Necroscope by Brian Lumley
There are a couple of things that can happen when you decide to re-read a book, ranging from abject disappointment that it is not as good as you remember it, to the feeling that it was always worth a read but you get nothing new the second time, there was so much you missed in that forst instance or a warm feeling that you are meeting old friends again reminiscing over an adventure you shared many years ago.
It is the latter case that applies to my return to the Necroscope books by Brian Lumley. They are marketed as vampire novels, and in many ways they are, but the core of it, especially the first in the series, are the ESP talents of various individuals and how they are beginning to be implemented by various countries as a form of spying. Initially we are allowed to see that there are ‘standard’ abilities, telepathy, precognition, but it is slowly expanded to reveal darker things.
The story itself is told by Harry Keogh, the Necroscope of the title, related from the future to the new head of E-Branch (The Government ESP department for the UK). It tells of Keogh growing up, an outsider at school, a daydreamer who struggles with his studies. But then he rapidly improves, starting with maps, but develops combat skills, sciences, in fact any subject he struggles with he suddenly improves at as required. It turns out that Harry is a Necroscope, someone who can talk to the dead. The dead spend their after life in their eternal rest developing the things that they were good at in life, and now Harry can talk and share that with them. They impart their knowledge with delight, suddenly having contact with the world again, and through the link with Harry, each other.
In parallel we are told the story of Boris Dragosani, probably the best character in the book, a Russian who has abilities of his own, a dark side to Keogh’s abilities. He is a Necromancer, someone who is able to take the bodies of the dead and through intense, brutal dismemberment can draw the secrets from their very being. He was taught this from some dark presence, hidden away in the ground, something that has been imprisoned for centuries and years to be free…
The book basically follows the path of the two characters, leading toward the inevitable confrontation. When it comes it does not disappoint. The book is filled with interesting ideas and good characters, Keogh and Dragosani steal the show, but there are others two that stand out, Shushkin, Keogh’s step father, Max Batu a Russian agent with a killing stare, Keenan Gormley head of E-Branch.
In some ways the book does not read as a horror novel, more a modern fantasy with horror elements, the best being the feeling of great weight and presence the thing in the ground emanates, Thibor Ferenczy…
The story is well told, it keeps the pages turning and it never really gets staid, even on a second read. There are some stunning ideas here, mostly to do with the developing mathematic talents that Harry begins to learn, and the conclusion delivers in a way that is often missed. There are a few nuggets that stand out, how a lot of the psychic seem to have family roots in some of the old Russian satellite states, particularly Transylvania/Wallachia, and that the Russian E-Branch has a research facility in the mountains there – something that will be important in later books.
It was well worth a re-read…
