Synopsis:
An instant classic, Brian Lumley's astonishing feat of imagination spawned a universe that Lumley has explored and expanded through more than a baker's dozen novels and novellas. Millions of copies of Necroscope and its successors are in print in a dozen languages throughout the world. Nominated for the British Fantasy Award, Necroscope has inspired everything from comic books and graphic novels to sculptures and soundtracks. This new edition of Necroscope uses the author's preferred text and includes a special introduction by Brian Lumley, telling how the Necroscope saga came to be.
Harry Keogh is the man who can talk to the dead, the man for whom every grave willingly gives up its secrets, the one man who knows how to travel effortlessly through time and space to destroy the vampires that threaten all of humanity.
Review: Necroscope by Brian Lumley 25/10/20
Since childhood I've loved the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and readily devoured anything he or others wrote that was based around the Cthulhu Mythos. It was Burrowers Beneath that led me to Brian Lumley and introduced me to his Necroscope series.
The literary world is full of the darkside of society with everything from the Sonja Blue vampire tales toHarry Dresden and Monster Hunter International but none of them capture the true horror and visceral malice that the Wamphyri create in the Necroscope series. But I'm getting ahead of myself here as we don't start with horror but instead with a child.
Harry Keogh is a child with a secret. His teachers are confused when the young boy, raised by his step-father after the death of his mother in a skating accident, suddenly starts to exhibit a miraculous understanding of all things, maths, history, the sciences and little do they know the origin of his knowledge.
As time passes, Harry marries his childhood friend and admits to her the source of his knowledge which has aided in his success as an author, the dead. Harry is a Necroscope, he has the ability to hear voices of the dead and communicate with them and it's their shared knowledge and experience that he can tap into. And they freely offer this knowledge as, when we die, we don't pass on to heaven but instead remain trapped in our rotting bodies, unable to hear or be heard by anyone else, alive or dead and he alone can break the silence for them.
On the other side of the world in Russia, a very different type of communication is taking place. Boris Dragonsani is a Necromancer and, while the dead talk willingly to Harry, Boris can torture the sectets fromn the dead by devouring their flesh and absorbing their very being. It is through one such rape that he discovers the existance of both Harry and an ancient being, Thibor Ferenczy, an ancient Vampire with vast magical powers that he is willing to gift to Boris.
A visit to his Step-Father leads to Harry's powers growing and the discovery of a very personal threat from RUssia and brings him to the attention of E-Branch, a secret part of the UK Government involved with ESPionage and the use of physic powers to protect the country.
Together they face a growing threat from Russia and Boris continues to amass more terrible powers but Harry has only just started to discover the powers available to him through those with nothing to do for all eternity but think and theorise.
There is so much more to this book and the story but to explain this would do others a disservice as this is a book that really needs to be experienced, as do the 4 books (and numerous spinoff/short stories) that follow.
James Langton provides the narration of this and the later books and does so with aplomb. His voice is a perfect cadence for the british cast and provides an excellent individuality to both the Russian and vampire cast.
There are few vampire books that I really enjoy but for both the horror and the paranormal aspects this whole series is wholefully overlooked these days but really does deserve a fresh resurgence.