Customer Reviews

Lamp of the Wicked

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This is the second of Phil Rickman's stories featuring Merrily Watkins that I've read. Originally, I wasn't sure that Merrily, who is an Anglican minister and Deliverance Consultant (exorcist) would be the kind of character that to whom I would be attracted. Stories with romantic underpinnings put me off, and Kay Scarpetta stories have permanently put me off troublesome teenage daughters. Because Rickman has written several horror stories that I like I decided to take the leap of faith. I have to admit that I've been very pleasantly surprised.

Let me say right off that if you are expecting these tales to be horror stories you are in for a surprise. Rather, thing of them as detective/suspense with a spiritual element. Merrily Watkins, having lost her husband, was drawn to the church, and then into the ministry. When a surprising turn of events revealed some unexpected sensitivities, Merrily is trained as a Deliverance Consultant and given Ledwardine as her post. With her is her daughter Jane, a seventeen-year-old with a sharp, questioning mind, who hovers between mature insight and girlish obstinacy. Another frequent participant is Lol, a recovering addict and musician who has a close, but difficult relationship with Merrily.

The Lamp of the Wicked starts out as the story of one serial killer, Roddy Lodge, who Merrily accidentally 'outs' while helping a friend. But it quickly becomes the story of another killer entirely around whose periphery the likes of Roddy and the citizens of the town of Underhowle are entangled. One killer dead for three years, and the other shortly into the book, this story is really about the web of evil that grew out of a set of chilling events in the past and how it took on a life of its own. One doesn't exorcise ghosts, only demons, but hidden in a deserted Baptist chapel in Underhowle is something that desperately needs to be laid to rest.

As Rickman likes to do, there are parallel themes that tangle the plot. The foremost of these is a building study of the effects of close exposure to radiant power (as in electrical towers). This has been an issue in the states for some time, but it rears its head in the little town of Underhowle as well. Rickman comes up with enough facts to disquiet the reader as this thread moves from alien abduction to temporary insanity. In addition to this, Jane is in the midst of a crisis of faith that has her in a permanently sarcastic and depressed mood. In fact, all of the Ledwardine characters have something on their minds, from a contractor whose partner went up in flames with his business, to Lol, who is struggling with his fears of performing again.

These stories are apt demonstrations of Rickman's abilities. He brings to life this part of England with its conflicts between the modern and old with an easy, fluent style. His characterization, no longer driven by the need to have inhuman monsters, has grown by leaps and bounds. He manages to create interest in characters that seem unlikely heroes. Even his theological meanderings avoid the dry or overly dramatic and simply become part of the developing atmosphere.

The Lamp of the Wicked can stand by itself, but I found having read one of the early books helped in understanding some of the key relationships quickly. As you might suspect, this helps. But nothing happens that you can't work out on your own, so dive in where you may.

This is a well-written and thought-provoking book which transcends any classification as a genre novel. I'm a generalist reader with no special preference for horror, the supernatural, or detective fiction. I look for books with believable characters and interesting situations, and this book certainly delivers. There are several story lines which the author for most part weaves together well, but a novel this long and complex presents some challenges that I didn't think were completely met. The biggest problem for me was the author's obviously sincere effort to arouse public interest in a real mystery story that will perhaps never be fully investigated. The author combines the imaginary adventures of his fictional community and characters with the career of an actual serial killer, the notorious Fred West of Gloucester. West's arrest made the headlines in the mid 1990's, and he was widely believed to be guilty of many more crimes than the ones to which he actually confessed. While it is not unusual for fiction to include real historical events, it is tricky to make this narrative device work when the real history is so recent and so emotionally charged. The strong element of horror in the novel comes not only from the events that the reader knows are fictional, but also from what he or she believes actually happened to West's victims. For me, this uneasy mix of fascinating fiction and horrifying fact made the book alternately hard to put down and hard to pick up. Seriously, expect disturbing dreams if you read this book! In addition, I found the plotting a bit messy and hard to follow at times, but the superior quality of the writing kept me going.

Be advised that this is not the kind of suspense story in which all is neatly explained at the end. The main characters are all in their own way on a philosophical journey of discovery, plagued by doubts, fears, and confusion. The reader who travels with them will have a challenging but exciting journey.

I've read all of Phil Rickman's previous novels, and this is yet another winner. Rickman has perfected the art of creating characters that become 'real' enough to care about - and his best creation to date is the smoking, slightly confused but always sincere female minister, Merrily Watkins.

This story is made all the more interesting because it addresses some of the pressing but as yet officially unrecognised problems of today's society, such as the mental and physical effects of living in close proximity to high powered electricity lines and telephone towers. The electrical hypersensitivity suffered by one of the characters and his subsequent actions are frighteningly close to home. I've suddenly become aware of how many telephone towers surround us - and lo and behold - I've actually seen them on church steeples!

The inclusion of the horrific real life monsters Fred and Rose West adds another chilling dimension to the story. An unsettling mystery thriller and a cracking good story.

Over the years, I have gotten used to the fall off of quality as series stretched out. In this, Phil Rickman has proven himself to be a delightful change of pace in this "rule".

This is, imo, the best Merrily Watkins book yet with a clever blend of real life serial killers and the supernatural. As for Merrily, Rickman continues to allow the character to grow.

I'm glad the US market has finally wised up and made the acquisition of Rickman's books easier on us. For years, I've had to rely on British book dealers to feed my hunger at very steep prices for mass masrket paperbacks. It's nice to see RIckman finally getting the notice that he should here on this side of the pond.

After reading the first Merrily Watkins novel, Midwinter of the Spirit, I grabbed every Phil Rickman book I could find. Although I enjoyed them all, it is the Merrily series that has won my heart.

What a fabulous job Rickman does at creating three-dimensional, believeable characters! Merrily and her daughter are modern women, spirited and complex, with all the doubts and insecurities of any modern woman. Merrily, a single mom and Anglican priest, has been made the diocese exorcist, which is bound to put a strain on her relationship with her teenaged daughter, Jane, who leans more to paganism than organized religion.

As a background for these mysteries, the complex relationship between the troubled teenager and her mother provides a counterpoint to the greater conflict between good and evil that permeates these books.

This book in particular is especially interesting. A village man has confessed to horrific murders, and there is no doubt that his fellow villagers consider him very odd indeed. But, as Merrily is dragged into this situation, she has to deal with the fact that his actions may have been influenced by something beyond his control--but is the evil that influenced him man made or demonic? And are there other evil-doers at work?

I found this book to be a very satisfying mystery, and enjoyed the way that the relationship between Merrily and her daughter continues to unfold.

The Lamp Of The Wicked is just as wide in scope and addictive as the first four books in the Merrily Watkins series. In this one, the village of Underhowle (and isn't THAT a great name) is having growing pains, due to the philanthropy of a British Bill Gates type who has revolutionized the school with computers, the convergence of an extraordinary number of power lines and electrical pylons, and the flamboyant life and death of an accused killer named Roddy Lodge. Or was he? Gomer and Merrily unearth a body that seems to be the result of Roddy Lodge's murderous obsession, but as Merrily talks to family and those whose paths Roddy has crossed, she finds echoes of an earlier serial killer in Gloucester, a real and very disturbing case. Meanwhile at home in Ledwardine, Merrily's financially strapped parish church is investigating various avenues to raise funds, among them putting a cell tower on the church steeple and there's a new resident in the village who sees angels and proves to be problematic.

Merrily is called on to bury the serial killer since the local priest has succumbed to pressure and won't do it. AS she visits the family and calls in her old Deliverance mentor Huw, facts begin to emerge that indicate Roddy Lodge is just the tip of a Satanic iceberg and Huw has an old connection to the Gloucester killings. Lol Robinson is apprehensively preparing for his stage comeback, Jane and Merrily try to separate fact from fantasy and keep from becoming prey themselves. But of what?

Phil Rickman seems to be hitting his stride in the Merrily Watkins series. As always, it's good to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and rejoice when justice is reached. Again as always, the ending is not without pain, and a couple of loose ends are left hanging. That's good news, because they'll be resolved in future books.

If you are interested in great writing with more than a touch of the supernatural, I would highly recommend beginning this series. This book is the fifth in the series, and in order to be fully appreciated should be read in order. A lot of the stuff wouldn't make sense if you haven't been following Reverend Merrily Watkins and her troubled seventeen year old daughter Jane. This book explores another side of serial killers that is actually quite chilling. Are some of these people directed from beyond the grave? Mr. Rickman also uses a real-life serial killer as a backdrop for his book. The Gloucester serial killer Freddy West and his wife were actual people, and the full extent of their horror is still not known to this day. Merrily and her mentor Reverend Huw are drawn into a macabre village (Underhowle) with more evil secrets than most normal English villages. Girls are missing and have been missing for a very long time around this small village. This is a book that is impossible to put down, as so many are in this series, and it is totally devastating while it explores the depths of human depravity. I am so glad that I discovered this totally wonderful and different series.