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Loading... The Lamp of the Wicked (2002)by Phil Rickman
None. The disturbing fifth title in the Merrily Watkins series. Rickman uses the remaining questions over the activities of serial killer Fred West as the framework for this book. In places, this makes for seriously uncomfortable reading. Rickman gives all the characters very clear voices, and whilst he is dealing with the possibility of serial killings he manages to keep control of the plot. This book is probably the darkest of the series so far - it's complex story and the usual twists are well executed. (  )1   soliloquies | Apr 13, 2011 |  If you are interested in great writing with more than a touch of the supernatural, I would highly recommend beginning this series. This book is the fifth in the series, and in order to be fully appreciated should be read in order. A lot of the stuff wouldn't make sense if you haven't been following Reverend Merrily Watkins and her troubled seventeen year old daughter Jane. This book explores another side of serial killers that is actually quite chilling. Are some of these people directed from beyond the grave? Mr. Rickman also uses a real-life serial killer as a backdrop for his book. The Gloucester serial killer Freddy West and his wife were actual people, and the full extent of their horror is still not known to this day. Merrily and her mentor Reverend Huw are drawn into a macabre village (Underhowle) with more evil secrets than most normal English villages. Girls are missing and have been missing for a very long time around this small village. This is a book that is impossible to put down, as so many are in this series, and it is totally devastating while it explores the depths of human depravity. I am so glad that I discovered this totally wonderful and different series. (  ) Romonko | Mar 6, 2009 | Stunning. I don't understand why Phil Rickman isn't as well known as other British writers, because his writing is amazing as he explores the blurry boundaries between good and evil. His characters feel real, Jane with her teenage angst, Merrily, chain smoker, vicar and Mum who constantly tries to do her best whilst doubting her motives. But this is the darkest book I have read for a while as Rickman weaves into his tale events from the real world, events which reverberate through his story much as they continue to do in real life. Following the recent publication of the eleventh book in the series I've decided to reread the series. This is another superb offering in the series. Gomer is called in by a householder to recitify work done by one of his competitors, a seemingly mundane act which sets off a chain of events which may, or may not, be linked to the notorious serial killers Fred and Rosemary West. Some readers may be concerned by Rickman using this story within his book and in the hands of another writer, this would be uncomfortable reading. In Rickman's hands, this is a difficult read, but he effectively explores the horrors Fred West and his wife Rosemary inflicted on their victims and how this evil rippled through the local communities provides the chilling backdrop to this exploration of the forms of evil that can inhabit rural communities. ( ) riverwillow | Sep 4, 2008 | these are so dense and convoluted--I have to space them out for reading ReadingKnitter01 | Jun 6, 2008 | Ok series. Library borrow not a purchase series. (  ) gerleliz | Jun 20, 2007 | no reviews | add a review
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