I am a bit prejudiced against John Silence before i read this. Firstly i have read some story with him in it about a werewolf, wasn't a fan, also i already like some of his supernatural detective rivals so it was always going to be hard for him to break into an already crowded field. And he doesn't quite manage it.

I also noticed that for some reason each of the three tales uses a different perspective. The first story, has Silence himself as the point of view character, the second, has really no reason to be in this collection as its just random guy telling tale to people which include Dr.Silence and the last goes with the more common Watson-esque assistant as the P.O.V. character.

This is neither as delightfully weird as [b:Carnacki, the Ghost Finder|345563|Carnacki, the Ghost Finder|William Hope Hodgson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1332287258s/345563.jpg|335870] or as pithy and likable as [b:The Secrets of Dr. Taverner|697886|The Secrets of Dr. Taverner|Dion Fortune|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387708497s/697886.jpg|684204].
While there were times in each of the stories it approached a 4-star the writing just kept going and they always felt more drawn out than necessary. In addition while the writing is quite descriptive it isn't as vivid as Lovecraft or similar authors.

'The air, soft and cool caressed his cheek like the touch of a great furry paw.'
These are very cat orientated stories :) , ironically the only one not be cat-centric was the one with an Egyptian connection, bit of a missed opportunity that ;) .

One final note, Silence is described as this really great kind guy always out to help people blah, blah, but then i noticed this line
'By some means which I never could fathom, John Silence always contrived to keep the compartment to himself..'
Oh wow thats a great use of your mystical abilities, hogging the train carriage!, ass :lol . ( )

I am on my Algernon Blackwood quest, and this is book four. John Silence is independently wealthy and of a philanthropist, so goes away for five years and comes back as a Psychic Doctor who only takes cases that interest him. This book contains three of those cases: A Psychical Invasion, Ancient Sorceries and The Nemesis of Fire. John Silence is a man who is strong, honorable and good. He has learned all about the light and the dark sides of our world, as well as those other worlds where evil clay live. He has somehow been inoculated against the dark, so he can help people who have gotten into trouble with things they should not have messed with. He will not take any compensation for his services, even though he is highly professional, gets good results and everyone respects him.

These three stories were drastically different. The first is my favorite if I had to choose. The second starts slow, but finishes with a bang, and the third is interesting, as it is told from the POV of his assistant, Mr. Hubbard, instead of the Doctor. The third story is much more like the first, in that it suck you into the mystery quickly and doesn't let you go until the last pages.

Blackwood's prose style is almost tangible to all five senses. He gets so close to mastering it with onomatopoeia and other cadence techniques that he uses that I believe that the experience of Blackwood being read orally by an amazing sexy voice would be the perfect thing to do - like adding a platinum setting to a pigeons blood ruby. The voice would bring out the texture, the cadence, the sounds and the tones that Blackwood intentionally writes in his prose. His greatest example of this is in The Willow.

These three stories are fun, well written, and a great example of their genre. I love John Silence as a character. Highly recommended. ( )