Brimstone

Starred review from February 27, 2017
In this pitch-perfect penny dreadful, Priest (The Family Plot) evokes the strangeness and charm of early-19th-century Florida and the fortitude of two spectacular protagonists. Alice Dartle, making a daring bid for freedom from her family home in Norfolk, Va., dreams of a man surrounded by fire. She journeys to join a community of Spiritualists in Cassadaga, Fla. where she hopes to learn how to control her natural psychic abilities. Tomás Cordero is a war veteran who’s just returned home to Ybor City, Fla., where he’s plagued by uncanny fires that seem determined to destroy all he loves. The two are brought together by powers beyond their understanding, which they must face armed only with universal love and compassion. Priest wields a brilliant command of the delightful and the frightening in this enchanting tale. Though spooky and dangerous events abound, each less logical than the last, she holds tightly to the theme that these events are rooted in human will. The detailed extrapolation of Spiritualist beliefs into reality makes the story even more terrifying than if it had a supernatural villain driving the chaos. The conclusion is both uplifting and satisfying, a fitting reward for the protagonists, who have each sought only to give help and love to those in need.

February 1, 2017
A young clairvoyant must save herself and her community from the ghosts a war veteran has brought home in Priest's (The Family Plot, 2016, etc.) newest fantasy/horror offering.Alice Dartle comes from a long line of witches but has found warm welcome rather than hostile prejudice in the arms of a charming spiritualist community in Prohibition-era Florida. While still learning her gifts, Alice is thrust into a struggle with a malign entity haunting a man named Tomas Cordero--a Cuban-American tailor who served in Europe during the war and brought some of its atrocities home with him. Tomas is convinced the spirit of his late wife is responsible for the increasingly dangerous fires that follow him around, while Alice thinks it's a darker force. The two race against a rising death toll to uncover both the truth of his haunting and a way to stop it before everything they both love is burned to cinders. Unfortunately, the building of this tension repeatedly requires Alice to withhold important information from her more experienced mentors--with a net result that Alice reads as immature rather than individualistic. Tomas, however, is a compelling portrait of a man driven to irrational choices by deep grief: there's a genuinely creepy scene where the desperate Tomas burns a prized possession. Despite the potential punch of Tomas' obsession, the resolution, when it comes, is more of a sputter than a conflagration. The heroes all do what they are supposed to do, and the day is saved with a great deal of understanding and acceptance on everyone's parts. A tale as amiably warm as the Florida town where it's set but with its promises of real heat fading away before a pat conclusion that ties everything off a bit too neatly.

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March 15, 2017

Clairvoyant Alice Dartle travels to the small Florida town of Cassadaga, having heard that it is a haven for spiritualists. There she hopes to learn how to better control her gifts. Meanwhile, Cuban-born tailor Tomas Cordero is haunted by terrible memories of his days as a soldier during World War I. Having lost his wife, Evelyn, to the flu, Tomas first believes the fires that spontaneously combust around him are random accidents, until he sees his dead wife's face in the ashes. He heads to Cassadaga, seeking help from Alice. But the fires seem to be the work of a spectral presence that Tomas brought back from the battlefields of Europe. Although Alice is presumably meant to be spunky and unconventional, she instead comes off as self-indulgent and lacking good sense. Tomas is a much more sympathetic character, deeply grieving and desperate to make a connection to the wife he lost. VERDICT Regardless of the flaws in one of its lead protagonists, this dark historical fantasy from Priest (Maplecroft; Boneshaker) features an intriguing setting and fascinating details about the Prohibition era that will draw in readers. [See Prepub Alert, 10/21/16.]--MM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017
Priest (Boneshaker, 2009) offers a textured period piece set in the spiritualist camp of Cassadaga, Florida, in 1920. Alice Dartle is a powerful but untrained medium who has left Virginia in hopes of education in Cassadaga. She dreams of a man who turns out to be Tomas Cordero, a Cuban-American veteran in a distant town, who has been experiencing unexplainedfiresboth in dreams and in real lifewhich he fervently hopes are messages from his dead wife. Unfortunately, more sinister forces are at work. An ancient and malevolent spirit may be using Tomas for its own ends, putting all Cassadaga at risk. Alice and Tomas must work with a strong supporting cast of characters to address the threat. Priest weaves intriguing historical detail throughout this slowly intensifying tale of darkness, fire, and the power of human connection. Recommended for fans of Joe Hill, otherworldly suspense, and stories with a strong sense of place and history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)