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Black Oak #2
The Hush of Dark Wings
As head of Black Oak Investigations, Ethan Proctor is careful about what he says, what he does, and who his clients are. But when a letter arrives from an old female acquaintance, begging him to investigate the strange goings-on in her town, he gets careless. Without thinking, he travels to the heart of Kansas and a dusty old town where a seemingly friendly cult has recently arrived -- all women, concerned, and cooperative.But if that's the case, why are the, townspeople so afraid? And why are so many people missing? And, Proctor wonders, what are those strange winged creatures circling the sky above town?
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
5 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Charles L. Grant
309 books263 followersCharles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 15, 2024
3.25/5
A solid if unremarkable story that fell a lot like the early episodes of the X-Files or Kolchak.
A solid if unremarkable story that fell a lot like the early episodes of the X-Files or Kolchak.
December 15, 2018
"Sobbing and not caring, wishing the tears hadn't blurred her vision because she was sure the slow-fading beam kept slashing over something out there, just out of reach.
Large or small, she couldn't tell.
A glimpse, nothing more.
And when the flashlight finally died and left her in the dark, the sound of soft wings settled over her.
Without even time for a single frightened scream."
Charles L. Grant wrote what he called "quiet horror". Think a cross between the old Universal Horror Films (Wolf Man, Dracula, etc) and 1970s monster flicks. Toss in some old Hammer Horror. He would have been right at home, doing an episode of the original Night Stalker TV series.
The "Black Oak" series is pretty much what you'd get if "The X-Files" had been about a guy with a private security firm, who dabbles in weird and "unusual" cases, on the side. Proctor isn't a Mulder clone, in fact he's nothing like Mulder. And he doesn't have a specific sidekick, though in this volume (and it future ones, it is suggested) he does have a female partner who is more bodyguard than investigator.
A mysterious plea for help, an unnamed threat, and an extremely unusual small town that doesn't show up on all maps... just right for horrors and danger and life threatening action!
I'm never disappointed by Grant. But if you want more gore and splatter... well... it's here, but only subtly so... but this ain't your modern horror show.
I quite enjoyed it.
Large or small, she couldn't tell.
A glimpse, nothing more.
And when the flashlight finally died and left her in the dark, the sound of soft wings settled over her.
Without even time for a single frightened scream."
Charles L. Grant wrote what he called "quiet horror". Think a cross between the old Universal Horror Films (Wolf Man, Dracula, etc) and 1970s monster flicks. Toss in some old Hammer Horror. He would have been right at home, doing an episode of the original Night Stalker TV series.
The "Black Oak" series is pretty much what you'd get if "The X-Files" had been about a guy with a private security firm, who dabbles in weird and "unusual" cases, on the side. Proctor isn't a Mulder clone, in fact he's nothing like Mulder. And he doesn't have a specific sidekick, though in this volume (and it future ones, it is suggested) he does have a female partner who is more bodyguard than investigator.
A mysterious plea for help, an unnamed threat, and an extremely unusual small town that doesn't show up on all maps... just right for horrors and danger and life threatening action!
I'm never disappointed by Grant. But if you want more gore and splatter... well... it's here, but only subtly so... but this ain't your modern horror show.
I quite enjoyed it.
September 17, 2025
I've heard this series described as "slow burn horror," which is an understatement: more like a single ember on an iceberg. It was only in the thirteenth or fourteenth chapter that Stuff started to happen, but by that time I really, really wanted to know what the crap was going on in the town that our heroes realized should not exist. Is it extraterrestrials? Ancient hollow earth race? Old god magic? No idea, because the final reveal was meant for the last book in the series, which the author never got to write, so the rest of the books will be all suggestive, dangling plots-which I never liked. It would've been better if each book were a self-contained mystery with a proper conclusion-but Mr. Grant is a very good writer, I'll say that; read most of the book in one day.
February 5, 2020
This is a serviceable Grant book, with all the tropes and characteristics one would expect from Grant. It hints at some Native American magic, but doesn't actually feature it. Not overtly, at least.
I did notice that the character of Proctor serves as the Mulder and the Scully characters from X-Files -- he is both the believer and the skeptic, in a weird way that actually works. He believes there are supernatural things out there, because he has seen them, but he doesn't think that's the default setting of the world.
I did notice that the character of Proctor serves as the Mulder and the Scully characters from X-Files -- he is both the believer and the skeptic, in a weird way that actually works. He believes there are supernatural things out there, because he has seen them, but he doesn't think that's the default setting of the world.
October 11, 2025
A bit disappointing, considering my experience with other Charles Grant books. Maybe one too many wrinkles/red herrings in this one. Still a fairly enjoyable read, but the ending didn't land the way his endings usually do.
September 28, 2021
Spooky murder in the old west, investigated by Proctor as flying things wreak havoc all over.
February 8, 2023
4.5/5 for this one. It had a Midnight Mass feeling to it. Grant can make you feel uncomfortable in any situation with his descriptions. Definitely better than the first book! On to book 3!!!
February 12, 2008
This is the second installment in the Black Oak Security series featuring Ethan Proctor, the owner & lead investigator of the firm. A fun, scary, X-files like story, you'll like it if you are ready to settle down with a supernatural mystery that is just for fun. While it could be in the horror genre, it is also science fiction & a mystery. It's not horror that sells in the supermarket,either.
In the first installment Ethan Proctor decided that he would take on the case of multi-millionaire Taylor Blaine's missing daughter. The missing daughter seems to be an ongoing story from what I can tell. In this book, while the Black Oak Team is working on the Blaine case, Ethan decides to take on the case of an old woman who sent him a letter for help from a town out in the Kansas boonies. Blaine (as Proctor notes), sends Ethan his own employee, Vivian, to "protect his investment". So though Proctor doesn't want her there, that's too bad, so she goes along with him to Kansas. When they get there, they feel like they've stumbled onto Dodge City, complete with saloon, stables and hitching posts for the horses. No one pays them any attention, which is weird enough, but as night begins to fall, people begin to go home, not wanting to be out on the streets at night. But it turns out that there is some strange religious cult/order which takes up residence in the town, and since they've been there, people have been disappearing. However, to hear the townspeople talk, the religious group is actually helpful to the town, so what's going on?
Actually, this book went very fast. I think the missing Blaine girl story is a sort of background thing that will be a part of the other books and then eventually in some subtle way, make its way to the forefront of one of the stories. While this book was sufficiently mysterious & spooky, if not altogether ooky, there were a few unanswered questions left hanging. If my hunch is right, though, these stories are all going to connect up at some point. So don't be frustrated by the ending, although it was difficult not to be.
Read book #1 first!!! I think it's important so that you get a handle on Ethan's character & with the missing Blaine daughter story. Read book 1, sit back, relax, pour yourself a nice cup of coffee & read. Have fun. I have just ordered book #3; I really want this series to move along!
read: 11/22/2004
In the first installment Ethan Proctor decided that he would take on the case of multi-millionaire Taylor Blaine's missing daughter. The missing daughter seems to be an ongoing story from what I can tell. In this book, while the Black Oak Team is working on the Blaine case, Ethan decides to take on the case of an old woman who sent him a letter for help from a town out in the Kansas boonies. Blaine (as Proctor notes), sends Ethan his own employee, Vivian, to "protect his investment". So though Proctor doesn't want her there, that's too bad, so she goes along with him to Kansas. When they get there, they feel like they've stumbled onto Dodge City, complete with saloon, stables and hitching posts for the horses. No one pays them any attention, which is weird enough, but as night begins to fall, people begin to go home, not wanting to be out on the streets at night. But it turns out that there is some strange religious cult/order which takes up residence in the town, and since they've been there, people have been disappearing. However, to hear the townspeople talk, the religious group is actually helpful to the town, so what's going on?
Actually, this book went very fast. I think the missing Blaine girl story is a sort of background thing that will be a part of the other books and then eventually in some subtle way, make its way to the forefront of one of the stories. While this book was sufficiently mysterious & spooky, if not altogether ooky, there were a few unanswered questions left hanging. If my hunch is right, though, these stories are all going to connect up at some point. So don't be frustrated by the ending, although it was difficult not to be.
Read book #1 first!!! I think it's important so that you get a handle on Ethan's character & with the missing Blaine daughter story. Read book 1, sit back, relax, pour yourself a nice cup of coffee & read. Have fun. I have just ordered book #3; I really want this series to move along!
read: 11/22/2004
August 7, 2016
Powerful stuff, as always. Grant's style was simply inimitable. This one had a less resolution, but it was also clear her was building up to something bigger in the Black Oak series.
November 5, 2025
The third time I have read this series, it just gets better through the years.
March 1, 2014
Not quite as good as the first one but enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews