Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | ROMANCE MOS | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
The Matrix meets Interview with the Vampire in this sexy gothic thriller about two beautiful witch sisters and the love triangle that consumes the information thief who is drawn into their intrigues.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This spellbinding tale of magic and seduction from Mostert (Windwalker) shows that the unfettered pursuit of arcane enlightenment can sometimes come at too high a price. William Whittington, a terminally ill London investment banker, hires Gabriel Blackstone, a rakish "information broker," to find Robert, his missing 21-year-old son. Whittington's wife, who happens to be Blackstone's ex-girlfriend, knows Blackstone once belonged to an organization, Eyestorm, that used psychic methods to find missing objects and persons. When Blackstone draws on his remote viewing powers ("slamming the ride"), he discovers that Robert was murdered by one of two sisters-raven-haired Morrighan or flame-haired Minnaloushe Monk, direct descendants of Elizabethan occultist John Dee, who dabble in alchemy and the "Art of Memory." As Blackstone woos the suspects to discover which one is guilty, he falls desperately in love. Mostert, a South African writer now living in London, has produced a feverish tale that's goth SF at its finest. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Black cats, snakes, spiders, mystical signs and symbols and dangerous sex are skillfully stirred together in this brain-squeezing thriller from the South African-born author (The Midnight Side, 2001, etc.). Following an arresting Prologue, which describes an eerie, fateful seduction, Mostert introduces her protagonist, Gabriel Blackstone, a 30-something Londoner who has turned his psychic "gift" into a thriving career as an "information thief." When we meet him, he's employing his talent for "remote viewing" (i.e., the ability to enter other people's thoughts) by spying for a toy company on its competitor. Then Gabriel is contacted by wealthy investment banker William Whittington, and importuned to find the latter's missing son Robbie, a request seconded by Whittington's young wife, the former Cecily Franck, herself a remote viewer, and Gabriel's former lover. When Gabriel "slams a ride" (telepathically) into an unidentified fourth party's consciousness, he "visits" a mysteriously furnished mansion where "a nightmarish whirlwind of images and sounds" comprises a scene similar to that in the Prologue, and also to the interior of Monk House in Chelsea (which Gabriel visits), home of the alluring, eccentric sisters Minnaloushe and Morrigan, known to have been Robbie Whittington's "close friends." Meanwhile, interpolated diary entries kept by "M." tease the reader with the possibility--gravely considered by the increasingly involved and baffled Gabriel--that one or both of the sisters has committed murder. Whether or not they are (as alleged) "direct descendants" of Elizabethan magus John Dee, both are absorbed in the arcana of astrology, hermetic philosophy, alchemy, witchcraft and the Renaissance art of constructing "memory palaces"--one of which, once entered, holds the key to the Monk mystery, and leads to an inordinately creepy finale whose working-out will cast a dark shadow over the rest of Gabriel's life. Mostert manages it all quite impressively, concocting an intellectual puzzler that will keep the reader hooked, and guessing, until the final page. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In the early pages of Mostert's intriguing gothic thriller, crafty London computer hacker Gabriel Blackstone agrees to help track down a millionaire's missing stepson. His search leads him to two beautiful--and literally bewitching--sisters, Minnaloushe and Morrighan Monk. (Their ancient Irish names are but a hint of their eccentric natures.) The sexy siblings (all pale skin, dark and flowing hair, and light, haunting eyes) are immersed in the occult, and it's not long before at least one of them has climbed inside Gabriel's mind. But Gabriel, it turns out, is a clairvoyant himself. Can he tap into the sisters' secrets before becoming forever entangled in their web? Mostert ( Windwalker, 2005) renders suspense, an atmosphere fraught with eroticism, and compelling characters (the comely sisters display a killer combination of femininity and guile). Fans of Anne Rice and Joyce Carol Oates should appreciate Mostert's take on mysticism, magic, and the ancient art of memory, while others may find the author's premise a bit too woo-woo for their tastes. --Allison Block Copyright 2007 Booklist
