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THARNE'S QUEST
By Alan M Brooker
Pulsar Books 1-58697-037-2
E-Book
$4.95Ah, well, it seems that the spirits residing in the 'other world' are at it again. The Baddies are trying to get out and enter our world. (As if it was such a great place to hang as it is.) But fear not; the Goodies of the spirit world are out there. The main Goodie in charge is Tharne and, like the Baddies who use humans as meat puppets, Tharne enlists his own meat puppet to stop the Baddies.
The good meat puppet is Chad Tennyson. He is a practical guy with a level head who works for NASA. He even has a beautiful girlfriend named Alison who works as a model. Their relationship isn't solid, but for the sake of the story, the are meant to be together. Under Tharne's guidance, Chad must go undercover into a Satanic cult (the Baddies' meat puppets) and stop them from making a virginal, human sacrifice that will open a door and let the Baddies in.
Not a fan of Brooker's thriller novels, I actually enjoyed this book. Maybe because it is so far in into fantasy, that I'm not looking for reality. He manages to mix fantasy, thriller/espionage, horror, and erotica. And it is a fine mix.
The plot is tight and knocks off like a naked fat man falling down a ladder with his ass hitting each rung. The High Priest of the coven is a good, perverted bad guy; someone I wouldn't want hanging around my wife or daughter. There are some interesting theories of Evil and the historical figures that execute evil deeds through out time.
My complaints are few. By now, I expect Broker to give me flimsy characters. There is no better example than this sequence from the book:
Chad is undercover in the coven and being initiated. He has to penetrate a young woman with a golden phallus (dildo to you lower class readers) on an altar, but the girl turns out to be his girlfriend Alison. Then later that night, Chad has drug-induced sex with three other woman. The next morning he worries about the mental condition of Alison for being penetrated in front of a group of strangers by a dildo, er, phallus.
I guess their relationship isn't that serious. But at the end of the book, Tharne says it is, and they will get through the repressed memories that will sure creep up on them in the future.
A lot of the dialogue between Tharne and Chad was kind of textbook as well as some of the magic ceremonies. But this is fiction and how real can it be, right?
If you are looking for a nasty good time, or a gift for your mom, Tharne's Quest is the book for you.
Review by Mike Purfield
Critical Raves for Mike Purfield's "Dirty Boots."
"If you're looking for a good read, something you've never experienced before, then this is the book for you." Paul Kane of Terror Tales.
Rated 3 out of 4 by Unhinged Magazine.
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