Customer Reviews

Voodoo Child

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Michael Reaves has penned another winner with VOODOO CHILD, a well-written thriller set in New Orleans. As the science fiction, fantasy and horror reviewer for the Portland OREGONIAN, I called this book "a welcome addition to books that go bump in the night." And it is . . .

This is the first book I read by Reaves--still is, in fact--but I will be reading more. I found the book thoroughly enjoyable. A parole officer finds herself investigating one of New Orlean's most powerful criminals, Mal Sangre (don't worry, there's a story behind the cheesy name). Joining a Voodoo priest who originally came to America to stop his old friend from using bad Voodoo but is now serving time for a savage murder, the parole officer and a small cast of other interesting characters each experience the dark side of Voodoo. Fun stuff.

Michael Reave's engaging narrative and dialog conjure clear & sometimes disturbing scenarios of a dark, ominous world beneath the tourist's New Orleans. After reading this story you may rethink your next visit to the Big Easy.

Michael Reeves is one of those rare and gifted people who uses words in such a way that a reader's imagination can't help but be taken on a wild ride. My only complaint is that it was so good I read it too fast. It is a book that should be savored like a gourmet meal of many courses. The images that came to mind while reading this book were epic in scope. Never has the appearance of a God seemed so impressive, nor insects seemed so terrifying. I look forward to reading it again.

This is one of the finest horror suspense novels I've ever read. It kept me up until 3 AM, and then when I had finished it, I was too haunted by its many effective and bone-chilling scenes to go to bed! I loved it!

Who would have thought that a horror tale could be as educational as entertaining. Reaves deftly weaves the rituals and practice of Voodoun, Santeria, Palo Mayombe and other African-Caribbean religions into a fascinating story that truly keeps the reader enthralled. Fast paced, ready to be a screenplay, and definitely recommended -- but a glossary really would have helped for all the Creole, Spanish, and African-Caribbean terms that are so liberally spread across the pages.

Actually, I thought it would entertain me but it didn't. It is not boring, but the plot is standard, it means it is predictable. It is one of the million of other horror books published all around the world. Nevertheless, I believe it could make a pretty nice movie. The only thing I liked very much was author's manner of description of places and people's behavior and thoughts.