horror | Lorelei By Starlight

I love it when I come across a great surprise. Stephen Leather’s Nightfall is one of those surprises. In the first book of his Nightingale series, Leather creates his own take on the traditional noir style detective story and introduces us to his protagonist, Jack Nightingale.

Nightingale is a former police negotiator who turned detective after losing a most unusual suicide jumper and being implicated- but not actually charged – in a subsequent unfortunate death connected with the incident. Things are going as well as can be expected until he finds out that everything he thought he knew about himself was wrong. In a few short days, Jack learns that he was adopted at birth, and his real father was a rich, crazy man obsessed with the occult who sold Jack’s soul to a devil. Oh, and payment will be due on his 33rd birthday – which is just three weeks away. As if that isn’t bad enough, as time runs short and he keeps looking for answers, people keep dying around him. What follows is a great detective story laced with murder, the occult, and some very interesting characters.

Jack Nightingale is a great hard-boiled type. A tortured soul who continues to question himself after the last, worst, experience in his former career. Leather uses this inner turmoil and self-doubt well throughout the book as Jack frequently encounters situations where he is informed that he is “going to hell” (other characters mutter it during conversations, he finds it written in blood on a mirror, etc.) – only to immediately be unable to determine if what he has just heard or seen is real. His sanity is continually in question by those around him, and by Jack, himself. His secretary, Jenny, is rich enough to not have to work and joins him in his sometimes dangerous and illegal exploits. Her character functions both as a support for him and a touchstone for the saner, more normal world. But, she never reveals exactly why she’s working for him. It could be that she’s secretly in love with him, but as she refuses to ever directly answer his question and the plot thickens, the reader begins to wonder about her motivation. A variety of other characters are encountered in the book from former colleagues and informants, to millionaire occult book collectors, to the demon that is behind the scenes, manipulating Jack’s fate.

In addition to liking the character and format, there are a lot of visual images that the book provides, which I found extremely well done. I really like the house he inherited – a crumbling, empty mansion, with a hidden basement containing some of the most rare occult books in the world. And, some of the conjuring sessions – with the ouija board and within the chalked out circle – were really good, too.

Overall, there is a nice combination of familiarity and novelty throughout the book as Leather takes a genre that seems familiar at first and works it into his own dark vision. I am looking forward to reading more in this series!

Found footage films are pretty much hit or miss at this point. However, I have to say that I was definitely enjoyed As Above So Below. The movie didn’t appear to do too well in the theaters, and was only there for a short time, but I found quite a bit about it to like.

The focus of the film is Scarlett, a treasure hunter type, who is following up on her deceased father’s life’s work – searching for the philosopher’s stone. (Note: If they had marketed this aspect of the film when it came out, I would have headed to the theater for sure!) After finding bits and pieces of clues around the world, she eventually ends up in Paris, where she enlists the help of her estranged friend (lover?) George. George is reluctant at first – still a bit bitter about their last escapade where he was apparently left by her in a Turkish jail – but eventually can’t resist and joins up with her to search for what they hope will be pay dirt in the catacombs of Paris.

NOTE: Beware all ye who proceed further – spoilers await.

Scarlett and George find the final clue to the philosopher stone’s location hidden behind an exhibit in a museum accompanied by the Latin acronym which translates to, “Visit the earth’s interior parts; by rectification you shall find the hidden stone.” They quickly realize that they will need help locating a hidden tunnel, which is supposed to be beneath the grave of the renowned alchemist Nicholas Flamel. They collect a crew of peeps, all equipped with headlamps and cameras. and are led by self-trained guide Papillon on a search for the hidden tunnel.

And things begin to go wrong almost immediately. After climbing through a particularly large stack of femurs, they find themselves right back where they started. Tunnel entrances that Papillon has never seen before appear, as do a piano, a ringing telephone, a burning car and other things that shouldn’t possibly be there, including a former pal of Papillon’s who was thought to have died in the tunnels on a previous adventure. This mysterious addition to the group proceeds to help them find the way out by leading them deeper and deeper.

Eventually, they find a treasure chamber, and a stone that appears to have the magical capabilities rumored of the philosopher’s stone. But, of course, like all treasure chambers, there is a trap. The way out is closed to them. It is in this room that Scarlett encounters an painting on the wall, which indicates the alchemical principle of “as it is above, so it is below, as it is within, so it is without.” They are forced to continue further into the catacombs, descending ever deeper.

There are several comparisons to the hellish descent in Dante’s Inferno, and things really begin to get scary when they are forced to enter a small, crawlspace below the inscription, “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” On the other side, they encounter a room the mirror image of the one they just left with the same painting reversed and at this point the trip gets even creepier. Demonic creatures lurk in the shadows, people are hurt and killed, horrible secrets from their consciences come back to haunt them, and it becomes increasingly clear that they are progressing through a horrific mirror image of their journey as each cavern they enter is an oppositely oriented duplicate of the ones they previously explored.

The key to the movie is the fact that they must “rectify” themselves in order to find the stone. And, eventually Scarlett catches on to this. I won’t give away the ending, but it is definitely interesting. Between the treasure hunting aspect, alchemy references, Dante, and the catacombs themselves, this was a movie designed to hook me. If you are into the same type of things, you should definitely check this one out!