The Complete John Silence Stories

Blackwood is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed the John Silence stories for the language, the variety, the intelligence. Two of the stories feature a sidekick, Hubbard, who is vastly more useful and knowledgeable and real than either Dr. Watson or Captain Hastings to Holmes and Poirot respectively. I enjoyed the stories about equally.
However--two cringey spots surprised me.
#1Hubbard remarks off the cuff in the mummy story that he is not entirely unfamiliar with mummies, having unwrapped a few dozen himself and used them to dabble in magic, which brings to light the way the Brits in the late 1800s just pillaged and stole Egyptian artifacts and desecrated countless tombs.
#2 In the Camp Dog story, there is a wild show more explanation for the phenomenon occurring which assumes a racism towards Native Americans as naturally savage. It is offensive--layered with offensive.
Sidestepping these, I quite enjoyed this collection and am curious about the mystery man John Silence was modelled after. show less

Considered one of the best writers of weird fiction -- tales of the supernatural, other worlds, ghosts, etc. -- Algernon Blackwood created a psychic detective know as John Silence. Think of Silence as an early ghost hunter, helping those suffering from ghostly or supernatural experiences and working to convince others that the spirit world does exist and can have a dangerous effect on the living. This collection of six tales shows the charismatic Silence at his best, whether exorcising a nasty spirit from a house in "A Physical Invasion", protecting an young woman from a werewolf in "The Camp of the Dog", or confronting the restless spirit of a mummy transported to early 20th century England in "Nemesis of Fire".
All the stories are show more atmospheric, filled with tremendous attention to detail and move at such a pace as to build the tension so that the reader feels like one of the characters, looking over his or her should at the slightest sound. If you are in the mood for a stories that truly creepy, then "The Complete John Silence Stories" is the collection for you. show less

Als Algernon Blackwoods Erzählungen um den okkulten Detektiv John Silence 1908 erstmals erschienen, sorgten sie für eine Sensation und machten ihren Autor schlagartig zu einem führenden Vertreter der Literatur des Unheimlichen.

H. P. Lovecraft: »Über den Rang von Algernon Blackwoods Genie lässt sich nicht streiten. (…) John Silence enthält einige von Blackwoods besten Arbeiten.«