I received and advance copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Auguries reminded me a bit of another Cottam book, The Lazarus Prophecy. The same interesting mixture of church/world history and modern horror. In fact, I have read several of Cottam’s other works and they all have a strong element of history and folklore that is really a plus for me. His novels provide quite a bit of suspense and strong historical elements as well as thriller style pacing which is a compelling mix. I find the horror elements not to be of the “in your face” variety but more along the lines of images and concepts that disturbing on a deeper level than something nasty trying to break into your house.

The Auguries is about witches and dark magic and a spell book finding its way into the wrong hands. Rather than some unrealistic wizard/super villain, the evil in The Auguries is very familiar, which grounds the story in a believable element. The Almanac of Forbidden Wisdom was written with the hope that it would fall into the hands of an amateur who would be unable to forsee the damage that these spells would do. The magic is harsh and simple yet the repercussions drastic and escalating to the apocalyptic.

As a writer, Cottam’s skills are well developed. The characters representing the church and state are presented in a sympathetic light as heroes, which isn’t often the case. It was a relief for me to read a book that wasn’t full of typical clichés where the government characters are power mad and the clergy are evil. Here they felt like real people. Even the villain had sympathetic elements and was completely believable.

Apart from all of that, it is a damn good story. Like Lazarus, Auguries is horrific historical “what if” that injects legends, actual characters and events into a supernatural story. It is quite compelling. Several times I felt the desire to research whether The Almanac of Forbidden Wisdom actually exists. I decided not to. I would rather not know.

4 solid stars. ( )

3.5 stars.

The Auguries by F.G. Cottam is an intriguing blend of occult and horror elements.

Fourteen year old altar boy Andrew Baxter is disturbed enough about troubling occurrences during a recent funeral to talk to his parish priest Father Gould. During the course of their discussion, the term "the unrestful dead" immediately comes to the priest's mind. In an effort to learn more information, Gould reads a monograph by Professor Juliet Harrington in which a rumored book, Almanac of Forbidden Wisdom, might be responsible for recent tragic events.

It turns out Britain's Home Secretary also believes this book containing numerous spells is at the heart of their country's latest catastrophes. He convinces Juliet to travel to Germany in hopes of learning where German alchemist Gunter Keller (who was burned at the stake centuries earlier) hid the Almanac. As these cataclysmic events continue at an alarming rate in Britain, the fate of the world rests on Juliet locating and neutralizing the book. Will she accomplish this near herculean task?

Unbeknownst to Gould or Juliet, the Almanac of Forbidden Wisdom has fallen into the hands of young local girl in his parish. She does not comprehend the correlation between her experiments and the tragic events occurring in Britain. And even if she does eventually figure out the connection, will she stop performing the spells in the book?

Juliet is aided by translator Paul Beck as they scour Keller's long ago writings that begin in 1528. They uncover alarming information that in turn leads to their frenetic attempts to track down the writings of other people involved with the spells in the Almanac of Forbidden Wisdom. Juliet also knows how to stop the current catastrophes from continuing, but she must locate the book. She is edging ever closer to uncovering the Almanac's whereabouts but will Juliet get there before it is too late?

The Auguries features an interesting premise but the pacing is slow and some passages are a bit repetitious. The translations of the centuries old works are quite fascinating. However, the story arc in the present hinges on unrealistic circumstances surrounding the novel's antagonist. The horror and occult aspects of the storyline are extremely well written and very interesting. F.G. Cottam brings the novel to an ambiguous conclusion that is rather frustrating. A bit of a mixed bag, but an overall entertaining read. ( )