12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In the Wake of the Man in Black, May 11, 2007
There are many different ways to write a novel. One of the most challenging ways is to write a series of vignettes and then tie them together with a unifying theme. James Richard Larson does that in the horror novel "The Right Thing."
Elsbeth Malone is an aspiring novelist. Elsbeth wrote a novel titled "Circle of Light" and sent it to a lengthy list of agents. Unfortunately, every one of the agents she sent her manuscript to has rejected it. Unfortunately for those agents, Elsbeth also practices magic; not just any magic, but black magic.
There is a man in black. Death precedes him and it follows him. Perhaps he is death. The man in black has multiple incarnations and they call themselves William Bagnold of Two Ravens Publishing of London, England. Every time someone checks on Mr. William Bagnold and Two Ravens Publishing, they learn that Mr. Bagnold has been dead for decades, as dead as Two Ravens Publishing, which went out of business around World War II. Mr. Bagnold does not care whether he is dead. Mr. Bagnold is on a mission, a mission set by Mrs. Elsbeth Malone before she killed herself.
This story follows John Malone as he tries to recover from the apparent suicide of his wife. We meet the man in black very early in the novel, and his first appearance is not auspicious for anyone he encounters, including Elsbeth Malone. John slowly learns sinister facts related to his wife's death and eventually learns that he may have a connection to the mysterious man in black. "The Right Thing" also follows the man in black as he visits literary agents across the United States, asking each of the agents that they do the right thing for his client, Elsbeth Malone. Each of the visits by the man in black to a literary agent is a short story, sewn into a novel by the mysterious mission of the man in black.
The tension in this novel slowly rises as John learns about the man in black, determined to understand who or what he is. At first John thinks the man in black is imaginary, but as time passes John learns that many other people have seen the man in black, nearly always to their regret. John's mission becomes desperate when he realizes that the man in black may have targeted a woman he has grown to love for a visit.
Endings rarely surprise me. I have read many novels and I have gotten to the point where I thought I had seen all the possible variations on an ending. However, the ending to "The Right Thing" surprised me so much that I had to read it several times. James Richard Larson tricked me with his superb sleight of hand ending.
James Richard Larson's story-telling pulled me into this novel quickly. The pile of bodies builds quickly in the wake of the man in black, and so did my fascination with the novel. In between bodies are all sorts of other perversions and crimes that add further spice to this story.
James Richard Larson also did a daring thing. Eliphas Lévi that Larson mentions in this novel was a real person. Larson ties Bagnold and Lévi together, and though he never provides specifics of the relationship, he does say that Bagnold carried on with Lévi's work, and he says that Bagnold surpassed Lévi.
This novel is quite clever. The story is fast-paced and contains a lot of action between the explanations. Though this book is Larson's third, and his first fictional novel, he knows what he is doing. I look forward to seeing where Larson's abilities take him.
If you like novels about mysterious characters from the beyond stalking about the country leaving a wake of death, you will find this novel to be superb. Fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz should consider reading this novel by James Richard Larson.
This review is based on a copy of the book provided to me by the author.
Enjoy!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great beginning, a great ending, and a darn good story in between, April 30, 2007
This may be James Richard Larson's first horror novel, but the man knows how to tell a good story and conjure up a creepy atmosphere. The Right Thing hits the ground running, the first chapter bristling with suspense and a strong sense of malevolence as the reader gets a disturbing introduction to the mysterious "man in black" - seen first as a deathly quiet form lurking at the edge of the forest, and then in a much more up close and personal way - it's enough to send one female character into hysteria. Now, I'm not saying this book will have you huddled in a corner in the fetal position; it will, however, hook you solidly in the very first chapter with its presence and atmosphere. As for the ending, Larson delivers a little last-minute surprise that basically hit me right out of the blue. That definitely calls for a kudos on my part.
Johnny Malone's world is turned up side down by the sudden death of his wife Elsbeth. All of the evidence points to suicide, so Johnny reluctantly tries to accept the fact that he never saw any of the warning signs his wife must have shown him. When Elsbeth's friend Mary (the hysterical woman who found the body and saw the "man in black") and Mary's mother tell him that his wife was not only a believer but a practitioner of the black arts, he refuses to believe it. He thought his wife's interest in magickal objects was strictly symbolic in nature. The idea that Elsbeth had indeed done something terrible and unleashed something she could not control (as she had claimed in her suicide note) begins to make a little more sense to Johnny, however, after a string of suspicious deaths begins to coalesce around his own little world.
The one thing Elsbeth had always desperately wanted was to be a published writer. After years of labor, however, she had nothing to show for her effort other than a sizeable collection of rejection letters. Her increasingly vitriolic comments about the agents who turned her away is laid bare in the personal files of her computer, but the depth of her frustration and anger may best be revealed by a series of deaths claiming the lives of several literary agents all across the country. In each case, the individual is called upon by a strange English man claiming to be publishing Elsbeth's last novel and dies by his/her own hand under mysterious circumstances shortly thereafter.
The story sometimes wanders slightly afield as the lives and deaths of secondary characters are presented, but everything really comes full circle by the end. There is a lot of action along the way, and not just in terms of suicides and murders: you also have a bondage scene, an attempted rape, drug deals going down (and going wrong), and all sorts of sundry affairs.
The Right Thing is quite an impressive horror novel. Even when the road of plot development seems pretty straight and narrow, Larson manages to conceal some black spots on the surface and to throw in a few dangerous curves that hit you unawares - right up until the very end. I also appreciated the variety of deaths the author inflicted on a number of his characters. To sum up, I for one hope that this, Larson's first horror novel, is not also his last.
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