Robert James: Blood Mist

[vaughan]

(Leisure Book - Published 1987)

Having just read a review by 'Steve' I am prompted to write a couple paragraphs about a book I finished yesterday - Blood Mist. Steve was drawn to hsi book by the cover blurb, while I was drawn to this by that wonderful cover (sorry it's so small, borrowed from Amazon!)

The cover shows a beastly claw, with four brutal, bloodied talons grabbing at the books title, a red mist swirling between. In the background we have a high moon, full, showing in stark relief a crane. Good stuff - if not wholly accurate (the beast actually has six bony fingers, and the mist is described as "silver').

The cover blurb also seems to deny us of any peace or happy ending: "It could not be killed, for it was already dead; it could not be stopped, for it was invincible; it could not be satisfied, for its lust was boundless." Hm, kind of leaves you with nowhere to go one would have thought.

Actually though this was a terrific little read (365 pages) and I enjoyed it very much. The setting is South Carolina, and things begin at the excavation of a new apartment building on the beach. Unlike many movies of the time, the businessman behind the enterprise is actually our hero, rather than an evil developer.

At the dig for the foundations and evil force is released, and it's mere pages before we have the first attack, a swift and bloody dismemberment.

The book doesn't hold back with the characters either - we have three cops, each representing different levels of responsibility, a librarian with plenty of time for research, a doctor who's a part time wizard type, a black pimp type who actually has a heart of gold, and of course the beautiful red haired goddess who anyone - and anything - would find irresistible!

As the murders continue we are introduced to demons, sacrifices, zombies, and shape changing - it's all rather wonderful actually.

The writing is bright and breezy, and moves at a good pace. The book is broken into three points of view - that of the main characters, that of the "It", and that of the past. The past is represented through tales of Vikings, Romans, the Spanish and French - groups who through the years have come upon the beast with predictable results. It breaks things up, and nicely gives the impression of a creature living not only in this time, but through all time.

With a climax reminiscent of Dennis Wheatley's "Devil Rides Out" it's quite exciting, and certainly enjoyable. What chance flesh against spirits who fought Zeus?

This book seems rather common around here (I saw another copy in a bookshop yesterday), and if the mystic/demon type thing is your bag, then I'd recommend it (though it might well be a very common book). It positively flies by, and I was never bored.

Nice.

[killercrab]

Great review - never heard of it - 365 pages - that's positively a marathon compared to the 128 page sprints I read.

A

[Steve]

This is a new one on me as well but it sounds pretty good. A pimp with a heart of gold and a part-time wizard? You can't go wrong really, can you? Slightly concerned by this 365 pages business but if I've got a Devil Rides Out style climax to look forward to I'm sure that'll be enough to keep me going. Thanks, Vaughan - another one to add to the list!
Here's a slightly bigger scan I borrowed off some online auction site. Hope it helps.

"It fed on fear, lived on blood and reveled in death" - oh, the temptation to make some cheap joke at the expense of my ex-wife but, you know, I'm over that now...

[vaughan]

You know, I put page counts down because it's a hard fact that's sometimes fun to know. However, if you take into account the largish font, the line spacing etc - this is probably a 250 page book by many peoples standards. It's certainly not a long read.....