WATCHER OF THE DARK

Another adventure for Harvard classics professor–turned ghostbuster Jeremiah Hunt (King of the Dead, 2012, etc.).

Having traded his sight for his supernatural abilities, Hunt is virtually blind in daylight but can see in total darkness and also perceive ghosts and other more malevolent entities. From New Orleans, where he survived the clutches of the FBI and a confrontation with Death, he arrives in Los Angeles only to be grabbed by Carlos Fuentes, the city’s magical head honcho. Fuentes wants Hunt to work for him and threatens, convincingly, to torture and kill Hunt’s friends and allies, the witch Denise and Dmitri the shape-shifter, if he refuses. Fuentes, it seems, wants to find a mystical key that will unlock one of the gates of hell. The problem is, Fuentes’ predecessor and hated rival broke the key into three pieces for safekeeping and hid them. Worse still, the malevolent entity known as the Preacher shows up and demands that Hunt give him the key once he locates it; it’s not an obligation Hunt can ignore, since he owes the Preacher for his help in a previous adventure. The narrative moves briskly, with plenty of white-knuckle moments, magical battles, a point of view that sticks firmly with the first person and a wisecracking noir tone. So, it’s easy to disregard the rather absurd plot and often baffling motivations—after all, when you open up a gate into hell, what does anybody expect will happen next?

Won’t disappoint series fans. Curious newcomers should find it entertaining enough.