Rating: 
Summary: Alternate title: Crybbe
Review: It is so annoying to buy two copies of the same book, just because it has been assigned more than one title. For all of you Rickman fans out there, "Crybbe" and "Curfew" are the same novel.Woe betide the unsuspecting city-raised New Ager who ventures out into Crybbe's mean streets while curfew is being rung--especially during one of the unnervingly frequent power blackouts. According to author, Phil Rickman Crybbe is a composite of Knighton, Presteigne, Clun, and Bishop's Castle---and there really is a town where the curfew bell must be rung every night. His villagers are the equivalent of British rednecks, and all of the ghostly phenomena are local to the borderland between England and Wales, including a gigantic black dog that appears when someone is about to die. Stories of phantom black dogs abound in Britain. Almost every county has its own variant, from the Black Shuck of East Anglia to the Bogey Beast of Yorkshire. In this novel, the ghost hound's name is Black Michael, and it is thought to be the spirit of a warlock, who does not quite have enough power to transform himself back into a man--although he's been trying since he hanged himself in the late 1500s.
One of my favorite characters is killed almost immediately in this horror novel. He is a dowser after earth mysteries called ley lines. In this book, ley lines aren't simply lines of cosmic power linking prehistoric sites. They are the ancient pathways of the dead, and sure enough Black Michael is usually seen rushing down a ley line. A young writer of an occult best-seller, Joe Powys is brought to Crybbe by a millionaire who is trying to remake the old border village into England's new mystical center. Powys makes friends with Fay a down-on-her-luck radio reporter, and soon they are involved in the battle between Old Crybbe whose inhabitants tend to duck their heads and tug on their forelocks in the presence of the occult, and the New Age Crybbe where one can buy mystical lumpen pottery or align oneself with the Earth Mysteries through massage or acupuncture. As in most of Rickman's novels, the dewy-eyed mystics seem to take it on the chin. "Curfew" also harbors a serial killer who discovered Black Michael's skeletal hand hidden in his chimney. He goes from murder to ever-grislier murder while occult forces wreak a separate havoc on Crybbe. The novel's resolution gets a bit garbled and tedious when all of the evil forces line up against what's left of the good, and for the first time in 400 years the curfew bell falls silent. Suffice to say that Joe and three-legged Arnold go on to greater glory in "The Chalice." Fay goes back to work for the BBC. Gomer Parry, the manic digger-for-hire moves on to a prominent role in Rickman's Merrily Watkins procedurals.
Rating:
Summary: Alternate title: Crybbe
Review: It is so annoying to buy two copies of the same book, just because it has been assigned more than one title. For all of you Rickman fans out there, "Crybbe" and "Curfew" are the same novel. Woe betide the unsuspecting city-raised New Ager who ventures out into Crybbe's mean streets while curfew is being rung--especially during one of the unnervingly frequent power blackouts. According to author, Phil Rickman Crybbe is a composite of Knighton, Presteigne, Clun, and Bishop's Castle---and there really is a town where the curfew bell must be rung every night. His villagers are the equivalent of British rednecks, and all of the ghostly phenomena are local to the borderland between England and Wales, including a gigantic black dog that appears when someone is about to die. Stories of phantom black dogs abound in Britain. Almost every county has its own variant, from the Black Shuck of East Anglia to the Bogey Beast of Yorkshire. In this novel, the ghost hound's name is Black Michael, and it is thought to be the spirit of a warlock, who does not quite have enough power to transform himself back into a man--although he's been trying since he hanged himself in the late 1500s.
One of my favorite characters is killed almost immediately in this horror novel. He is a dowser after earth mysteries called ley lines. In this book, ley lines aren't simply lines of cosmic power linking prehistoric sites. They are the ancient pathways of the dead, and sure enough Black Michael is usually seen rushing down a ley line. A young writer of an occult best-seller, Joe Powys is brought to Crybbe by a millionaire who is trying to remake the old border village into England's new mystical center. Powys makes friends with Fay a down-on-her-luck radio reporter, and soon they are involved in the battle between Old Crybbe whose inhabitants tend to duck their heads and tug on their forelocks in the presence of the occult, and the New Age Crybbe where one can buy mystical lumpen pottery or align oneself with the Earth Mysteries through massage or acupuncture. As in most of Rickman's novels, the dewy-eyed mystics seem to take it on the chin. "Curfew" also harbors a serial killer who discovered Black Michael's skeletal hand hidden in his chimney. He goes from murder to ever-grislier murder while occult forces wreak a separate havoc on Crybbe. The novel's resolution gets a bit garbled and tedious when all of the evil forces line up against what's left of the good, and for the first time in 400 years the curfew bell falls silent. Suffice to say that Joe and three-legged Arnold go on to greater glory in "The Chalice." Fay goes back to work for the BBC. Gomer Parry, the manic digger-for-hire moves on to a prominent role in Rickman's Merrily Watkins procedurals.
Rating: 
Summary: Looking for more titles by Phil Rickman?
Review: My wife and I recently "discovered" Phil Rickman's novels, when we picked up his latest ("Midwinter of the Spirit") in a bookstore in Tokyo. We have since ordered all of his other books. We both find his writing style to be engaging and suspenseful. His characterizations have the ring of truth; he has a keen ear for dialog. His 2 most recent novels, "Wine of the Angels" and "Midwinter of the Spirit", have a woman Anglican priest as the protagonist. (He is also working on additional titles with this character.) While the new titles have not been picked up by an American publisher, we can thank Amazon.com for making them available to us. I ordered them from Amazon.co.uk, and received them with the usual Amazon.com promptness. The titles not available in the US are: The Man in the Moss; The Chalice; The Wine of Angels; Midwinter of the Spirit And there is a new title coming out in February, 2001!
Rating:
Summary: What a Weird Little Town
Review: The residents of Crybbe take their supernatural history very seriously. For generations a local family has been entrusted with making sure that the church bells get rung 100 times every night come war, weather, hell or high water. I can't imagine a town so dedictated and civic-minded in California or anywhere else for that matter. But in this weird little town of Crybbe on the Welsh border, it's a matter of self-preservation and protection against evil, keeping it at bay at least temporarily. Murray Beech, Joe Powys, Rachael, Minnie Seagrove, Henry Kettle, Fay Morrison, Canon Peters, Arnold,--all heros and characters I enjoyed meeting. The Court, the pub, the Tump, I might like to visit someday. Rickman chills and thrills without the gore.
Rating:
Summary: What a Weird Little Town
Review: The residents of Crybbe take their supernatural history very seriously. For generations a local family has been entrusted with making sure that the church bells get rung 100 times every night come war, weather, hell or high water. I can't imagine a town so dedictated and civic-minded in California or anywhere else for that matter. But in this weird little town of Crybbe on the Welsh border, it's a matter of self-preservation and protection against evil, keeping it at bay at least temporarily. Murray Beech, Joe Powys, Rachael, Minnie Seagrove, Henry Kettle, Fay Morrison, Canon Peters, Arnold,--all heros and characters I enjoyed meeting. The Court, the pub, the Tump, I might like to visit someday. Rickman chills and thrills without the gore.
Rating:
Summary: Beware the Borderlands
Review: The town of Crybbe, stuck on the English-Welsh border has a dark history. One of violence and secrets, of magic and the paths of the dead. The curfew is observed, surely only symbolic, the church bell tolled one hundred times each night. The sounds of a bell to keep evil at bay. With the appearance of a New Age millionare intent on bringing the town back to its roots tradition is ignored, safeguards removed, and darkness once again released upon the town. For fans of the genre this book is akin to Horror confection, packed with subtle terror and peppered with well timed gore, references to pagan rituals and occult phenomena the filling and the icing. A true contender for one of the top 20 Horror novels of the last decade. Recommended wholeheartedly. Beware Black Michael!
Rating:
Summary: Nothing groundbreaking but worth a look.
Review: This is a pretty well put together horror novel. It takes its time developing the plot and its characters, which many horror novels don't bother to do. The characters are quite well developed and the many seperate storylines weave together well. It paints a fascinating picture of the Welsh border and the New Age movement. And most importantly, it has some very creepy moments. All in all its a satisfying book. But its not anything new. It didn't leave me unsettled or thinking the way a great horror novel should and it has pretty much the same ending as every Dean Koontz book I've ever read. If you want to read a good standard horror novel check this one out, but if you want to read a great horror novel look for something like Stephen King's Low Men in Yellow Coats from Hearts in Atlantis.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing groundbreaking but worth a look.
Review: This is a pretty well put together horror novel. It takes its time developing the plot and its characters, which many horror novels don't bother to do. The characters are quite well developed and the many seperate storylines weave together well. It paints a fascinating picture of the Welsh border and the New Age movement. And most importantly, it has some very creepy moments. All in all its a satisfying book. But its not anything new. It didn't leave me unsettled or thinking the way a great horror novel should and it has pretty much the same ending as every Dean Koontz book I've ever read. If you want to read a good standard horror novel check this one out, but if you want to read a great horror novel look for something like Stephen King's Low Men in Yellow Coats from Hearts in Atlantis.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars Plus!
Review: This is the Phil Rickman book that started it all for me! The writing is concise and flows and the story is so well organized and laid out you will not be stopping along the way to over think an item which seems out of step with the plot. (a common problem for me when reading mysteries.) And the build up in suspense is truly fantastic! I could not put this book down and by the end I was blown away!
This is the book to read when your enthusiasm for reading wanes because the last 10 books or so you read all felt the same. It's a travesty that this author doesn't get the attention he deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Scarry
Review: Wish Phil Rickman had more selections. Read all of his books,this one is the best.
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