Electric Poisoning, Serial Killers, Female Vicar, Coercive Control, Electrical Hypersensitivity ( )

This was not the book I had anticipated at all, given its beginning. It starts off with a tragedy which strikes Gomer Parry, one of the most likeable characters in this series. The Reverend Merrily Watkins accompanies him for moral support - and because he has been in the pub when he got the call and needs someone else to drive his van - to the scene of his business premises where all his digger vehicles are stored. An even worse discovery awaits than the destruction of Gomer's livelihood, and they are soon off to a house where he had earlier agreed to remove a badly fitted upmarket septic tank for a woman who appeared too scared to call back Roddy Lodge, the original contractor, Gomer being convinced that Roddy - who has left a threatening message on his answerphone - has torched his premises.

A confrontation with Roddy, who is there at night apparently removing the tank himself, soon escalates into a murder enquiry. And the book starts to take a different turn, first with Roddy's seeming madness and 'confession' of being a mass murderer, and then with the effect of electrical energy on human health, for Roddy's village is surrounded by electricity pilons and his home is right next to one. Finally, the dominant theme of the second part of the book takes over where the real life serial killers, Fred (now deceased) and Rosemary West, become an integral part of the story.

The book was extremely dark and full of depression: for a start, Merrily's 17-year-old daughter Jane is suffering from it, having lost her starry eyed belief in spirits of nature and other such New Age topics and now seeing no point in human existence. Merrily's mentor, Huw, is another sufferer and seeking some redemption for the loss of his love, a woman whose daughter was murdered, probably by West or some disciple of his, and who eventually committed suicide. The community where Roddy lives is also dogged by a dark presence in the former Baptist chapel. The only light relief in the book is the possibility of Merrily's lover Lol finally getting back on stage and being able to perform again, and Moira, the Scots singer who is helping him to do that.

I found the basing of the story on the real life crimes of the Wests unacceptable. There are obviously a lot of people still living who have either lost loved ones at their hands, or who have to live with the knowledge that they will never know if the Wests were responsible for the disappearance of their relatives in that general area around that time. Plus those who were survivors of the awful abuse that went on at the Wests' house. The book was actually published in 2003, not that long after the events in question either. I think a story could have been written where the same ideas were used - electromagnetism and its effect on human mental health, practitioners of sex magic and how that might shade into sexual abuse and murder - without having to have it be about these real life people. For me, it trivialised the suffering of the victims and their families, and so I'm afraid this has to be a 1-star even though it was well written - because I just didn't like it. ( )

Very dark, this one, because of the horrible all-pervading references to the notorious Gloucester mass murderer. It does actually work, though; Rickman wants to bring home to us the nature of evil, and the likelihood that networks and copycats were operating. His Herefordshire is a parallel universe that seems quite real at times.
A bonus here is the reappearance of one of his coolest characters, the singer Moira Cairns.

Phil Rickman is to the Herefordshire border country what Alan Garner is to Alderley Edge and Cheshire. His writing is saturated with the feel of the landscape, tied up intimately with its old stories, it's folklore. That's why I love Rickman's writing so much. That, and his, at first glance, readable no nonsense style but on closer inspection like many great writers it's clever and quite beautiful. 'He was directly under the power lines - heavy gauge black strings on a fretboard of night cloud'. He says in the closing credits that it 'was not exactly an easy book to write' but I'm very glad that he did. It takes the characters of Merrily, Jane, Gomer, Lol and even Huw to some very dark places indeed and the subject matter provides plenty to think about: evil - formless and dark - human or supernatural? Rickman cleverly provides links to the Fred West cases and explores what it is that leads someone to be a predatory serial killer. The background plot of the electrical pollution and power lines is equally well handled and ties in nicely with themes relating to the changing face of the countryside. Some folk think it's a bit dark but that's exactly why I liked it. Pure genius! ( )

Merrily Watkins must prepare for the funeral of a confessed serial murderer while dealing with a new celebrity convert who has taken an interest in her, her lover’s return to the concert stage after twenty years, her daughter’s mood swing into melancholy, her Plant Hire man’s vendetta, a detective inspector’s ambition, a crank fixated on the dangers of electromagnetic fields, and the legacy of West England’s vilest serial murderer. A little lumpy, but good. ( )