as I was, I just wanted it to end. An inventive novel that could have better.

Phil Rickman writes lengthy novels. But, in my opinion, long, labyrinthine texts are the hallmark of most good novels of the horror/supernatural genre. His writing style mirrors the twists and turns of the plot, and December is a great example of Rickman at his tortuous best. The title hints that the action of the story is moving toward a crisis in "December", perhaps more horrific than the events of Decembers past. This novel incorporates events and intrigues that span hundreds of years, some fact, some fiction, but by the middle of the book, I was so entangled in the narrative intricacies that the blurred boundaries of the real and the imaginary just made the tale more delicious as it unravelled. Having lived with a musician for ten years, I could appreciate Rickman's careful development of that theme, and as one who is still "stuck in the 60s", I could relate to the almost cosmic significance of John Lennon's life and death. Yes, Rickman takes his sweet, twisted time getting to the climax of the story, but I rather enjoy a writer with a slow hand.

When I first got this book, I read about 80 pages and found it to be, well, confusing, so I put it down for 6 months. Last week, I picked it up again, and after about page 150 or so, could not put it down again. I definitely recommend this book, even though it may take some time to get the hang of the story. The book may not be a fast read, a la the abovementioned Koontz and King (whom I also admire), but it's a great story filled with amazing detail, and one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. Phil Rickman and this book are definitely in my top 10. No, on second thought, my top 5. No, top 4..

On December 8, 1980 many tragedies occurred. One was felt around the world. A few more were centered around a small England abbey not far from Mount Skirrid. On that night a band called the Philosophers Stone was doing a concept album for a record studio called Epidemic. The so called Black album (named after the abbey) was supposed to tell the story of Alwyen Breadwinter, a folk hero that was killed in 1175 trying to escape from a blood thirsty mob because he saw something he shouldn't have, unfortunately for him he made it to the doors of the abbey where he was cornered and cut down. Even though the story is well known the twist to this album is that all the band members were physic so they would be channeling the spirit of Alwyen while they sung about him. Everything went well until the band started to sing about that fateful night. Suddenly the band is no longer in control of the song and the story being told is no longer the historical version, it is much darker and hints that what actually happened to Alwyen might have something to do with the monks that were at the abbey at the time. Feeling overwhelmed the band scatters into the night which leads to a terrible tragedy for one of the members of the band. When the dust settles the band members agree that the tapes from the recording should be destroyed and that they should go there separate ways never to meet again lest the powers they tapped into that night find a way to cause more havoc.

Fourteen years later, with the exception of one member, that night still haunts the members of the Philosophers Stone. None of them have been able to forget what happened that night and how their gifts became a curse. While the world has moved on and the band has been forgotten, a aging music executive has been rummaging through the dusty holdings of a now defunct record label called Epidemic records and he wants to know if the Philosophers Stone would like to come back to the studio for a reunion album. He's had a listen to some tapes he found and he thinks the songs would sound great on the radio.....
---------------------------------
This is what I call a slow burn horror novel. A lot of detail and encounters go into setting up the finale which ends in a whirlwind of action in the last 50 pages or so. Not that, that is a bad thing in this case as the way the book is written (every chapters switches to a different character and then back again) keeps the pages turning to find out what happened after the cliff hangar in the last chapter. Thankfully this book doesn't rely on shocking imagery to carry gaps in the story. Most of that sort of thing is near the end of the book and fits in with what occurred in the abbey to caused all of the problems. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good horror/suspense book and to those who want to expand beyond Dean Koontz and Steven King.
m.a.c

I have read other Rickman books and they were wonderful page turners that kept the story moving and full. This one was tough to finish but I kept hoping something was going to happen...but it didn't..

I am very fond of Phil Rickman already, although only three of his books are yet available in the US. His writing is vivid and memorable. What I really liked about this particular novel, however, was his deep understanding of the synergy of the process of making music. His grasp, and description, of the dynamic of a performing band is really perfect. And this band is deeply disturbing as well. Also, his treatment of the guilt and confusion of psychic phenomena is gripping.

Buy this book right now.

Put a band psychic musicians to record in a haunted Abby with a bloody history and hang on! Based on real places and events. You can't miss the Beatles reference as well as parallels with other popular artists. The characters pull you into a fast moving, spine-tingling plot that won't let you go.