Jason Dark is back to the chase, this time fighting beings being reanimated postmortem. The creator of the nefarious warriors is the mysterious Dr. Prometheus, who has struck a deal with the devil in order to create and undead army of evil. Once Jason learns of the situation, he gets down to business with his comrade, Herbert. Will they be able to twarth the good doctor's plans?Once again a stunning novella by Henkel. This time, the formula varied just a tad, with Dark's character not even being mentioned until nearly a quarter of the way into the story. I actually really liked this change, because the story necessitated the longer set up in order to maintain clarity. I also liked that a new sidekick helped Jason out, in the character of Herbert. Siu Lin is still present in the story, but does not help Jason battle, which makes me wonder if their relationship is taking a turn down a different path.
I see clear allusion to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in this work, obviously, with a flavoring of Faust as well, and a smattering of Sherlock Holmes. It theme within the work is the danger of man trying to take the role of Creator, even if it means dealing with the devil to do so. This is classic horror literature at it's best, in my opinion. Henkel relies on his wordcraft to frighten and entice the reader, not gore and gimmicks as is so common in modern horror literature. I particularly loved the twist when we finally meet Dr. Prometheus.
Once again, I am left wanting to read another installment. Luckily, I have it on good authority that Henkel is continuing to write installments in the Jason Dark saga, which makes me one happy bookworm.
An electronic copy of this book was provided for review purposes courtesy of the author.
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