The Devil's Footsteps by John Burke

[cromagnonman]

Imagine finding yourself trapped in a remote and isolated village, one inhabited by a sinister population of in-breeds in thrall to an ancient demonic force who are intent on you taking centre stage in their recreation of a bonfire night ritual.


No, I'm not talking about last autumn's vacation in [insert place name of personal preference] but rather the grim scenario facing Dr Alexander Caspian in this the first of three adventures for John Burke's occult investigator.


There are few types of fiction I enjoy more than a good psychic detective yarn. Everything from Flaxman Low to Fox Mulder floats my boat. So I'm understandably aggrieved at taking quite so long to acquaint myself with Burke's engaging character. Particularly as I've had the first two novels in the series gathering dust in the attic for some time now. Now having finished the first of them I've wasted no time in sourcing myself a copy of the third.


This is a seriously unsettling book. It is probably too light on shocks for many a modern palate but what it lacks in histrionics it compensates for with a slow inexorable accretion of foreboding and mounting dread.


The year is 1885 and Caspian is in the fenlands village of Hexney investigating reports of a trail of sinister tracks that appear to be advancing nightly towards the village under no discernable cause. Here he encounters the captivating Bronwen Powys, a feisty lady of independent means and willful mind, who is photographing the buildings of the village in an attempt to preserve them for posterity.
Bronwen is a marvellous creation - one harbouring a secret of her own - and the novel is as much her story as it is Caspian's.
In the course of their stay Caspian and Bronwen each become aware of a strange and disturbing atmosphere at work in the village. People begin to experience dark and prophetic visions; a strange ethereal figure blights one of Bronwen's photographs; a young boy is found inexplicably drowned in the dyke. When Caspian discovers that Hexney is at the epicentre of a vast topographic pentacle - one which the inexorably advancing tracks threaten to complete - the stage is set for the reenactment of a grisly Guy Fawkes Night spectacle. A spectacle in which both Bronwen and Caspian find themselves selected for pivotal involvement.


I really enjoyed this book. It isn't especially graphic; its effectiveness rests instead in the cumulative power of suggestion. To say that it is part Wicker Man and part Blood on Satan's Claw would be to do Burke a grave injustice, but it is undoubtedly rooted in the same 70s fascination with rustic horror and simmering paganism.


Caspian is a character of rich potential and a most engaging companion to experience the novel's events with. He is a stage magician by profession, one who uses his illusionist's skills and insight to expose those fraudulent mediums that were so rife in the Victorian period. Far be it from me to suggest that this sounds uncannily similar to a certain tv series that - 20 odd years later - concerned itself with the solving of impossible crimes but I daresay if Harlan Ellison instead of John Burke had written the novel then litigation would have ensued.


All three of the Caspian novels have been reprinted in recent years by the Borgo Press and I would recommend this one without reservation to anyone with an interest either in the psychic detective sub genre in particular or rustic horror in general.


Anyone in search of further incentive might like to be advised that the book contains a quite remarkable and surreal sequence of telepathic sex. Short of Jackie Collins collaborating with Dennis Wheatley its not the sort of thing I ever envisaged myself encountering.       

[mcannon]

>"Jackie Collins collaborating with Dennis Wheatley">

Now _that_ should be the cover blurb the next time this book is reprinted!

I enjoy a good (or even bad) psychic detective story myself, but haven't read any of the "Caspian" novels - I may have to track them down. More layers to add to the towering "Must read that soon" stack!

Mark

[ripper]

I agree with Cromagnonman. "The Devil's Footsteps" is an enjoyable book, and the two protagonists are interesting and engaging characters. The other two entries in the series are "The Black Charade" and "Ladygrove" (1977 and 1978 respectively).

[cromagnonman]

Thanks for the endorsement, Ripper.

I found the two leads to be intriguing company and believe that - like their wackier mid 70s publishing counterparts Francis St Clare and Frederica Masters - they would adapt well to tv. (There is a case for arguing that both have already done so: was it really such a coincidence that Sapphire & Steel only arrived on the small screen after Burke and Chetwynd-Hayes had already put their characters into print?).

What was a spooky coincidence was The Living and the Dead airing whilst I was reading the book, especially with Colin Morgan bearing more than a passing resemblance to Burke's description of Caspian: (although I was even more put in mind of Jonathan Pryce from Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Bronwen Powys reminded me of Kim Thomson from Virtual Murder. Anyone else out there remember that one?

[dem bones]

Jul 16, 2016 14:22:43 GMT cromagnonman said:

Thanks for the endorsement, Ripper.

I found the two leads to be intriguing company and believe that - like their wackier mid 70s publishing counterparts Francis St Clare and Frederica Masters - they would adapt well to tv. (There is a case for arguing that both have already done so: was it really such a coincidence that Sapphire & Steel only arrived on the small screen after Burke and Chetwynd-Hayes had already put their characters into print?).

I think you might be on to something there.

The spirit of Francis St. Clare and Frederica Masters lives on in Lord John Llewellyn Probert's psychic investigators Mr Massene Henderson and glamorous sidekick, Miss Samantha Jephcott, whose adventures are collected in Against The Darkness (Screaming Dreams, 2009).

And just this morning I met another contemporary equivalent of sorts. In the opening novella of his very recently published Tough Guys, Adrian Cole pairs Nick 'Nightmare' Stone, a hard-boiled New York gum-shoe, with Ariadne Carnadine, power-dressed business woman/ nightclub singer/ ninja warrior. Since his release from Sing Sing, where he served three years for a murder he did not commit, very dark-occult experiences have a way of seeking Nick out. If Waiting For The Ricochet is typical of the rest, then Mr. Nightmare's earlier adventures are worth seeking out.