The Inner Circle

by Jonathan Fast

The Inner Circle Hardcover by Jonathan Fast

Genres: Horror, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Seventies, movies were busy reinventing the private eye with flicks like Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye and Night Moves. This is basically the book version with a South American leopard spirit giving celebrities great careers in exchange for human lives, kind of a like an agent at ICM. It's a shambolic, shaggy dog detective story that is a little too cute and self-aware, but otherwise is satisfying and it features the longest light aircraft chase I've ever read.

[Phrique · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wild ride! This felt like you asking your oversharing uncle, a washed up investigative reporter, to tell you his scariest case. You get what you ask for. He pulls you in with the Hollywood Illuminati sacrificing stars & starlets to an Aztec panther deity for fame. Once you get through the unnecessarily racist character descriptions and the unsolicited Hollywood history facts, it’s a pretty decent detective story. This was written in the 70’s, I had to remind myself, they just took whatever pills they found on the sidewalk then. Aside from that, there were some surprisingly gory details and the Mexican sacrificial alter scenes had me on edge. Uncle started to hit the sauce a little around the midair charter plane shoot-out, but he sobered up in time to get to the Tezcatlipoca visitation. The whole page describing the aberration of a phone being in an automobile & having a phone conversation in a speeding car was precious. One of my first forays into some of the Paperbacks from Hell that are older than me & I don’t regret it, on to the next!

[Zeke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast and fun 70s hard-boiled detective horror with an interesting concept that is (mostly) executed to satisfaction. Its very dated in some of its depictions, but diving into the seedy underbelly of the glitz and glamour of 1970s Hollywood is always a fascinating world to step into. With some good set-pieces and an occult-inspired setup, The Inner Circle is aching for a cinematic update.