Dark Debts

July 29, 1996
Beautiful Randa Phillips, a columnist for an L.A. alternative paper, has been called in to identify the body of her former lover, successful novelist Cameron Landry, who seemingly succumbed to the family curse and committed murder before killing himself. Randa finds herself manipulated into visiting the last surviving member of Cam's notoriously dysfunctional family and falls frighteningly in love with this handsome man who may, through no fault of his own, be turning into a monster. Concurrent with this love story runs the tale of Michael McKinney, a sexy Jesuit priest who has defied his superiors in the church and is suffering a crisis of faith. He, too, harbors family secrets and a dark legacy to overcome. As the novel races toward a technicolor climax, existential questions mount--about faith, love, the devil and the power of Christ. First-novelist Hall, a veteran TV writer (for Hill Street Blues and other shows) pricks the reader's attention with many thorny philosophical issues about the nature of evil and the need for ritual in religion, as well as with a lively explication of Jesuit life. Her penchant for neatly tied answers, however, makes this sudsy work of supernatural horror more spirited than spiritual. Still, Hall's image of Jesus in a flannel shirt is an appealing one, and is likely to win over readers not already ensnared by her page-flipping tale, which owes an obvious debt to The Exorcist but which cuts its own turf with flair. 150,000 first printing; film rights to Paramount; author tour.

Narrator George Newbern's unhurried, soothing tone draws listeners into this disturbing story of demonic possession and Satanic worship in Georgia. The Landry family seems cursed: Both parents committed suicide, and three out of four sons have died, one of whom was a mass murderer. Randa, an LA journalist and the ex-girlfriend of the third brother to die, tracks down Jack, the last surviving Landry. Jesuit priest Michael Kinney is battling his demons, too, as the three come together in an attempt to vanquish demons real and metaphorical. Newbern is an accomplished narrator whose characters become real through the smallest vocal inflections. DARK DEBTS is a compelling listen. C.A.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine


Veteran TV writer Hall has crafted a powerful tale of characters beset by a demonic curse that has driven generations of family members to murder and mayhem. Engrossing and terrifying, the story suffers from only one notable abridgment problem: a prologue that seems unrelated until much later in the story. Anthony Heald conveys the extreme emotions of the story without succumbing to overstatement. Using intonation, accent and emphasis, he clearly and insightfully portrays different personalities (including Jesus and the devil). This production is hard to turn off before the end. M.A.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine