Voodoo Child [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Reaves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999

As a Louisiana parole officer, Lia St. Charles is used to tough customers, but the man in front of her doesn't fit the description. Shane LaFitte had been a priest of vodun--a healer, not a killer--until he was put away for the brutal ritual murder of his beloved wife. Something about his case just doesn't make sense. And now a ruthless drug lord who controls the New Orleans street trade has opened a door to the Invisible World beyond, summoning monstrous forces for a dreadful day of reckoning. To work this terrible evil, he needs the sacrifice of an innocent, a very special child. Only Shane LaFitte has the power to stop his old enemy--but first he must convince Lia not to put him back in prison for trying...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The air was suddenly charged with a bright actinic glare: she could see millions of raindrops, each one separate and distinct, frozen on their fall to earth. Lightning, she thought ... and surely it was thunder that followed immediately, even though the groundshaking rumble sounded eerily like the laughter of some grimly amused giant or elemental... But a thunderbolt didn't explain the vision Lia saw against the clouds, stark in the bright light, frozen like those myriad drops of rain: the vision of a gigantic gaunt man, towering as high as the clouds themselves, wearing black vestments, a stovepipe hat and small, round glasses. She could see the clouds dimly through him, and it seemed, as he moved, that his tattered coat was full of stars.

That's a Voudoun (voodoo) god. Pretty impressive, eh? This loa (spirit-god) and a few others join a male houngan (Voudoun sorcerer-priest) from Haiti, a female probation officer, a male jazz musician, a female ER doctor, and a little girl as the cast of good guys in Voodoo Child. Add to that crew one powerful bad guy--another sorcerer named Mal Sangre (Bad Blood) who hopes to win favor with some very bad loas with a sacrifice of thousands of human beings. You now have a potent brew for a supernatural thriller. And what's the obvious locale for a big voodoo showdown? New Orleans.

It's a surprisingly light novel for one with such heavy themes--rather like a crime or caper tale. The language is fluid, the plot is well paced and suspenseful, and the fact that the characters are two-dimensional doesn't detract that much. You'll learn a lot of fascinating Voudoun and Creole words, too. Some readers may long for a glossary, but if you're patient and wait a page or two, Reaves will give you each word's meaning in context. --Fiona Webster --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

New Orleans, a town whose every alleyway seems imbued with dark magic, serves as a colorful backdrop for this very busy horror thriller set at the height of Mardi Gras. Six years ago, Haitian sorcerer Jorge Arnez, known throughout the community as Mal Sangre, bewitched reluctant Voudoun priest Shane LaFitte into committing a ritual murder that put him behind bars. When Shane hits the French Quarter on parole, he finds Mal Sangre preparing a sacrifice to the dark gods that will give him incontestable control of the city. Shane's efforts to thwart his nemesis eventually bring him into contact with a cornetist, an ER surgeon and a parole officer, all of whom have been touched by Mal Sangre's evil influence. Reaves (Night Hunter) makes each of these characters sympathetic and memorable, but the many subplots and counterplots he spins from their experiences never converge satisfactorily. The story is fragmented, especially at the climax, which divides its energies between a grisly operating-room scene and a supernatural showdown amidst the mausoleums of the Pontchartrain Cemetery. Nevertheless, events are fast-paced and suspenseful, and Reaves's masterful command of his setting turns a taste of the Big Easy into a delectably spicy read.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812519930
• ISBN-13: 978-0812519938
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,829,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Voodoo in Nola, With a Twist, March 11, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voodoo Child (Hardcover)

Voodoo Child (1998) is the third novel in a series of urban fantasies based on different magic traditions, but with a twist. Moreover, these stories are all hard-boiled mysteries. This novel invokes the tradition of Voodoun and Santeria.

Lia St. Charles is a New Orleans probation-parole officer who has Shane LaFitte among her parolees. Shane is a houngan, a Voudoun priest from Haiti, where he had been a friend of Jorge Arnez, a priest of Santeria and much more accomplished in his craft than Shane.

After several years, Shane begins to accept that his friend has become endiosados -- self-deified -- extending his studies to more powerful magics based on black witchcraft and ultimately gaining the power to enslave the mind of others. When the santero leaves Haiti, Shane and his wife, Anise, make arrangements to follow Arnez to the United States.

In New Orleans, Arnez is known as Mal Sangre and is the head of a powerful criminal organization. When Shane confronts him, Arnez gains control of his mind and forces him to kill his wife. When Shane is found with his wife's body, he is sentenced to 25 years in the state prison, but is let out after five years. Returning to Nola, Shane finds Arnez to be even more powerful and now planning a sacrifice to enable him to become a god.

When Shane tells his parole officer, Lia, that he is on a mission to save the world from an evil sorcerer, she doesn't believe a word of it. After Shane is found with a fired pistol in his hand, Lia sends him back to prison for violation of parole. Later, Lia is to learn that Shane was toning down the truth, but by then she was in too deep to back out.

Recommended for Reaves fans and anyone who enjoys tales of tracking down criminals who are using exotic and evil magic.

-Arthur W. Jordin

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reaves Do the Best Voo Doo, April 29, 1999

By 

Garfield Reeves-Stevens ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voodoo Child (Mass Market Paperback)

As a one-time fellow traveler in the world of horror fiction, I spend a lot of time reading what the competition is up to, and I find it depressing that so many books I pick up, I put down half-read.

Fortunately, there's a handful of writers I can count on to remind me that horror fiction doesn't have to be a second-class citizen, and Michael Reaves is the leader of the pack.

I read VOODOO CHILD in a single sitting and was sorry to see it end. Reaves has a spectacular gift for taking all the classic elements of horror and giving them a spin that makes them brand new. Plus, he is a stylist of elegant power whose prose is a joy to read, AND he gives us characters that are complex, rich, and believable - and that makes the horror all the more compelling, as the best horror should be.

Like Stephen King at the top of his game, VOODOO CHILD is firmly grounded in reality - in this case, New Orleans, so exquisitely realized you could believe Reaves is a Basin Street jazz musician instead of a Hollywood-based, Emmy-winning scriptwriter. And then, once that reality is established, as smoothly as Thomas Harris inviting us into the world of Hannibal Lecter, Reaves teasingly takes us from the little shivers of voodoo rites as they're performed in the real world to a bash-you-over-the-head-with-a-sledgehammer, pull-out-all-the-stops climax (in a graveyard!) that sucks us into a realm of ancient powers and beings beyond human comprehension. In the immortal word of Keanu Reeves - Whoa.

Reading VOODOO CHILD brought me echoes of The Exorcist, Black Sunday, and in its characterization, Silence of the Lambs, yet it stands as a completely original work.

I only ever have one complaint when I read a Michael Reaves novel - I have to wait a year for the next one.

Buy this book. Read this book. Rediscover what it means to enjoy being scared - and creeped out - and entertained again.

My highest recommendation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very unique story line. Interesting and enjoyable read., November 5, 1998

By 

Mister Black "Gadget Freak" (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voodoo Child (Hardcover)

This book is well done. I liked the story line, and the introductory description of certain elements of voodoo it provides. However a number of French? Voo Doo terms are used and the user is left to surmise the definitions. Not impossible but it detracts from the book. A short glossary or footnotes would have been a great addition.