The Devil's Whispers by Lucas Hault
Author: Lucas Hault
Title: The Devil's Whisper
Publisher: TCK Publishing
Published: 2022
Pages: 250
Genre: Gothic Horror
Famed British lawyer Gerard Woodward is summoned to an ancient Welsh castle to assist a dying lord in his final affairs. But as his host slips closer to death, Gerard begins to feel less like a guest and more like a prisoner. When he finds himself locked inside his room, he realizes he must escape. After finding his way out of his room, Gerard begins to wonder if he was safer locked inside. The labyrinthine halls echo secrets. A terrible wail and the rattling of chains sets his nerves on end. Something sinister is happening within the walls of Mathers Castle, and when he descends into the dungeons, he discovers a horrible secret… In nearby London, children vanish into the night, animals are horribly mutilated, and a savage creature stalks the shadows. When Gerard’s wife, Raelyn, becomes the creature’s next target, Gerard’s need to escape reaches a fever pitch. He must get out alive to dispel the evil to save his beloved Raelyn… and the rest of us.
First I would like to thank TCK Publishing for giving me a free copy for a fair and honest review. Gothic Horror is something I have dipped my toe in on and off over the years. It's a genre that I have to be in the right mood for. On bright and sunny days it does quite seem to fit, for me at least it's the sort of book I wait to read until the sun's rays have slipped past the hills and the stars have started to appear. Now I have read some of the greats from Shelly to Stoker and Lovecraft and beyond but these have always been by authors who have long since slipped their mortal coils. So when offered the chance to read something that was not long out I jumped at the chance to see how Hault would tackle a genre so very rooted in the past.
This is one of those books that is easy to get rooted in straight from the get-go. Whilst some may not be so familiar with the Welsh landscape. The rolling forests and occasional castles can easily jump to the reader's mind. The world Hault wraps us up in is one that will be all too familiar to fans of the genre. That after all is the point of reading a genre-specific book. We want the brooding skies and the lurking evils. And as this author's work sweeps across England in the dead of the night he manages to capture a little of the magic of the old works. Maybe this is in part down to it being written epistolary. It is not often these days we see books formed in a collection of letters. But then again, I suspect that letter writing is somewhat of a lost art now. Either way, for the narrative he set out to tell us it has worked especially well.
I am starting to suspect that the work of lawyers use to involve a great deal more travel. As they whisked here and there creating legal bodies for the rich and powerful. There is also the point to be made that police forces weren't really what we know them to be today. So in search of a hero, one must look else were. And after all, it is still within the bounds of the legal world. In some measure due to the way this book is constructed, we get a greatly expanded cast of players. We can within a relatively short space contain a much larger world. Back at forths take weeks and months as our heroes try and outwit their foes. When it comes to said foes it was good to see that whilst the horror wrought on the streets was still there he had searched out something a little more interesting than the usual fare. More often than not it would seem these days that there are only three types of things that go bump in the night. And whilst it always makes for some fun entrainment it's pleasant once in a while to come across something I haven't heard of.
This was a book that I enjoyed more than I had been expecting. All the keys are played well and it is very easy to see how the author's work was inspired by the greats that have come before him. A gothic horror tale very much worthy of a bit of your time.
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Authors page:
TCK Publishing
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