Black Cathedral
L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims
Leisure, Jan 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780843961997

The British government subsidizes Department 18, a special unit dealing with bona fide supernatural and paranormal activities. Robert Carter a powerful psychic and medium, along with Sian are sent to a home in an English suburb to investigate what has reported poltergeist calamities. From the time they enter the house they realize they are dealing with something much more evil. Carter sends Sian to the car and locks the door but the monster beetles in the walls get inside and leave no trace she was even in the car.

Robert is suspended, but his superior pushes to bring him back to active duty so he can join the group heading KKulsay Island off the Scottish coast. A group of middle managers sent by their influential corporation to work together as a team on the island have vanished without a trace; sixty years ago the islanders also disappeared. A helicopter arrives on the island seeking survivors, but sinks into the ground. Carter and his group arrive next and immediately sense the malevolence that permeates the island; that evil prepares to attack the latest intruders.

L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims once again write a scary horror story that will frighten the audience into leaving all lights on. There is plenty of action with unexpected twists to shake readers from any complacency they might feel. The protagonist is also shaken by the disappearance of Sian and believes there is a link between the two incidents. Robert is hero in spite of himself as he courageously goes about his investigation into otherworldly activities on the mortal plain.

Harriet Klausner