Black Fire

March 15, 2012
Two soldiers in Napoleon's army, separated from their unit during the catastrophic retreat from Moscow, reach a deserted town, where they find other human flotsam slowly freezing and starving to death. They soon learn that the town was decimated not by war but by a deep and ancient evil that is trying to escape from the earth below them. As the refugees die gorily one by oneand don't stay dead for longthe few survivors make a break for it, but the treacherous escape route takes them right past the heart of the evil. Horror fans seeking a novel variation on a classic Friday the 13th scenario (isolated characters are killed off one by one) will enjoy this, and the Slavic folklore-inspired bad guy is a hell of a lot scarier than some guy in a hockey mask. Rodriguez's art is powerful and striking, splashed with lurid, bloody color, his primitive faces and figures so deeply etched it's like cubist Orthodox iconography. Not for everyone, perhaps, but perfect for the tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)