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mikekaz's review
5.0
As someone who has read more of Piccirilli's later works, this novel was significantly different. I'm used to his crime noir or pulp fiction type stories. Something hard hitting and gritty and intense. A LOWER DEEP gives us some of that but puts it into a different environment. Instead of real world, the world is full of sorcery and magic, religion and Satanism, and Armageddon.
The unnamed Necromancer and his familiar Self are forced to confront their old coven leader Jebediah DeLancre who wants to force the premature return of Christ; this would trigger Armageddon. Necromancer is tempted though because Jebediah promises the resurrection of Necromancer's true love. The story takes the character across the world through places such as stopping a witch's coven, a haunted monastery and finally the climax in Jerusalem. Along the way Necromancer must fight with his own ghosts and his own zombie father.
Most of the time I have problems with books centered around magic. There doesn't seem to be much to stop the author from creating whatever magical spells they need. Too few limitations and too few ramifications of those magic spells. This book though didn't fall into that arena. There were some amazing spells being cast but the whole book had a gritty feel that made it more real. It was not as fantastical as it might seem. The book does contain a lot though: Christianity, paganism, witchcraft, multiple demons, zombies, gore, violence, laughs and powerful themes that you'll remember after finishing the book. I probably wouldn't recommend this book as a starting point for Piccirilli's work (try A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN or THE COLD SPOT instead) but this would absolutely fall on the highly recommended list.
The unnamed Necromancer and his familiar Self are forced to confront their old coven leader Jebediah DeLancre who wants to force the premature return of Christ; this would trigger Armageddon. Necromancer is tempted though because Jebediah promises the resurrection of Necromancer's true love. The story takes the character across the world through places such as stopping a witch's coven, a haunted monastery and finally the climax in Jerusalem. Along the way Necromancer must fight with his own ghosts and his own zombie father.
Most of the time I have problems with books centered around magic. There doesn't seem to be much to stop the author from creating whatever magical spells they need. Too few limitations and too few ramifications of those magic spells. This book though didn't fall into that arena. There were some amazing spells being cast but the whole book had a gritty feel that made it more real. It was not as fantastical as it might seem. The book does contain a lot though: Christianity, paganism, witchcraft, multiple demons, zombies, gore, violence, laughs and powerful themes that you'll remember after finishing the book. I probably wouldn't recommend this book as a starting point for Piccirilli's work (try A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN or THE COLD SPOT instead) but this would absolutely fall on the highly recommended list.
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