Customer Reviews

Night Witch

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this book when I saw it rated highly on an Amazon list that contained quite a few other horror books that I had enjoyed reading. I could not even finish this book; I forced myself through the first 50 pages before I gave up. It was very poorly written, and full of bad cliches; in the first few pages one of the protagonists kills a bad guy by driving his nose into his brain using his fist. Come on, Jack. Not only is this incredibly overused, it's also not possible.

If your looking for a good gruesome read, look elsewhere. Avoid this book.

Night Witch was a slick, cool and a really fast read, as I could have read hundred more pages. Jack Priest writes like he knows everything, as he is well accurate and prolific in his descriptions, nothing is staged and unbelievable and the story is as far out as it gets! This tale of fantasy married with horror is very enjoyable as we trek with John Coffee, an unusual character with a passion for stealing things large and small, who is smart, funny and someone you either want to be best friends with or just want to be him. He gets into a large fiery mess, stealing a locket that gets him in more trouble that he ever bargained for, as the thing he stole it form is beyond life and death and will stalk him until it either rests in its grave or kills him and gets it back. The characters in this book are both smart and fast, but they are human and they make mistakes, they are not perfect yet it makes them more real than most people I run into every day. I loved the character development and the conversations, I felt like the writer picked my brain and typed it all over his pages.

The story is split in two views, something I love in books. I get hooked on one and then the other and in the end I get to enjoy them coming together in a turbulent and mouth watering ending.

John is on the run from a mysterious creature that can appear as anything, but it chooses predatory and nasty forms of dangerous animals with the dead give away of its red eyes that sear though many in the book, sending chills and cries from its victims. I loved the fight sequences as there were many and the combat one on one with John and the creature was superb. I felt chills on my spine reading about a wolf in the dark forest in the fog, with it's claws ticking on the rocks, its snout dripping with hunger and I felt as if I was in the story and tried not to overstep the safety zone from which I was watching. The second story line deals with a pair of eleven year olds, Carolina and Arty, who were marvelously written, as it is rare that I enjoy youngsters in books, the only other author who really captured them well was Dan Simmons but for a new writer such as Jack, his children were breathtaking. They were kids, with their tender minds, and brave souls who became friends and fought obstacles greater then the sum of them put together and I loved reading their adventures and their dangerous escapes from the Night Witch. They had personal problems to deal with, gut wrenching child abuse and bullies at school, while trying to survive a killer that grown men fought and lost their lives to. I wouldn't dare to spoil the ending but it was great! I love when the climax is even greater then the story told, for all the buildup you read really brings you ultimate satisfaction and makes the whole experience of cracking open a book such a rewarding one.

I cant wait for more books from this author, as his is slick as a silver bullet in the night and he really doesn't miss with his stories.

John Coffee is a thief who got more than he bargained for when he stole a magical locket from a soucouyant, the last of a breed of shape-shifting, werewolf-y, Caribbean witches who are next to impossible to kill. The Witch has been hunting Coffee ever since, looking to get her locket back but also doing her best to rip his throat out. Problem is, before he understood its significance, Coffee gave the locket to his daughter, eleven-year-old Carolina. He's been distancing himself from her since with a view to protecting her from the Witch, but now he's back on the scene and trying to warn her.

Jack Priest's Night Witch follows Coffee's battles with the Witch, high-octane fights that leave him injured and her shooting off skyward as a ball of flame. The Witch's mythology is related in the book, but we're never given her point of view. She remains an unknowable bogeyman, an Energizer bunny of a mythological demon, bent on destruction.

Because Coffee's part of the story is pretty much all action, it's less interesting than the other story Priest tells in the book, about the incipient relationship between Coffee's daughter and her classmate Arty, a persecuted kid who bravely faces the more mundane monsters in his life--school bullies and his abusive father. In the face of the danger posed by the Night Witch, as well as the bullies, Carolina and Arty's relationship develops more rapidly than it might have otherwise.

Night Witch isn't perfect: it's not clear why the guys in the boat are after Coffee at the beginning of the book; Priest's female characters seem unusually comfortable with stripping in front of men they don't know well; there is a paragraph-long political rant on page 163 that seems out of place; Arty's conflict with his father ends a little too conveniently; the mothers of both children are hands-off in their parenting to a degree that's hard to believe. But on the whole, it's a fun read, like watching an old Night Stalker episode with an appealing YA element thrown in. In fact, though it's not marketed as such, I might recommend the book to the YA crowd as well as adults, given that Arty and Carolina are such appealing characters and carry so much of the story.

-- Debra Hamel

The author Jack Priest was kind enough to send me another of his novels... Night Witch. This adheres to the Priest tradition of fast-paced horror novels that have the time slipping by quicker than you expected. My only caveat/caution would be to read the back cover first, as it will frame what's going on. I didn't do that, and as such spent more time wondering "why" than I should have.

The story revolves around a young girl who starts getting strange visits from a creature outside her window. She pretty much survives on her own, as her mom is always off "dating" someone new and her dad disappeared some time back. She starts a friendship with a boy from school who isn't very popular, but he's willing to stand up to the bullies and protect her as much as he can. Together they try and figure out what the creature is after, as well as how to survive against its raging attacks. The girl's father, thought to be long gone, is actually watching over her, knows what the creature is, what it wants, and is willing to die to protect her. The action continues non-stop until a final showdown at the end, pitting man against beast.

I've purposely kept the summary vague so as to not give away too much (I hope). From an entertainment standpoint, Night Witch was a fun read that helped pass the time as I flew overseas. If you're prepared to go with the flow, it's great. My only "complaint" is that the backstory of the creature remained a mystery until close to the end. That's not necessarily bad, but I was having a few problems trying to figure out why the creature wanted to get to the girl. If I had read the back cover first (don't know why I didn't this time), I would have had the proper context to understand what was happening a whole lot sooner. I would have stilled liked the book either way, but I would have been less "in the dark" about the driving force behind the plot.

But even with that, Priest's book is still one I'd recommend to someone who likes the horror/thriller genre. He's a refreshing change from the mainstream authors who normally dominate the bestseller lists.

I recently discovered Jack Priest's books and was immediately intrigued by the originality of his work. He draws his material from the legends and lore of places such as the Caribbean Islands, and areas of the South Pacific I would assume he has traveled to many-a-time.

As unique a source of material as this can be, he is also a great writer. I have so far read Night Witch and Gecko, both of which are captivating novels that are impossible to put down. But I think Night Witch is probably my favorite. I have to agree with another reviewer who commented that one of the strong points of this book is that it is told from the perspective of children. This can be extremely tough to pull off, as children in literature and film (Jurassic Park leaps to mind), tend to be unrealistically mature for their age, not to mention whitty and all too often smarmy and annoying. Jack's characters here are engaging and written well within their age, yet their heroism is not forced, nor unbelievable. I found the character of Artie especially likable and was only disappointed when the story had to end. I would liked to have seen more of what becomes of these characters.

Great horror, great book.

This book was one of three sent to me by Jack Priest with the request that I read and review them all: Gecko, Ragged Man and Night Witch. I enjoyed reading all three, but I considered Night Witch the best in plot, character development and pure imagination.

Supernatural creatures of the Jack Priest universe aren't contained by the fences of traditional boundaries. They slip through and explode into new and unexpected avenues of the mind, the dark closet and the sounds just outside the bedroom window. Priest combines human thriller-drama with hand grenades of outrageous (but almost believable) nightmare creatures in a way that will keep you reading until you finish (even if you have to get up early in the morning and really need to put this down and get some shuteye).

Night Witch is Priest's best to date. Read it.

This was a fast paced thriller that had some fun characters. The story is written primarily from the perspective of Arty, a fat-kid turned hero, and Coffee, a thief who has antagonized a soucouyant, a type of shapeshifter witch. The other main characters are Carolina, Coffee's daughter and Arty's school teacher.

The violence of the night witch is revealed in the first chapter when she attacks a jogger--Arty's teacher. Arty is pulled in to confronting the witch by his adoration of Carolina who is being stalked by the night witch. The rest of the story is about the confrontations between the night witch and the protagonists, as well as the day-time realities and difficulties of the characters lives. As Arty and Caroline elude the witch by night, they also learn to defend themselves from the local bullies by day.

While this is a traditional thriller, Priest adds some creative touches that are interesting--such as having the lives of Arty and Caroline parallel the lives of the adult couple. For example: Arty's talents arise because of his need to survive an alchoholic abusive dad. Coffee developed his talents by surviving as the child of an alcoholic dad. Caroline has been abandoned by her father, Arty's teacher is abandoned by her husband.

Once you start reading this book, it is hard to put down. Priest crafts a story with a page-turning pace and some highly likeable characters. I would have liked to have known a little more about the history and motivations of the Night Witch. Otherwise, a good read!

The author has some good ideas in terms of plot and originality; however he seems to be inexperienced in terms of his ability to translate this into a credible story. The characters are not believable and somewhat one dimensional. They seem to think, feel and behave however the author believes is necessary to advance the plot; not however the way one would expect multi-dimensional complicated human beings to think, feel and behave. Consequently it is hard to dredge up any real feeling for any of the characters (beyond an incredulous "Who would do that?"). Another big down side to the book, being that it's a horror novel; is it just plain isn't scary. Not even shudder worthy. However as Mr. Priest does show some raw talent and definitly evidences the kind of determination necessary to be a successful author; I wouldn't write him off entirely. It would be interesting to see what he could do with a couple of psychology and creative writing courses under his belt.

John Coffee is a thief. While vacationing in Port of Spain, Trinidad, he stole what looked to be a child's locket and sent it to his eleven-year-old daughter, Carolina, in the US. Problem is that the old woman John stole the locket from is a Night Witch. She is possibly the last of the soucouyant, a Southern Caribbean cousin to the vampire and the werewolf. She can shape shift into any animal form except a creature from the sea. She lives forever because she wears a locket that contains a magic potion. But little Carolina now wears the locket and the Night Witch wants it back!

Carolina's best friend is a fat boy named Arthur "Arty" Gibson. The two watch each other's back whenever they come across the school bully, Brad, and his two shadows, Ray and Steve. But at night time, Arty watches over Carolina. Even knowing that his abusive father would beat the tar out of him if he is caught, Arty sneaks out at night and climbs into Carolina's bedroom window. Why? Carolina's mother is out almost every night, dating men, while Carolina stays home alone with someone stalking the house. Carolina knows that someone is outside, someone with red eyes and large fangs. Someone that she and her ferret, Sheila, cannot battle alone.

***** A great horror tale for adults. I stress "adults" because the back cover has the picture of a green, nude, young lady on it. She looks nothing like the "old woman" described in the book though, except for those wicked red eyes! If the picture was not there, then I would say that anyone over the age of thirteen would love this story! The tale is absolutely fascinating. Carolina and Arty are wonderful role model material too. If this story should ever hit a second printing, and it certainly may, my only advice is to change the back cover picture so the target audience may expand to include teens/young adults. Riveting! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

"Night Witch" kept me awake at night and had me hearing noises that weren't there and thinking that I saw things moving outside the windows... In short, "Night Witch" scared the daylights out of me. Of course, this is a good thing as I am always searching out books to scare and thrill and get my blood pumping! If you are looking for a good read that will get your mind working in overdrive and thrill your senses, pick up "Night Witch"!