Rating: 
Summary: Oh YES!!!!!!
Review: I think that this may be Rickman's best since December. A tightly woven story with a delightful cast of charactors. And what an ending! I was riveted. Merrily's first official "deliverance" is so horrible that it's wonderful. And in the end, you're literally hoping that the lights won't go out. Rickman's writing is tight and eloquent. He manages to walk the line between charactor and action with ease, something few authors can do. I can't wait to read the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story. Not strong enough on the suspense.
Review: I was impressed by Phil Rickman's writing style and the way he created a sharp sense of time and place for this novel. The plot was good but I think the suspense was weak. I think this novel is more of a mystery rather than a thriller, a real story rather than a fantasy. The characters were interesting enough, but there was an abundance of characters which I found to be a bit confusing. I do not believe the characters were stereotypical; they were realistic with very unique and captivating personalities. Quite frankly, it is the characters who made the story interesting, not the plot. The cover states that it's about exorcism, but no such thing occurs in the story, atleast not of any importance. It is simply about the corruption of the church of England and about strange ideas affecting the younger generation beliefs. It carries a few surprises but will require patience to read.
Rating:
Summary: Effortless supernatural thriller
Review: I was introduced to Phil Rickman quite by chance several years back when he first produced Crybbe and was instantly hooked. The Welsh/English border is the perfect setting for his heady mix of celtic supernatural and modern new age characters. Existing in the twilight that is often so well depicted by James Herbert, he has produced, over the years, several linked tales that take you on the ancient paths of England's West Country invariably pulling fourteenth through seventeenth century tales of malice and horror to reemerge a sinister forces through the late twentieth century.
So it is with Midwinter of the Spirit. A tale woven around exorcism and possession, our main protagonist is the return of Reverend Merrily Watkins from the Wine of Angels, a single mother who is prepared to both acknowledge and involve herself with the practical nature of exorcism. A lack of assistance by the outgoing resident and a continuing troubled relationship with her daughter leads Merrily to join forces with Lol Robinson (who'll crop up in A Crown of Lights and The Cure of Souls - a rough quartet we wonder? Or, perhaps the emergence of Rickman's favoured sleuth?) to investigate and eventually confront an ancient evil at the heart of the Cathedral where the shrine of St Thomas was destroyed.
Rickman's works must rank him alongside James Herbert, and there are inevitable comparisons to King - though I think his work is of a different nature - and The Midwinter of the Spirit only confirms him as as established master of the supernatural thriller.
Rating:
Summary: "Midwinter" Has Its Doldrums
Review: Let me start by saying that I am a real fan of Phil Rickman--I think he writes better supernatural thrillers than anyone in the business, and it is a shame that he hasn't found a bigger audience in the U.S. However, I found Midwinter of the Spirit to be one of his weaker efforts. Granted, all of his usual strengths are displayed here. His characters are colorful and real, and the dialogue is richly idiosyncratic. Stylistically, he once again seems incapable of sounding a false note (and how many horror writers can one say that about?). The problem, as I see it, is in the structure. The book seems strangely "cinematic," in that Rickman has developed an infuriating habit of cutting to a new scene the moment he manages to build a bit of suspense, and thus momentum is always being lost. And even more important, the book is simply not as scary as most of his other books--there is nothing in this one that rivals the horrific thrills of say, Curfew, or Candlenight. There are two or three somewhat unsettling scenes (the attempted "deliverance" of Denzil Joy is a classic), but they are scattered far and wide, and divorced from any real narrative build, they do not have much of an impact. And finally, Rickman again commits the sin of which he is often guilty: too easily resolving the conflict that he has so laboriously built. So much is made of an impending church ceremony in which demonic forces might storm the portals and wreak havoc on earth, but when the ceremony finally arrives, the catastrophe is averted almost effortlessly: all it takes is the prayer of a dying priest and the unexpected kindness of a teenager. The effect of the quick and tidy resolution is that the evil seems to been overrated from the start, leaving this reader wondering why he spent so much time believing in it.
As I say, I admire Phil Rickman immensely, so I'm sure this book is just a bump in the road of his distinguished career. I'm reading A Crown of Lights right now, and I'm happy to say that it seems far more satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Spooky stuff! His best so far!!
Review: Midwinter of the Spirit is about exorcism, sexism, and catholicism, and reveals the darker side of all three! Wow, this really is an exciting read! Phil Rickman is the master when it comes to spine chilling tension - and this book must surely be his pinacle! I heartily reccommend this to anyone who enjoys an addictive supernatural read with exciting twists to the tale! Imaginative story, wonderfully written and based upon truth!?
Rating:
Summary: Spooky stuff! His best so far!!
Review: Midwinter of the Spirit is about exorcism, sexism, and catholicism, and reveals the darker side of all three! Wow, this really is an exciting read! Phil Rickman is the master when it comes to spine chilling tension - and this book must surely be his pinacle! I heartily reccommend this to anyone who enjoys an addictive supernatural read with exciting twists to the tale! Imaginative story, wonderfully written and based upon truth!?
Rating: 
Summary: A Sacrifice of Crows
Review: Phil Rickman is an author of British horror stories who has the ability to put together a 500-and-some page novel (with small print) without grinding down the reader. He does this without giving way to the temptation to spray everything with gore, and spends time building both interior and exterior structure and characterization. Even so, I approached Midwinter of the Spirit with some trepidation, because the central plot device, a female Episcopalian vicar turned church exorcist sounded a bit too sensationalist to me. Now that I've actually taken the time to read one of the Merrily Watkins stories I can honestly say that this is some of his best work.
Midwinter of the Spirit is the first of the exorcist novels (not counting the one that introduces Merrily as a vicar). After suffering through a visitation of her own, Merrily is offered the position of exorcist by the young bishop of Hereford (in modern times we don't call them exorcists, though - Merrily is a 'deliverance consultant'). After a short course in creatures of the night Merrily is thrust right into the middle of Hereford's occult world, hampered by her predecessor who is a misogynistic curate of the strictest kind. He doesn't hesitate to throw her into a confrontation that is over her head and from that point on we leap from crisis to crisis.
In addition to Merrily's issues within the church, her sixteen-year-old daughter has become determined to try out her own wings. Jane begins to dabble into exactly the kind of spiritualism that Merrily is expected to oppose. Lured into the world of the craft by a new friend, Jane's first steps trigger a series of events that quickly go beyond family spats. And in a third subplot, Moon, a somewhat spooky young archeologist with a history of instability moves into a barn haunted by her own past. She is intent on writing a history of the Neolithic culture that lies beneath modern Hereford. But somehow she finds herself trying to make a connection to her father's suicide - with disastrous results.
The publisher's description calls that the first 'spiritual-procedural' thriller, and that is very much what it is about. Far from being overdosing the reader with huge amounts of ritual magic, Rickman manages a deft mix of magic, the personal lives of some interesting people (Merrily is nothing like what you would expect a vicar to be), and a set of puzzles that read almost like a spy thriller. The blend is surprisingly believable despite a string of sacrifices, psychic events, and magical powers. I was delighted with the work, and am looking forward to the other volumes in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Mysterious, spooky ,fascinating and addictive
Review: This book began for me, a fascinating journey through Phil Rickman's writing. The real strength of this book, and Phil Rickman's previous books, is that they stay totally believable, even as they take you on a journey into the depths of spooky rituals, mysterious deaths and dangerously creepy people.
Merrily Watkins is a normal, thirty-something single parent, who also happens to be an Anglican priest and diocesan exorcist. She is at once a believable and vulnerable hero, relying more on her wits than on any supernatural powers.
Exciting, intriguing, fascinating and scary - I loved it!
Rating: 
Summary: Too many annoying characters for my liking
Review: To be fair to this novel, it does hold interest right up until the end. The mixture of history, mythology, and of course, exorcism was always going to be one that I found irresistable. If you throw in a magnificent Cathedral that doubles up as a very spooky building, add a bit of gore and complete it with a truly horrific moment or two; the thought of the man in the hospital bed and his wife on the stool brought a genuine revulsion that I seldom get from books, then you truly have the potential for a brilliant novel. So why the low score? Putting it simply, I found too many people in the cast that I wanted to kick really hard. Top of the list is Merrily's ultra annoying daughter. There are kids like her all over this country, but Rickman's depiction of her was too stereotypical. She did not come across as a character in the story but as a symbol of today's youth society. She had little true input and thus took away from the story. As did "Moon". Spirituality in a book such as this is clearly warranted, but does she have to be called Moon? It is so thoughtless of Rickman to reckon on the reader taking this name in their stride. If there had been a dog in the story, he would have called it Lassie a horse and it would have been a Dobbin. Moon's name annoyed me intensely. And then comes the ending. Like a great many books in the thriller genre, "Midwinter of the Spirit" suffers from an extended ending. There are three or four more suitable ways to end the novel, but Rickman decides to carry on a few pages too many and thus blunts any chance of a riveting ending. This book has flashes of genius but suffers from moments of incrediblity and the whole effect is of a good book spoilt. I read this book over a year ago, and the fact that I have not read another Rickman since, may go a long way to explaining my true feelings for this author's work.
Rating:
Summary: Too many annoying characters for my liking
Review: To be fair to this novel, it does hold interest right up until the end. The mixture of history, mythology, and of course, exorcism was always going to be one that I found irresistable. If you throw in a magnificent Cathedral that doubles up as a very spooky building, add a bit of gore and complete it with a truly horrific moment or two; the thought of the man in the hospital bed and his wife on the stool brought a genuine revulsion that I seldom get from books, then you truly have the potential for a brilliant novel. So why the low score? Putting it simply, I found too many people in the cast that I wanted to kick really hard. Top of the list is Merrily's ultra annoying daughter. There are kids like her all over this country, but Rickman's depiction of her was too stereotypical. She did not come across as a character in the story but as a symbol of today's youth society. She had little true input and thus took away from the story. As did "Moon". Spirituality in a book such as this is clearly warranted, but does she have to be called Moon? It is so thoughtless of Rickman to reckon on the reader taking this name in their stride. If there had been a dog in the story, he would have called it Lassie a horse and it would have been a Dobbin. Moon's name annoyed me intensely. And then comes the ending. Like a great many books in the thriller genre, "Midwinter of the Spirit" suffers from an extended ending. There are three or four more suitable ways to end the novel, but Rickman decides to carry on a few pages too many and thus blunts any chance of a riveting ending. This book has flashes of genius but suffers from moments of incrediblity and the whole effect is of a good book spoilt. I read this book over a year ago, and the fact that I have not read another Rickman since, may go a long way to explaining my true feelings for this author's work.
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