Night Witch

Rating:
Summary: Vampire Like Monster from Trinidad Comes to California
Review: After reading Priest's other two books I wasn't surprised that this one had a Vampire like monster thing from Trinidad come to California. That seems to be a reoccurring them in his work. In Ragged Man he had a demon from Australia come to California and terrorize an aging crook and in Gecko he had a gecko monster from New Zealand come to California and do the same to an aging real estate developer, so at first I expected more of the same, but this Soucouyant (the old as the hills female vamp like monster thingy) is very different than the horrors in his other two books. Plus there are no older guys in this one who creak and groan as they battle bad things. In this one the evil that lurks is after a little girl.

I really got into the way Priest drew the child's world. Carolina Coffee and her gravitationally challenged friend Arty are stalked by this old horror who is about as evil as they come. I particularly liked how the Soucouyant dispatches Arty's abusive father. Carolina and Arty are great characters, not only do they have the bloodsucking, killing Sououyont to worry about, but they have do deal with school bullies and Arty's abusive father (until said dad meets up with his worst nightmare). I really enjoyed Priest's other books, but this, in my opinion, is by far his best. Not only is the story a gripper, but the ending really capped off a really fine read.

Rating:
Summary: One Shouldn't Mess with the Night Witch
Review: Carolina is on her way to school when an old woman peers out at her from behind her curtains. Arty, the fat kid of the class, meets her and carries her books. Bullies push Arty around, Carolina tries to defend him. The bullies promise to deal with Carolina and Arty after school. Such is the stuff of children in junior high school, but young Carolina and Arty have much bigger problems on their hands than a handful of bullies. That old woman for example. She is a soucouyant, loosely related to the vampire. A bloodsucking shape-changer that hunts and kills in the Southern Caribbean. She wears a locket which allows her to live forever. Unknown to Carolina, when her father, a petty thief, was in Trinidad on vacation, he stole the locket on a routine burglary, because he thought it would make a good gift for her.

Very bad things are about to happen in the small Northern Californian town of Palma. People are going to die as the soucouyant vents her ancient wrath. However there is a secret to her destruction, not a stake in the heart, something more chilling, and our young friends are going to have to find what it is pretty darned quick, because they are on the evil old witch's list and the Night Witch is certainly not someone or something to be trifled with.

Mr. Priest has delivered a chilling, sometimes violent, sometimes uplifting, horror story that will have you on the edge of your seat. A super, bad, vampire-like, evil old witch of a character that will have your heart racing to a voodoo beat as you eagerly read though the pages to see what comes next. I couldn't put it down. You won't be able to either.

Rating:
Summary: Awful waste of my money
Review: I bought this book when I saw it rated highly on an Amazon list that contained quite a few other horror books that I had enjoyed reading. I could not even finish this book; I forced myself through the first 50 pages before I gave up. It was very poorly written, and full of bad cliches; in the first few pages one of the protagonists kills a bad guy by driving his nose into his brain using his fist. Come on, Jack. Not only is this incredibly overused, it's also not possible.

If your looking for a good gruesome read, look elsewhere. Avoid this book.

Rating:
Summary: Spookie Soukie as Real as any Vampire
Review: I was up all night at a friend's cabin in the mountains reading this story and I was captivated by the soucouyant, this Caribbean cousin to the European vampire that Mr. Priest writes about. She is a great and spooky character, but I must admit that I was convinced from the start that she was wholly a product of Mr. Priest's imagination. However, four days later, vacation over, home again in the land of the DSL internet connection, I did a Google search and imagine my surprise when I found out she actually exists.

Well, she doesn't really exist, not unless you believe in vampires. She's as real as one of them and there is a ton of stuff about her on the World Wide Web. I read a lot, thrillers and horror stories. I love mysteries, police stories, ghost stories and I devour vampire stories, so it really hit me that I'd missed out on Spooky Soukie. She is one mean cookie. However I think the author fudged the soucouyant legend a little bit with the magic locket business. I couldn't find anything about that in what I read, but that seems to be the only part of Soukie's story that I couldn't substantiate. But then the book is fiction and a storyteller should be allowed a little license. Besides, who knows, perhaps after NIGHT WITCH has been out for awhile, the longevity locket will become part of the folklore.

I also liked the running battle the soucouyant had going with John Coffee, a certified tough guy. As you know, if you've read the reviews, Coffee is little Carolina's father and he stole the locket when he was on vacation in Trinidad, brought it to California and gave it to his daughter. Soukie wants it back and that's the thrust of the story and a powerful thrust it is. Just when you think things are gonna calm down a bit, Soukie is on the spot to wake you right up.

But the real gems in NIGHT WITCH are the two children, Carolina and her overweight friend Arty. Carolina has the locket, doesn't know Soukie wants it. Soukie is coming after her and Arty is determined to protect her. This is one fine story, one that will get your blood pumping, frighten you and in the end leave you smiling. I highly recommend it.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

Rating:
Summary: Jack Priest's best
Review: This book was one of three sent to me by Jack Priest with the request that I read and review them all: Gecko, Ragged Man and Night Witch. I enjoyed reading all three, but I considered Night Witch the best in plot, character development and pure imagination.

Supernatural creatures of the Jack Priest universe aren't contained by the fences of traditional boundaries. They slip through and explode into new and unexpected avenues of the mind, the dark closet and the sounds just outside the bedroom window. Priest combines human thriller-drama with hand grenades of outrageous (but almost believable) nightmare creatures in a way that will keep you reading until you finish (even if you have to get up early in the morning and really need to put this down and get some shuteye).

Night Witch is Priest's best to date. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: Jack Priest's best
Review: This book was one of three sent to me by Jack Priest with the request that I read and review them all: Gecko, Ragged Man and Night Witch. I enjoyed reading all three, but I considered Night Witch the best in plot, character development and pure imagination.

Supernatural creatures of the Jack Priest universe aren't contained by the fences of traditional boundaries. They slip through and explode into new and unexpected avenues of the mind, the dark closet and the sounds just outside the bedroom window. Priest combines human thriller-drama with hand grenades of outrageous (but almost believable) nightmare creatures in a way that will keep you reading until you finish (even if you have to get up early in the morning and really need to put this down and get some shuteye).

Night Witch is Priest's best to date. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: Another Jack Priest book I couldn't put down!
Review: This is my second ever review and it's also my second review of a Jack Priest book. Like his Ragged Man, this one kept me enthralled. The action started right away and kept right up all the way through, climaxing with an ending that I enjoyed, but didn't expect. Priest's characters, especially the children, seemed to pull and push the book along, keeping me up, teeth chattering, as I read away.

I particularly liked little Carolina and her pet ferret. Her pal, chubby Arty, was pretty cool too. He was brave, courageous and bold, with a heart way to big for a child. I was more than glad to see his abusive father get his when he crossed paths with the Night Witch.

And then there is the Night Witch herself, kind of like a vampire, but not. She's a panther-quick, leather-tough, blood suckering killer from the Caribbean who has come to California, because a little girl holds the secret to the witch's eternal life. She's mean, ugly and tough as nails. What a book, a couple kids to die for and a monster as evil as anything you ever imagined under your bed. Get this one, you won't be disappointed, scared maybe, disappointed no.

Rating:
Summary: Caribbean Bloodsucker Comes to California
Review: Young Carolina Coffee has a locket that a soucouyant needs to stay immortal. A soucouyant is a vampire-like, bloodsucking creature found in the Caribbean. By day she's an old hag, but by night she sheds her skin and can be whatever she wants, anything from a ball of fire to a man-eating tiger.

Carolina knows her father is a sneak thief, it's why her parents are divorced, but she doesn't know that he stole the locket he'd brought back from Trinidad and given her. The soucouyant has traveled to California to get it back, will stop at nothing, but first she has to find it.

John Coffee, Carolina's father, knows he's put his daughter in danger and he does battle with the old hag several times, trying to draw her away, but the bloodsucking fiend isn't easily put off.

Carolina senses something is after her and she turns to her classmate, chubby Arty for help. Together the children find out what it is they are up against and even how to kill it, but the task is great and they are just children, however they have to try, because to fail is to die.

I don't know if my brief synopsis has done justice to this spellbinding thriller, I hope it has, because I believe Mr. Priest is going to have quite a future in writing horror fiction. His antagonists are always so fascinating, and I like how he gives us normal good guys who have to get it together and get up to speed quickly or they'll perish.

NIGHT WITCH Mr. Priest's third five star book had me reading the night away and as soon as I finished, I started it over again. He just seems to keep getting better. I can't wait for the next one.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene