Faustus Returns...

FAUSTUS RESURRECTS by Thomas Morrissey (2012 Night Shade Books / 320 pp / tp & eBook)

Donovan Graham is a morotcycle-riding bartender working in mid-town Manhattan. He's also a recent graduate of occult studies, and is engaged to Joann, who works for the district attorney. Along with a Catholic priest named Father Carroll, he helps the police on a recent string of ususual murders dealing with the signs of the zodiac. Each one is more gruesome than the last, and one involving scorpions leads to a deeper investigation that make both men question their faith.

Donovan is then on the tail of a shady figure who we learn is bent on making a deal with the Devil that even the legendary Faust jumbled...and this figure has even managed to resurrect Faust himself to help him...or so he believes. And as if that weren't enough, even Mephistopheles gets in on the happenings...

Morrissey's debut novel starts a bit slow but by the mid-point is dripping with occult violence and interesting updates on the Faust story. I usually complain that most horror novels tend to end abruptly, but not here: the last hundred or so pages pits Donovan, Father Carroll, and the NYPD against a swarm of possessed homeless people tricked into helping bring about hell-on-earth right in the middle of Central Park's Great Lawn. There's plenty of suspense and the action comes quickly, and there's a nice surprise waiting at the end.

If you're a fan of occult horror some of this may feel a bit familiar, but it's apparent Morrissey had a blast writing this...and I had one reading it.