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Necroscope #4
Deadspeak
A new vampire stalks the earth, and only Harry Keogh can defeat him!
The silence of the grave is not silent at all. In their millions, the dead are screaming...but no one can hear them!
Atop a perilous cliff, deep in the Balkan mountains, rises the castle of the Ferenczy. Once it was a stronghold of the Vamphyri...and now it will be so again, for Janos Ferenczy, vampire and black magician, has risen from his ages-long sleep. Powerful and evil, Janos conjures dead men and women into a semblance of life and subjects them to fiendish tortures.
But the shrieks of the dead do not satisfy Janos's lust for blood-- for that he needs living humans. His terrifying armies of the risen dead will soon overwhelm a helpless, defenseless mankind....
Helpless and defenseless because a terrible battle against the vampires has destroyed Harry Keogh's deadspeak, leaving the Necroscope deaf to the teeming dead...and to their warnings of Janos's reign of terror.
To save the world, Harry must join forces and link minds with the most powerful, and deadliest, vampire of all!
The silence of the grave is not silent at all. In their millions, the dead are screaming...but no one can hear them!
Atop a perilous cliff, deep in the Balkan mountains, rises the castle of the Ferenczy. Once it was a stronghold of the Vamphyri...and now it will be so again, for Janos Ferenczy, vampire and black magician, has risen from his ages-long sleep. Powerful and evil, Janos conjures dead men and women into a semblance of life and subjects them to fiendish tortures.
But the shrieks of the dead do not satisfy Janos's lust for blood-- for that he needs living humans. His terrifying armies of the risen dead will soon overwhelm a helpless, defenseless mankind....
Helpless and defenseless because a terrible battle against the vampires has destroyed Harry Keogh's deadspeak, leaving the Necroscope deaf to the teeming dead...and to their warnings of Janos's reign of terror.
To save the world, Harry must join forces and link minds with the most powerful, and deadliest, vampire of all!
487 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1990
99 people are currently reading
1,942 people want to read
About the author
Brian Lumley
421books1,336followersBrian Lumley was born near Newcastle. In 22 years as a Military Policeman he served in many of the Cold War hotspots, including Berlin, as well as Cyprus in partition days. He reached the rank of Sergeant-Major before retiring to Devon to write full-time, and his work was first published in 1970. The vampire series, 'Necroscope', has been translated into ten languages and sold over a million copies worldwide.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
November 15, 2021
The fourth Necroscope book was good but not as good as the others. It seems that there is still a vampire on the loose- Janos, Faethor's son, is a powerful mentalist vampire. Harry is suffering the loss of his Necroscope powers after the events of the last book.
While the story surrounding the vampire and the old lore parts are excellent, the parts set in the modern world are merely Ok. harry and the ESPers chase the vampire through Greece. But, the final showdown will occur in Romania.
It was entertaining but the parts about the current Harry and his issues was not that great. Anything having to do with the Vampire was good. This series has been fun, especially for someone who likes vampire stories. Will I be rushing out to grab the next book in this series? Possibly but I'm in no rush.
While the story surrounding the vampire and the old lore parts are excellent, the parts set in the modern world are merely Ok. harry and the ESPers chase the vampire through Greece. But, the final showdown will occur in Romania.
It was entertaining but the parts about the current Harry and his issues was not that great. Anything having to do with the Vampire was good. This series has been fun, especially for someone who likes vampire stories. Will I be rushing out to grab the next book in this series? Possibly but I'm in no rush.
March 7, 2025
Well, this book is good, it is not as good as many of other other books in the series. It starts off in similar to the first book with a dead-sh vampire need a host through means of a kind of son. I don’t think this plot point was done as well as in the first book and while it was still fun, it makes this part of the story more noticeable of a downgrade from the first time it was done.
Harry also doesn’t have his powers in this one. Which was an interesting aspect that I was glad to see explored. I found it gave more time for character, growth, portable hair, and rest of the cast, which I was really glad to see in this problem aspect of this book.
This book is one day it could easily get lost and forgotten about the series as it’s just not a very notable piece of it. It’s not all we could or bad. It’s just okey part of a larger series.
Harry also doesn’t have his powers in this one. Which was an interesting aspect that I was glad to see explored. I found it gave more time for character, growth, portable hair, and rest of the cast, which I was really glad to see in this problem aspect of this book.
This book is one day it could easily get lost and forgotten about the series as it’s just not a very notable piece of it. It’s not all we could or bad. It’s just okey part of a larger series.
February 10, 2021
While I still really liked this, I think Lumley is starting to get a little formulaic in this series. Once again, we have a vampire coming back to 'life' on Earth, another 'son' of Ferenczy, this one Janos. Janos immediately seeks power, and in his previous 'life', he had hidden vast mounds of treasure around Greece. He also sensed in the 'new' world that great amounts of money could be made via illegal drugs. So, while the British ESPionage team is engaged at the moment tracking cocaine shipments bound for the UK in Greece, they stumble upon Janos to their great cost!
Harry, meanwhile, is left bereft of his abilities to speak with the dead or teleport due to his son's 'suggestions' after the battle in the parallel Earth from the last Volume. Harry's son is worried that Harry will come after him some day, as he has been infected by vampire wolf. Nonetheless, Harry wants to help in Greece, especially as Janos seems quite powerful!
The best part of this series is the historical aspect; it really is brilliant historical fiction at times, and Lumley gracefully moves us among the 10th, 12th 15th centuries exploring the exploits of vampires and their minions. Can Harry regain his powers in time to stop Janos? We know there will be a final denouncement, but what will be the outcome? 3.5 wooden, silver tipped stakes!
Harry, meanwhile, is left bereft of his abilities to speak with the dead or teleport due to his son's 'suggestions' after the battle in the parallel Earth from the last Volume. Harry's son is worried that Harry will come after him some day, as he has been infected by vampire wolf. Nonetheless, Harry wants to help in Greece, especially as Janos seems quite powerful!
The best part of this series is the historical aspect; it really is brilliant historical fiction at times, and Lumley gracefully moves us among the 10th, 12th 15th centuries exploring the exploits of vampires and their minions. Can Harry regain his powers in time to stop Janos? We know there will be a final denouncement, but what will be the outcome? 3.5 wooden, silver tipped stakes!
October 6, 2021
The fourth Necroscope book has us step back and lick our wounds from the last, with Harry being massively underpowered and kinda desperate. It's a nice change.
That being said, this book has all the goodies of the previous ones. Expansive dives into the vampire villains, iffy allies, great history, and lots and lots of the helpful dead.
Where this kinda read like a formula of the previous books, I didn't really mind because it was a fun ride. The scope is always larger than I expect out of any vampire books, easily sliding around huge time periods or places (or other worlds) and falling back to where it is most grounded: spy stuff and defeating overpowered enemies. :)
Oh, and this is a great way to enjoy spooktober. :)
That being said, this book has all the goodies of the previous ones. Expansive dives into the vampire villains, iffy allies, great history, and lots and lots of the helpful dead.
Where this kinda read like a formula of the previous books, I didn't really mind because it was a fun ride. The scope is always larger than I expect out of any vampire books, easily sliding around huge time periods or places (or other worlds) and falling back to where it is most grounded: spy stuff and defeating overpowered enemies. :)
Oh, and this is a great way to enjoy spooktober. :)
October 21, 2017
Harry Keogh has returned from Starside/Sunside and he's been stripped of his power to converse with the dead, or deadspeak. He also isn't able to travel via the Möbius Continuum. His wamphryii son disabled his ability while on Starside. For four years, Harry has been unable to use his former ability to speak with the dead, except while he is sleeping. Unfortunately, he can not remember his conversations with them once he has awakened. He is still employed with E-Branch, just in case his abilities are restored and for his knowledge of wamphryii. Fortunately, there are no more...or is there? High up in the Balkan mountains, where Faethor Ferenczy's castle ruins remain, there is another wamphryii plotting his return. This vampire is Faethor's son, Janos. Janos is a vampire and an expert at black magic, but not a full wamphryii. What powers he doesn't possess, he looks to steal, including those that are locked in the head of the former necroscope. Will Harry ever gain his abilities back and defeat the vampire scourge or will Janos steal everything that is precious in Harry's life?
Necroscope IV: Deadspeak jumps right back in where III left off, giving us more enlightenment into Lumley's vampiric mythos while also delivering more of the same ingredients you'd expect from a Necroscope book. Harry's character is still a tormented soul trying to cope with the huge responsibilities he feels resting on his shoulders, now made infinitely more difficult with the loss of his abilities. Janos is a worthy villain that you want to see get his. Lumley even throws some Cthulhu Mythos Yog-Sothoth in there. He has always been influenced by Lovecraft and I love seeing those influences make their way into a series that it helped create. Necroscope is kind of like a James Bond story or an AC/DC album. Each one is slightly different, expands slightly from the original, but still delivers the goods as you'd expect. Looking forward to Part 5.
4 1/2 Dead Body Salts out of 5
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Necroscope IV: Deadspeak jumps right back in where III left off, giving us more enlightenment into Lumley's vampiric mythos while also delivering more of the same ingredients you'd expect from a Necroscope book. Harry's character is still a tormented soul trying to cope with the huge responsibilities he feels resting on his shoulders, now made infinitely more difficult with the loss of his abilities. Janos is a worthy villain that you want to see get his. Lumley even throws some Cthulhu Mythos Yog-Sothoth in there. He has always been influenced by Lovecraft and I love seeing those influences make their way into a series that it helped create. Necroscope is kind of like a James Bond story or an AC/DC album. Each one is slightly different, expands slightly from the original, but still delivers the goods as you'd expect. Looking forward to Part 5.
4 1/2 Dead Body Salts out of 5
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
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August 7, 2020
Na toto som ráno narazila a hovorím vám, celý Covid aj s 5G aj s chemtrailsami sú len zástierkou, aby sme si nevšimli, že Ono to naozaj existuje a ľudia to kupujú a dávajú to deťom. Zdieľajte kým nezmažú a saďte cesnak.:
July 26, 2012
Well , back to the excellent Brian Lumley & his "Necroscope" series ; at the start of this book , Harry Keogh is an ex-necroscope , his powers having been taken from him by his son (who is Wamphyri) about 4 years ago. At the same time E-Branch are looking into a case of drug smuggling in the Greek islands , & a Mr Lazaridis is finding archaeological treasures so easily-almost as if he knows exactly where to look....
So , there's a new vampire in town (or in Romania to be exact) & to fight him , Harry needs his ability to talk to the dead - but this can only be restored by a deal with an old enemy...
The thing I like about these books is their grittiness - I find them evocative of the "Harry Palmer" books & films , as they're very downbeat , which works well with the subject matter . The book ends on something of a cliffhanger , & I'm looking forward to reading book 5.
Worthy of your attention.
So , there's a new vampire in town (or in Romania to be exact) & to fight him , Harry needs his ability to talk to the dead - but this can only be restored by a deal with an old enemy...
The thing I like about these books is their grittiness - I find them evocative of the "Harry Palmer" books & films , as they're very downbeat , which works well with the subject matter . The book ends on something of a cliffhanger , & I'm looking forward to reading book 5.
Worthy of your attention.
January 30, 2016
Now the vampires get revenge. Great read, this series is a very good vampire mythos. Very recommended
July 10, 2022
This is a slight decline in rating from the first 3 in the series but it is still a worthy addition.
Harry has returned from Starside / Sunside and lost his ability to travel the Morbius Continuum and deadspeak ( termed deadspeak in this book). It was said that his son went into his mind to lock those doors due to Harry's obsession with ridding the worlds of vampires.
So in this book we see a very different Harry for much of the story. a Vulnerable Harry. The New Baddie is Jannos Ferenczy, who is a blood son of Faethor and not true Wamphyri but a hybrid. Much different than Yulian, Boris, or Thibor, this baddie is a VERY strong Mentalist and strives to be just as powerful as his father. he even teaches himself some Wamphyri skills like morphing, turning , and a type of Necromancing and raising of dead that is heavily influenced by Lovecraft and Lumleys love for the Universe Lovecraft created.
All in all, it was a 4 star book. Just like much of the series, the mythos and the flashbacks to Wamphyri pasts are the best parts of the story. How Harry gets his powers back is quite interesting as well as he relies on an OLD "friend".
Now, on to number 5.
Harry has returned from Starside / Sunside and lost his ability to travel the Morbius Continuum and deadspeak ( termed deadspeak in this book). It was said that his son went into his mind to lock those doors due to Harry's obsession with ridding the worlds of vampires.
So in this book we see a very different Harry for much of the story. a Vulnerable Harry. The New Baddie is Jannos Ferenczy, who is a blood son of Faethor and not true Wamphyri but a hybrid. Much different than Yulian, Boris, or Thibor, this baddie is a VERY strong Mentalist and strives to be just as powerful as his father. he even teaches himself some Wamphyri skills like morphing, turning , and a type of Necromancing and raising of dead that is heavily influenced by Lovecraft and Lumleys love for the Universe Lovecraft created.
All in all, it was a 4 star book. Just like much of the series, the mythos and the flashbacks to Wamphyri pasts are the best parts of the story. How Harry gets his powers back is quite interesting as well as he relies on an OLD "friend".
Now, on to number 5.
January 4, 2012
Maybe it's just me, but 'chillers' stopped chilling me and 'thrillers' stopped thrilling me a long, long time ago. It'd been a good long while since I picked up a book which fell into either category, when I got my hands on this one. The cover is suitably disturbing and well-done. The same cannot be said of the contents. I can only say that this book displays about the same level of plot ingenuity as a 1960's pulp comic. Which is not that surprising, since this is after all the fourth book of a rapidly expiring series.
As predictable and dry as it, I do think this book is halfway decent a read compared to many others of the genre. Harry Keogh's 'deadspeak' powers are somewhat interesting - and create some unique plot situations. However, his space-time manipulation powers are just too ludicrous and one-sided, and should never have been brought into the picture. The antagonist is disappointing and impotent, while the ending is utterly lacklustre.
Strictly as a means to pass the time of day, this book is acceptable. If you're looking for 'chills and thrills', or a worthwhile plot and development, look elsewhere.
As predictable and dry as it, I do think this book is halfway decent a read compared to many others of the genre. Harry Keogh's 'deadspeak' powers are somewhat interesting - and create some unique plot situations. However, his space-time manipulation powers are just too ludicrous and one-sided, and should never have been brought into the picture. The antagonist is disappointing and impotent, while the ending is utterly lacklustre.
Strictly as a means to pass the time of day, this book is acceptable. If you're looking for 'chills and thrills', or a worthwhile plot and development, look elsewhere.
September 8, 2013
A great book. They just keep getting better, and nice tie into his "Lovecraftian" stories.
September 10, 2017
Best one yet! Loving this series!
March 7, 2015
“Deadspeak� was one of my favorite Necroscope stories. I’ve been reading the books in chronological order, so I’ve spent the last few months read about all of Harry’s adventures during the Los Years. Pirates, alien forest monsters, the plague bearer, the Mobius murders, etc. I’ve been dying to get back to the present following Harry Keogh’s experience on Sunside/Starside. And Lumley didn’t disappoint.
“Deadspeak� contained all the story elements I was hoping for, including a strong showing by members of E-Branch, the return of either Feather or Thibor Ferenczy, and basically Harry kicking vampire ass.
I had forgotten that at the end of The Source Harry is stripped of his dead speak and his access to the Mobius Continuum by his son, Harry Jr. So it was cool to see Harry still fighting the good fight without his powers for most of the book.
Part I of the book involving the return of Janos Ferenczy was thrilling. I had a feeling the Szgany Zirra would show up again after their appearance during the Lost Years and Radu Lykan’s history. Dumitru’s death was particularly awful:
“Spikes! Needle-sharp fangs of rusted iron, filling that final gap side to side and end to end. Three dozen of them at least - and Dumitru knew their meaning, and the Ferenczy’s terrible purpose in an instant�.Opposite the spiked pit, the ledge and entire section of wall that backed it - an “L� of hewn stone - tilted through ninety degrees, and tossed Dumitru onto the spikes. His single shriek, of realization and the horror it brought combined, was cut off short as he was pierced through skull and spine and most of his vital organs - but not his heart. Still beating, his heart continued to pump his blood - to pump it out through the many lacerations to his impales, writhing body. Blood coursed down the V-shaped channel, spurted from the spout, splashed down into the mouth of the urn to wet whatever was inside. Ancient ashes, salts - the chemicals of a man, of a monster - soaked it up, bubbled and bulked out, smoked and smoldered. Such was the chemical reaction that the obscene lips of the urn seemed almost to belch."
And later when the three Americans traveled to Romania, and the Texan Seth Armstrong was killed and made a thrall to Janos Ferenczy. Particularly painful:
“The Texas put up a hand and slapped at the finger on his cheek, clawed at it. It climbed higher, with a life of its own, and gouged at the corner of his right eye. Armstrong howled as it dug in, dislodged the eyeball, and entered the socket. With his eyeball hanging on his cheek, he danced and screamed and clutched at his face, but he couldn’t dislodge the thing, which burrowed like an alien worm into his head. ‘Jesus God!� he screamed, falling to his knees and tearing at the rim of the empty orbit. And: ‘J-J-Jesus G-G-God!� he gurgled again as he ripped the flopping eye loose and vampire flesh put out exploratory tendrils into his brain."
My least favorite part of the book was when E-Branch heroes and all around badasses Ken Layard and Trevor Jordan were attacked by Janos Ferenczy and the thrall Seth Armstrong. I got quite attached to these characters in the first two Necroscope books, especially in book 2 and the battle against Yulien Boduscu. I can honestly say I was pissed when Janos caused Trevor to blow his brains out in front of Harry and Darcy Clark. Trevor was my favorite E-Branch character, and I liked Ken a lot, too. Sad to see those two gents destroyed by Janos. But it was cool seeing them trying to get through to Harry in his dreams by having the dead spell our letters in his garden in Bonnyrig.
Speaking of Janos, Lumley demonstrates his master craft in writing terrifying vampires. Despite all that Thibor did to Boris Dragosani, and all the dreadful things both Feather and Radu Lykan did, they weren’t as horrifying as Janos Ferenczy. His vampire was written as far darker, unrelentingly evil and sadistic. He enjoyed the pain he caused, and showed no fear. For example, before Janos leaves the port at Rhodes, he “enjoys� the company of a local prostitute in the shadows:
“She inhaled air massively, but before she could scream, his chasm of a mouth had clamped itself over the entire lower half of her face. And his tongue also surged, into and down her convulsing throat. While in her mind: Ah, I see you do know the legend! Well, and now you know the reality. So be it! Inside her body his vampire photo-flesh spread into every cavity, putting out filament rootlets which burrowed in her veins and arteries like worms in soil, without damaging the structure. And even before she had lost full consciousness, Janos was feeding."
Harry describes vampires perfectly mid-way through the book:
“They’re devious beyond the imagination of human beings. They’re liars each and every one, who on almost every occasion would rather lie than tell the truth - unless there’s something of substantial value in it for them. They’re experts in confusing any argument, adept at ambiguous and frustrating riddles, word games, puzzles and paradoxes, false similes and parallels. They’re insanely jealous, secretive, proud, possessive. And as for their grip on life - or undeath - they are the most tenacious creation in or out of Creation! Their source lies in the vampire swamps east and west of the central mountain range that divides Starside from Sunside. The legend is that at times they emerge as monstrous slugs or leeches to fasten on men and beasts. As to what degree of intelligence they possess at that stage: who can say? But their tenacity is there from square one. They live on the blood of the host and form a horrific symbiosis with him. The host is changed, materially and mentally. Sexless, the vampire adopts the sex of its host, and it fosters in him - or her - that lust for blood which eventually will sustain both of them."
Harry Keogh just can’t catch a break. You truly gotta feel sympathy for this guy. He loses his wife and son and spends years looking for them. He has his memory scrambled both by E-Branch and by B.J. Mirlu, who is killed by Radu. Then Sandra, the new woman in his life, she turns out to be an E-Branch planted agent, and eventually she is vampirized by Janos, and Harry is forced to kill her. Seriously, he’s got no one in his life. I don’t know how he functions. He has the dead as friends and companions, but what about love? What about a family. Does he ever see his wife and son again?
Harry’s raw emotions come out in a conversation with Manolis:
“Manolis.� Harry stopped him. “No man has lost more than I have. No, I’m not being a martyr, I’m just stating a fact. It started when I was a kid and it hasn;t stopped yet. I’ve lost just about every person I ever loved. I’ve even lost my son in another world, to another creed: this same damned creed, vampirism! And the more you lose, the more hardened you get to it. Ask any habitual gambler. They don’t play to win but to lose. (A reference to Dead Eddy?) They used to play to win, but now when they win, they just go right on back to the tables…You want me to cry over Sandra? Maybe I will, later. You want me to go to pieces, to show that I’m a good guy? But what good will I be in all of this if I go to pieces? I loved Sandra, yes, I think. But already it’s too late to do anything about it. She’s just one more thing that I’ve lost. it’s the only way I can look at it and still go on. Except now I may be starting to win again. We may be starting to win again. Not Sandra, no, for she’s dead. And if she isn’t, then she’d be better off. I know this Janos Ferenczy now, and I know what I� talking about. You call me cold, but you don’t know how I’m burning up inside. Now I’ll ask you to do me a favor: stop worrying about how you see things. Stop worrying about Sandra. It’s too late. This is a war and she was a casualty. What we have to do now is start hitting back, while we still have a chance!"
You can see Harry’s fighting spirit here, despite all he’s lost. He’s cold and calculating, out for revenge. He’s lost everything yet still he has the resolve to stick to the plan and take there fight to Janos. Brilliant character development here.
The best part of the book was when the full team comes together - Harry, Darcy Clark, Jazz Simmons, Zek Foener, and the Greek policeman, Manolis, plus some other E-Branch agents. Was very cool to see them work together to put down all these vampires. Because the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. If Janos gets complete access to Harry’s mind, as a necromancer he’ll take not only Harry’s deadspeak but also his control over the Mobius Continuum. Janos could truly destroy the universe with such power. Harry says:
“I have strange talents; there are secrets locked up in my head that Janos wants to get at. Oh, he can talk to some of the dead - poor bastards - in that monstrous. necromantic way of his, but he can’t command their respect like I do. He’d like to, though, for he’s as vain as the rest of them, but he still doesn’t feel that he’s true Wamphyri. So…he probably won’t be satisfied until he’s made himself the most powerful vampire the world’s ever seen. And to that end, if he can find some way to steal my skills from me�"
The most fascinating aspect of the book, was, of course, Harry’s time spent at Faethor’s resting place. Faethor’s story was riveting, and you really had sympathy for this vampire, who accidentally killed his own wife due to his son, Janos� betrayal. Lumley did a fantastic job here with Faethor’s backstory, and in his interactions with Harry. We see Feather give Harry back his dead speak ability, yet vampires can’t be trusted. Especially Feather, who Harry refers to as “the father of vampires.� The epitaph on his tombstone read: “This Creature was Death! His very existence was a refutation of Life; wherefore he now lies Here, where Life itself refuses to Acknowledge him."
As Feather describes how he spied on his wife Marilena, and the man she was cheating on him with, Lumley again demonstrates his skill at description:
“I went out onto the balcony, formed my hands and forearms into webbed discs like the suckers of some grotesque octopus, and made my way to Marilena’s window. The window was large, arched, and cut through a wall six feet thick. Inside, across the opening in the inner wall, curtains had been drawn. I climbed in and inched to the curtains, which I drew fractionally apart to form a crack."
Oh, and did you catch Faethor’s reference to Elizabeth Bathory? How he slept with several Bathory women in the 16th century and “my evil was made manifest in the Bathorys down all the centuries.� Wow!
And yet, Harry invites Feather into his mind to assist him in destroying Janos. But of course, we know there’s an ulterior motive here, and that Farther has some yet unrevealed design for Harry.
As Harry faces his final showdown with Janos, we see August Ferdinand Mobius and the likes of Aristotle and Pythagorus working to break down the complex equations blocking Harry from accessing the Mobius Continuum. It’s really quite mesmerizing watching Harry work with confidence without his powers.
So Darcy, Manolis, Jazz, Zek, and several others attack the Greek island where Janos� vampire thralls are digging for his buried treasure. Awesome to see those things killed with that massive explosion on the Lazardies boat and in the cave.
One of the most touching parts of the book was when Harry speaks to the dead Trevor Jordan on page 369. These two have been through so much together, that for Harry to tell someone this is no small matter:
“I…I want to make sure you’re cremated. And then, if everything works out, I think I’d like to keep your ashes.� Harry, said Jordan in a little while, did anyone ever tell you you’re morbid? Then he actually laughed, however shakily. Hell, I don’t care what happens to my ashes! Though I suppose I’d get to talk to you more often, right? I mean, from your mantlepiece? Harry had to grin to keep from crying. ‘I suppose you would,� he said�"
Harry’s final confrontation with Janos was awesome. Just as Harry is about to be killed, August Ferdinand Mobius and his contemporaries solve the mystery Harry Jr. put on Harry’s mind, and restore his access to the Mobius Continuum. And then:
“Janos had seen him disappear, and in that moment had known that Harry Keogh was invincible. The Necroscope had gone…where? And he’d be back…when? And what awesome powers would be bring with him? Janos dared not wait to find out."
And then Harry calls up all the dead from their jars and urns in Janos vaults and crypts to confront Janos. Despite Janos� magic words that turned the undead Thracians to dust, he can’t conjure up his words fast enough to kill all those of the Great Majority Harry calls up:
“But their list for vengeance would be entirely in keeping, Janos knew it, too. He careened through their stumbling, groaning ranks as they shattered their jars and grew up like mushrooms out of nothing; but as fast as he could target a group and put them down again, so the Necroscope called them up! There was no way the vampire could win. He couldn’t bellow his words fast enough, and the ranks of resurrected warriors were rapidly closing on him."
Janos knows he’s beaten and tries to flee, but it wasn’t meant to be:
“There was nowhere left to run. Janos looked outwards to the night and his crimson eyes gazed on empire space. In all his life there’d been only one Wamphyri art he’d never mastered or counterfeited, and now he must. He held up his arms and willed the change, and his clothing tore as his body wrenched itself into a great blanket, an airfoil of flesh. And like a bat in the night, he launched himself from the cliffside path. He succeeded! He flew - with the tatters of his ripped clothing fluttering about him like strange wings. He flew…until Bodrogk;s hurled battle axe buried itself in his spine!"
And then Harry called out the incantation that dissolved Janos into so much dust on the wind.
At the end of the book we get two components of a prophecy about Harry that are quite chilling. First, right before Harry confronts Janos he has a vision of himself:
“And at his feet…a cluster of small black mushrooms or puffballs, releasing their scarlet spores even as he stepped amongst them. Whose grave is it, he wondered, out of which these fungi siphoned their putrid nourishment? The legend carved in the slab where the oozing quag gurgled from its grooves was hardly unfamiliar. It said, quite simply: HARRY KEOGH: NECROSCOPE. Then - the mound of the burial plot burst open, hurling great clods of earth in all directions! And lying there in that open grave, like some morbid parasite in a wound, a semblance or grotesque caricature of Harry himself…but festooned in all its parts with ripening, spore-bearing mushrooms!"
Second, at the very end after Janos has been defeated, Harry must expel Feather, he seeks to cling to Harry’s mind forever. Feather shows Harry that his life thread is tinged red because of him, and claims he’ll be part of Harry forever. But Harry assumes that’s a lie, and that he can go back and change his life thread. But when Feather is finally ejected (or so we think)�"
“But Harry closed the door and shut him off. Always. Except that before the door slammed shut, he looked again at the blue thread unwinding out of him. And saw that it was still tinged red. Men should never try to read the future. For it’s a devious thing�"
So after a spectacular novel, one of the most in the series, Lumley leaves us with a huge cliffhanger. Harry’s life thread is tinged red. It’s not really so surprising. After all the sex with B.J. Mirlu during the Lost Years, surely some spore of her got into him. But to allow Feather into your mind, I’m sure the vampire found a way to leave something of himself behind. Looks like we haven’t seen the last of Feather, or so I hope. If I were to be killed by any vampire and turned into a thrall, I’d want it to be Feather Ferenczy who did it.
“Deadspeak� contained all the story elements I was hoping for, including a strong showing by members of E-Branch, the return of either Feather or Thibor Ferenczy, and basically Harry kicking vampire ass.
I had forgotten that at the end of The Source Harry is stripped of his dead speak and his access to the Mobius Continuum by his son, Harry Jr. So it was cool to see Harry still fighting the good fight without his powers for most of the book.
Part I of the book involving the return of Janos Ferenczy was thrilling. I had a feeling the Szgany Zirra would show up again after their appearance during the Lost Years and Radu Lykan’s history. Dumitru’s death was particularly awful:
“Spikes! Needle-sharp fangs of rusted iron, filling that final gap side to side and end to end. Three dozen of them at least - and Dumitru knew their meaning, and the Ferenczy’s terrible purpose in an instant�.Opposite the spiked pit, the ledge and entire section of wall that backed it - an “L� of hewn stone - tilted through ninety degrees, and tossed Dumitru onto the spikes. His single shriek, of realization and the horror it brought combined, was cut off short as he was pierced through skull and spine and most of his vital organs - but not his heart. Still beating, his heart continued to pump his blood - to pump it out through the many lacerations to his impales, writhing body. Blood coursed down the V-shaped channel, spurted from the spout, splashed down into the mouth of the urn to wet whatever was inside. Ancient ashes, salts - the chemicals of a man, of a monster - soaked it up, bubbled and bulked out, smoked and smoldered. Such was the chemical reaction that the obscene lips of the urn seemed almost to belch."
And later when the three Americans traveled to Romania, and the Texan Seth Armstrong was killed and made a thrall to Janos Ferenczy. Particularly painful:
“The Texas put up a hand and slapped at the finger on his cheek, clawed at it. It climbed higher, with a life of its own, and gouged at the corner of his right eye. Armstrong howled as it dug in, dislodged the eyeball, and entered the socket. With his eyeball hanging on his cheek, he danced and screamed and clutched at his face, but he couldn’t dislodge the thing, which burrowed like an alien worm into his head. ‘Jesus God!� he screamed, falling to his knees and tearing at the rim of the empty orbit. And: ‘J-J-Jesus G-G-God!� he gurgled again as he ripped the flopping eye loose and vampire flesh put out exploratory tendrils into his brain."
My least favorite part of the book was when E-Branch heroes and all around badasses Ken Layard and Trevor Jordan were attacked by Janos Ferenczy and the thrall Seth Armstrong. I got quite attached to these characters in the first two Necroscope books, especially in book 2 and the battle against Yulien Boduscu. I can honestly say I was pissed when Janos caused Trevor to blow his brains out in front of Harry and Darcy Clark. Trevor was my favorite E-Branch character, and I liked Ken a lot, too. Sad to see those two gents destroyed by Janos. But it was cool seeing them trying to get through to Harry in his dreams by having the dead spell our letters in his garden in Bonnyrig.
Speaking of Janos, Lumley demonstrates his master craft in writing terrifying vampires. Despite all that Thibor did to Boris Dragosani, and all the dreadful things both Feather and Radu Lykan did, they weren’t as horrifying as Janos Ferenczy. His vampire was written as far darker, unrelentingly evil and sadistic. He enjoyed the pain he caused, and showed no fear. For example, before Janos leaves the port at Rhodes, he “enjoys� the company of a local prostitute in the shadows:
“She inhaled air massively, but before she could scream, his chasm of a mouth had clamped itself over the entire lower half of her face. And his tongue also surged, into and down her convulsing throat. While in her mind: Ah, I see you do know the legend! Well, and now you know the reality. So be it! Inside her body his vampire photo-flesh spread into every cavity, putting out filament rootlets which burrowed in her veins and arteries like worms in soil, without damaging the structure. And even before she had lost full consciousness, Janos was feeding."
Harry describes vampires perfectly mid-way through the book:
“They’re devious beyond the imagination of human beings. They’re liars each and every one, who on almost every occasion would rather lie than tell the truth - unless there’s something of substantial value in it for them. They’re experts in confusing any argument, adept at ambiguous and frustrating riddles, word games, puzzles and paradoxes, false similes and parallels. They’re insanely jealous, secretive, proud, possessive. And as for their grip on life - or undeath - they are the most tenacious creation in or out of Creation! Their source lies in the vampire swamps east and west of the central mountain range that divides Starside from Sunside. The legend is that at times they emerge as monstrous slugs or leeches to fasten on men and beasts. As to what degree of intelligence they possess at that stage: who can say? But their tenacity is there from square one. They live on the blood of the host and form a horrific symbiosis with him. The host is changed, materially and mentally. Sexless, the vampire adopts the sex of its host, and it fosters in him - or her - that lust for blood which eventually will sustain both of them."
Harry Keogh just can’t catch a break. You truly gotta feel sympathy for this guy. He loses his wife and son and spends years looking for them. He has his memory scrambled both by E-Branch and by B.J. Mirlu, who is killed by Radu. Then Sandra, the new woman in his life, she turns out to be an E-Branch planted agent, and eventually she is vampirized by Janos, and Harry is forced to kill her. Seriously, he’s got no one in his life. I don’t know how he functions. He has the dead as friends and companions, but what about love? What about a family. Does he ever see his wife and son again?
Harry’s raw emotions come out in a conversation with Manolis:
“Manolis.� Harry stopped him. “No man has lost more than I have. No, I’m not being a martyr, I’m just stating a fact. It started when I was a kid and it hasn;t stopped yet. I’ve lost just about every person I ever loved. I’ve even lost my son in another world, to another creed: this same damned creed, vampirism! And the more you lose, the more hardened you get to it. Ask any habitual gambler. They don’t play to win but to lose. (A reference to Dead Eddy?) They used to play to win, but now when they win, they just go right on back to the tables…You want me to cry over Sandra? Maybe I will, later. You want me to go to pieces, to show that I’m a good guy? But what good will I be in all of this if I go to pieces? I loved Sandra, yes, I think. But already it’s too late to do anything about it. She’s just one more thing that I’ve lost. it’s the only way I can look at it and still go on. Except now I may be starting to win again. We may be starting to win again. Not Sandra, no, for she’s dead. And if she isn’t, then she’d be better off. I know this Janos Ferenczy now, and I know what I� talking about. You call me cold, but you don’t know how I’m burning up inside. Now I’ll ask you to do me a favor: stop worrying about how you see things. Stop worrying about Sandra. It’s too late. This is a war and she was a casualty. What we have to do now is start hitting back, while we still have a chance!"
You can see Harry’s fighting spirit here, despite all he’s lost. He’s cold and calculating, out for revenge. He’s lost everything yet still he has the resolve to stick to the plan and take there fight to Janos. Brilliant character development here.
The best part of the book was when the full team comes together - Harry, Darcy Clark, Jazz Simmons, Zek Foener, and the Greek policeman, Manolis, plus some other E-Branch agents. Was very cool to see them work together to put down all these vampires. Because the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. If Janos gets complete access to Harry’s mind, as a necromancer he’ll take not only Harry’s deadspeak but also his control over the Mobius Continuum. Janos could truly destroy the universe with such power. Harry says:
“I have strange talents; there are secrets locked up in my head that Janos wants to get at. Oh, he can talk to some of the dead - poor bastards - in that monstrous. necromantic way of his, but he can’t command their respect like I do. He’d like to, though, for he’s as vain as the rest of them, but he still doesn’t feel that he’s true Wamphyri. So…he probably won’t be satisfied until he’s made himself the most powerful vampire the world’s ever seen. And to that end, if he can find some way to steal my skills from me�"
The most fascinating aspect of the book, was, of course, Harry’s time spent at Faethor’s resting place. Faethor’s story was riveting, and you really had sympathy for this vampire, who accidentally killed his own wife due to his son, Janos� betrayal. Lumley did a fantastic job here with Faethor’s backstory, and in his interactions with Harry. We see Feather give Harry back his dead speak ability, yet vampires can’t be trusted. Especially Feather, who Harry refers to as “the father of vampires.� The epitaph on his tombstone read: “This Creature was Death! His very existence was a refutation of Life; wherefore he now lies Here, where Life itself refuses to Acknowledge him."
As Feather describes how he spied on his wife Marilena, and the man she was cheating on him with, Lumley again demonstrates his skill at description:
“I went out onto the balcony, formed my hands and forearms into webbed discs like the suckers of some grotesque octopus, and made my way to Marilena’s window. The window was large, arched, and cut through a wall six feet thick. Inside, across the opening in the inner wall, curtains had been drawn. I climbed in and inched to the curtains, which I drew fractionally apart to form a crack."
Oh, and did you catch Faethor’s reference to Elizabeth Bathory? How he slept with several Bathory women in the 16th century and “my evil was made manifest in the Bathorys down all the centuries.� Wow!
And yet, Harry invites Feather into his mind to assist him in destroying Janos. But of course, we know there’s an ulterior motive here, and that Farther has some yet unrevealed design for Harry.
As Harry faces his final showdown with Janos, we see August Ferdinand Mobius and the likes of Aristotle and Pythagorus working to break down the complex equations blocking Harry from accessing the Mobius Continuum. It’s really quite mesmerizing watching Harry work with confidence without his powers.
So Darcy, Manolis, Jazz, Zek, and several others attack the Greek island where Janos� vampire thralls are digging for his buried treasure. Awesome to see those things killed with that massive explosion on the Lazardies boat and in the cave.
One of the most touching parts of the book was when Harry speaks to the dead Trevor Jordan on page 369. These two have been through so much together, that for Harry to tell someone this is no small matter:
“I…I want to make sure you’re cremated. And then, if everything works out, I think I’d like to keep your ashes.� Harry, said Jordan in a little while, did anyone ever tell you you’re morbid? Then he actually laughed, however shakily. Hell, I don’t care what happens to my ashes! Though I suppose I’d get to talk to you more often, right? I mean, from your mantlepiece? Harry had to grin to keep from crying. ‘I suppose you would,� he said�"
Harry’s final confrontation with Janos was awesome. Just as Harry is about to be killed, August Ferdinand Mobius and his contemporaries solve the mystery Harry Jr. put on Harry’s mind, and restore his access to the Mobius Continuum. And then:
“Janos had seen him disappear, and in that moment had known that Harry Keogh was invincible. The Necroscope had gone…where? And he’d be back…when? And what awesome powers would be bring with him? Janos dared not wait to find out."
And then Harry calls up all the dead from their jars and urns in Janos vaults and crypts to confront Janos. Despite Janos� magic words that turned the undead Thracians to dust, he can’t conjure up his words fast enough to kill all those of the Great Majority Harry calls up:
“But their list for vengeance would be entirely in keeping, Janos knew it, too. He careened through their stumbling, groaning ranks as they shattered their jars and grew up like mushrooms out of nothing; but as fast as he could target a group and put them down again, so the Necroscope called them up! There was no way the vampire could win. He couldn’t bellow his words fast enough, and the ranks of resurrected warriors were rapidly closing on him."
Janos knows he’s beaten and tries to flee, but it wasn’t meant to be:
“There was nowhere left to run. Janos looked outwards to the night and his crimson eyes gazed on empire space. In all his life there’d been only one Wamphyri art he’d never mastered or counterfeited, and now he must. He held up his arms and willed the change, and his clothing tore as his body wrenched itself into a great blanket, an airfoil of flesh. And like a bat in the night, he launched himself from the cliffside path. He succeeded! He flew - with the tatters of his ripped clothing fluttering about him like strange wings. He flew…until Bodrogk;s hurled battle axe buried itself in his spine!"
And then Harry called out the incantation that dissolved Janos into so much dust on the wind.
At the end of the book we get two components of a prophecy about Harry that are quite chilling. First, right before Harry confronts Janos he has a vision of himself:
“And at his feet…a cluster of small black mushrooms or puffballs, releasing their scarlet spores even as he stepped amongst them. Whose grave is it, he wondered, out of which these fungi siphoned their putrid nourishment? The legend carved in the slab where the oozing quag gurgled from its grooves was hardly unfamiliar. It said, quite simply: HARRY KEOGH: NECROSCOPE. Then - the mound of the burial plot burst open, hurling great clods of earth in all directions! And lying there in that open grave, like some morbid parasite in a wound, a semblance or grotesque caricature of Harry himself…but festooned in all its parts with ripening, spore-bearing mushrooms!"
Second, at the very end after Janos has been defeated, Harry must expel Feather, he seeks to cling to Harry’s mind forever. Feather shows Harry that his life thread is tinged red because of him, and claims he’ll be part of Harry forever. But Harry assumes that’s a lie, and that he can go back and change his life thread. But when Feather is finally ejected (or so we think)�"
“But Harry closed the door and shut him off. Always. Except that before the door slammed shut, he looked again at the blue thread unwinding out of him. And saw that it was still tinged red. Men should never try to read the future. For it’s a devious thing�"
So after a spectacular novel, one of the most in the series, Lumley leaves us with a huge cliffhanger. Harry’s life thread is tinged red. It’s not really so surprising. After all the sex with B.J. Mirlu during the Lost Years, surely some spore of her got into him. But to allow Feather into your mind, I’m sure the vampire found a way to leave something of himself behind. Looks like we haven’t seen the last of Feather, or so I hope. If I were to be killed by any vampire and turned into a thrall, I’d want it to be Feather Ferenczy who did it.
January 30, 2017
Harry Keogh has returned from the parallel world of the Wamphyri with his Necroscope powers hypnotically removed by his vampire son, Harry Jr. He can no longer speak to the dead or go teleporting through time and space via the Mobius continuum.
If this wasn't bad enough his new boss is trying to murder him, he is being stalked by a Soviet assassin, and the dead are rising from their graves to leave him messages on his lawn, arranged in pieces of dry stone walling.
Meanwhile, in Romania, a group of American students have hired a guide to take them to a ruined castle, rumoured to have been the home of an ancient vampire. The consequence of this will come as no surprise.
It doesn't take Harry long to realise that the disappearance of two E-branch agents in Greece is the work of resurrected vampire Janos Ferenczy, a nasty piece of work even by vampire standards.
Harry must regain his powers in order to battle Janos, but how?
Put so baldly it seems like a terrible plot when in actuality, like the rest of the Necroscope books, it's a glorious slice of late British pulp fiction; highly entertaining, compelling, and very readable.
Lumley's kept the human and vampire sex scenes to a bare minimum here, for which I am thankful. Like Guy N Smith, Lumley no doubt considered gratuitous rumpy pumpy to be an additional salacious treat for his readers. Maybe it was at the time, but these days they read as a little awkward and dated.
It's always a problem to properly categorise this series since the vampires themselves have an interesting and scientifically rational premise for their existence, as does the Mobius Continuum. It's difficult to balance that with the premise of 'souls' hanging about in limbo, however. This was not so much of a problem in previous volumes but Lumley muddies the waters here by introducing further supernatural elements. Janos, it seems, has learned to raise the dead - not via some innate genetic talent - but through magic spells and incantations. This pushes the internal balance between the rational and the supernatural a little too far and seems like a device introduced to assist with what is a rushed denouement.
Nevertheless, Lumley is under-recognised for his very original take on the vampire life-cycle and his contribution to the sub-genre.
If this wasn't bad enough his new boss is trying to murder him, he is being stalked by a Soviet assassin, and the dead are rising from their graves to leave him messages on his lawn, arranged in pieces of dry stone walling.
Meanwhile, in Romania, a group of American students have hired a guide to take them to a ruined castle, rumoured to have been the home of an ancient vampire. The consequence of this will come as no surprise.
It doesn't take Harry long to realise that the disappearance of two E-branch agents in Greece is the work of resurrected vampire Janos Ferenczy, a nasty piece of work even by vampire standards.
Harry must regain his powers in order to battle Janos, but how?
Put so baldly it seems like a terrible plot when in actuality, like the rest of the Necroscope books, it's a glorious slice of late British pulp fiction; highly entertaining, compelling, and very readable.
Lumley's kept the human and vampire sex scenes to a bare minimum here, for which I am thankful. Like Guy N Smith, Lumley no doubt considered gratuitous rumpy pumpy to be an additional salacious treat for his readers. Maybe it was at the time, but these days they read as a little awkward and dated.
It's always a problem to properly categorise this series since the vampires themselves have an interesting and scientifically rational premise for their existence, as does the Mobius Continuum. It's difficult to balance that with the premise of 'souls' hanging about in limbo, however. This was not so much of a problem in previous volumes but Lumley muddies the waters here by introducing further supernatural elements. Janos, it seems, has learned to raise the dead - not via some innate genetic talent - but through magic spells and incantations. This pushes the internal balance between the rational and the supernatural a little too far and seems like a device introduced to assist with what is a rushed denouement.
Nevertheless, Lumley is under-recognised for his very original take on the vampire life-cycle and his contribution to the sub-genre.
December 28, 2015
Oh hey, turns out there is another Ferenczy. Or rather, that's what a lot of this book felt like. Don't get me wrong, it's interesting to fill out a few more of the possibilities of what might happen if a vampire spawns a mostly human child who then desperately tries to learn to be a Vampire. But at the same time, it's starting to feel like the same story again, just with different players.
Another twist this time, which I at first appreciated was that Harry has lost his powers (stolen from him by Harry Jr). So for a large chunk of the story, he cannot speak to the dead except in dreams--which he doesn't remember upon waking--and cannot access the Moebius Continuum at all. Given how often I've complained about how overpowerful the latter made him, I thought it would be good for him to lose the power, . So it goes.
Also this one really played up the more sexual aspects of the story. They were already there in the previous books, but relatively minor and sort of out of the way. Not so much in Deadspeak. Several incidents certainly play into the horror aspect of things and for that I applaud them, but it's starting to get a bit ridiculous.
Overall, it's still an interesting enough entry to the series and worth reading for completion's sake. Likewise I'll read the fifth and final Necroscope for the same reason. Plus I am vaguely curious how
Another twist this time, which I at first appreciated was that Harry has lost his powers (stolen from him by Harry Jr). So for a large chunk of the story, he cannot speak to the dead except in dreams--which he doesn't remember upon waking--and cannot access the Moebius Continuum at all. Given how often I've complained about how overpowerful the latter made him, I thought it would be good for him to lose the power, . So it goes.
Also this one really played up the more sexual aspects of the story. They were already there in the previous books, but relatively minor and sort of out of the way. Not so much in Deadspeak. Several incidents certainly play into the horror aspect of things and for that I applaud them, but it's starting to get a bit ridiculous.
Overall, it's still an interesting enough entry to the series and worth reading for completion's sake. Likewise I'll read the fifth and final Necroscope for the same reason. Plus I am vaguely curious how
June 17, 2017
Deadspeak will make far more sense if you're up to speed with the previous three Necroscope novels. This entry offers a fresh story and villain, utilising a myriad of characters from the first books. It has plenty of twists and the plot is well constructed and straightforward. Previous entries have contained substantial reminiscence to build the story and Deadspeak is set solidly in the current era, with a single flashback to offer some depth to the new plot. Although it capitalises on previous content, there is plenty of action and intrigue in Deadspeak making it an entertaining read.
March 29, 2016
One of the best of the series.
April 25, 2021
This was a blast.
November 19, 2019
Probably my shortest Necroscope read. And while very entertaining and expanding the Harry K. universe with some great baddies and problems to sort out, not an entirely 5-star book. I'd give this edition into the series a strong 4.5--still great, but not as great as say book 1-3, especially coming off the events of book 3, aka The Source. The ending also felt very rushed and untidy, which I imagine with be flushed out more in book 5, Deadspawn.
I know its sounds like I'm coming down on Deadspeak pretty hard but the truth of the matter is, this was a very highly entertaining read and it was a pleasure seeing Harry more or less "human" again, that this, vulnerable. And judging by the ending, it sounds like his adventure in the Necroscope universe is not quite over. And between you and me, I am very much looking forward to the next chapter.
I know its sounds like I'm coming down on Deadspeak pretty hard but the truth of the matter is, this was a very highly entertaining read and it was a pleasure seeing Harry more or less "human" again, that this, vulnerable. And judging by the ending, it sounds like his adventure in the Necroscope universe is not quite over. And between you and me, I am very much looking forward to the next chapter.
March 24, 2023
A step back from the previous instalment, with a hero newly divested of his powers, and a resurgent vampire menace. Sadly, Lumley does little new with this; instead of showing how Keogh battles without his plot armour powers, he just spends the entire book trying to reinstate them, while yet another of the antagonist vampire family is returned to life. Formulaic, and failing to sustain.
November 30, 2022
Probably my favourite of the sequels so far, the opening third is brilliantly done & sets up for a cool adventure story. My only reservations were about the conclusion really, being a touch deus ex machina & over too quick. Some really memorable scenes & a complete & satisfying story though which made up for that.
October 27, 2024
4.5/5. So glad this one comes back to planet Earth and we get back to the ESP spy action. I really liked this took place in Greece and had more of a tropical sunny vibe compared to the frigid Cold War backdrop of the first 3 books. I also really love Lumley when he is taking his time and just giving us the most beautiful gothic description of crumbling castles and Romanian villages and countryside, which makes up a good chunk of this book. Only critique is that the books build and build and typically come to a pretty quick end. Would mind if some of these final battles were alittle longer.
September 13, 2013
4.5 - 5 stars this is the first of the necroscope series that I read and have since collected and read them all... maybe a few of the very end I might have missed, but after all the "sparkly" vampire and silly movies and novels i needed to re-read a true vampire lets bleed and no remorse creature book and the creatures in this series do just that, not only are they a race totally different from humans but they live there life as such. The best parts of these novels (for me ) are when the story-line takes you back in history and tells the tale of one or another creature, then takes off with one of the first novels I read that brought in a esp branch of government that is so popular today.
It was nice jumping back 20 years or so and remember reading this for the first time' again this is #4 but every novel gives a back story to help reader enter the world , and the "mind rape" that the creatures apply has always fascinated me esp, controlling thoughts of another ect.
this will be on my fav. list and the following novels in the series still hold there own after all these years.
Reminds me of another fav' novel not action packed but kept me in dreams for many months / years is by Dan Simmons Carrion Comfort' for me one of the novels when you finish it you realize you have one world to rejoin another. Possibly this review or statement ... or personal reference should have been on Carrion comfort novel "mind vampire's" controlling others, like the chess game played with humans under your mind control as the pieces... but novels that has let Me control the story add my own chapter's , my own novel within the pages of this book or another. These come every so often and maybe not even the ones I mention here but starting this review this is what comes to mind.
If anyone reading this has any novels that bring this feeling ( reading your own story as well as the authors) Please feel free to recommend the author and novel, as finishing this I am feeling a little depressed as I am no longer in a world I enjoy as much as some of these stories and novels's that have given me the opportunity to explore and escape.
This same feeling that we put a mark next to a sequel of a favorite book we just finished , that desire to lose our guide as we walk through landscape's created but not limited by a certain author and we find it easy to ... even in our waking moments to live in some small way in this world of our making and wait for the chance to dream and enter more fully explore.... and back to the check mark next to the name of an author and a title of a bunch of simple words strung together that somehow are like a magic spell that allow's this escape.
Hrmmm.... this one is Defiantly more for myself than any review on a novel, I really need to have a vacation with no stress!!
It was nice jumping back 20 years or so and remember reading this for the first time' again this is #4 but every novel gives a back story to help reader enter the world , and the "mind rape" that the creatures apply has always fascinated me esp, controlling thoughts of another ect.
this will be on my fav. list and the following novels in the series still hold there own after all these years.
Reminds me of another fav' novel not action packed but kept me in dreams for many months / years is by Dan Simmons Carrion Comfort' for me one of the novels when you finish it you realize you have one world to rejoin another. Possibly this review or statement ... or personal reference should have been on Carrion comfort novel "mind vampire's" controlling others, like the chess game played with humans under your mind control as the pieces... but novels that has let Me control the story add my own chapter's , my own novel within the pages of this book or another. These come every so often and maybe not even the ones I mention here but starting this review this is what comes to mind.
If anyone reading this has any novels that bring this feeling ( reading your own story as well as the authors) Please feel free to recommend the author and novel, as finishing this I am feeling a little depressed as I am no longer in a world I enjoy as much as some of these stories and novels's that have given me the opportunity to explore and escape.
This same feeling that we put a mark next to a sequel of a favorite book we just finished , that desire to lose our guide as we walk through landscape's created but not limited by a certain author and we find it easy to ... even in our waking moments to live in some small way in this world of our making and wait for the chance to dream and enter more fully explore.... and back to the check mark next to the name of an author and a title of a bunch of simple words strung together that somehow are like a magic spell that allow's this escape.
Hrmmm.... this one is Defiantly more for myself than any review on a novel, I really need to have a vacation with no stress!!
June 1, 2015
The entire Necroscope series is just one big treat if you like horror and/or espionage. Yes, as I've mentioned in every review for Lumley's books, he's a wacky writer (often not intentionally), but if you can see past some of his quirks and literary weaknesses you'll find his weird, magnanimous soul shining out on every page. I don't know him personally of course, but from his books he just seems like an extremely imaginative and likable person, the kind of person you want around you. The books can be quite horrific, gross even, but at their heart they are the kind of books you want around you, too: unique, exciting, and real—totally free of the manufactured emotions all-too-prevalent in most popular art. These vampire/espionage/ESP/a-million-other-things novels are worth reading and worth remembering.
The third one was better, and I have a suspicion it will remain in my mind the best of the original five-book series, but this one has its own charms and the ending... man does this guy know how to write a climax.
The third one was better, and I have a suspicion it will remain in my mind the best of the original five-book series, but this one has its own charms and the ending... man does this guy know how to write a climax.
September 6, 2014
Book 4 about Harry Keogh: Necroscope. Janos Ferenczy, son of Faethor is back, and aims to be Wamphyri in our world (not Starside). Harry, however, has lost his powers, and is a mere normal man again. What to do to stop this from happening? That's the ride this book takes you on, and it's a good one. Darcy is here, as well as Jazz and Zek (albeit not for much of the book), and there is much travel with some Russian spys thrown as a seperate plot to try to foil the good guys again. Will they succeed? Will Harry get his powers back? Read the book to find out...now time to look for Book #5.
January 7, 2021
Harry Koegh, in last wamphyri battle, is unable to speak to dead. He must defeat another vampire, who has undead army and fiendish designs for world control. Harry joins forces with defeated vampire, temporarily, to defeat wamphyri and regain necroscopic power.
Fast read, like other series books. Harry learns Mobius strip from dead physicist, able to see his and others timelines, not prescient, but damn close.
Fast read, like other series books. Harry learns Mobius strip from dead physicist, able to see his and others timelines, not prescient, but damn close.
August 19, 2014
Another great book in the story of Harry Keogh, Necroscope. I enjoy the way Lumley paces things in his books. It's nice to see that someone as powerful as Harry still has his weakness & gets battered around at times. I just wished he'd put in more of Janos. He's built up to be so powerful, yet we rarely see much of him after his initial introductions. But I guess that can be overlooked as we do learn a lot about him from Faethor.
June 1, 2017
As Harry has been deprived of his deadspeak, he must continue to fight against vampires. This time it is Janos, son of Faethor, and he is no joke.
This series continues to please and always seems to have more surprises in store as old characters die and new ones are introduced.
Bring on the next one.
This series continues to please and always seems to have more surprises in store as old characters die and new ones are introduced.
Bring on the next one.
November 24, 2015
I enjoyed the characters, and their world and hope I get the chance to read the story again and/or to read more within the series.
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, have read again.
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, have read again.
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