Curfew

by Phil Rickman

Book Overview

The brilliant debut from an exciting new voice in horror. A New Age millionaire thinks tourists will be drawn to the Welsh town of Crybbe, once a spiritual center, if he restores the standing stones... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425143341
• ISBN13: 9780425143346
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 625 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Alternate title: Curfew

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. "Crybbe" 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.

Alternate title: Curfew

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. "Crybbe" 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.

Beware the Borderlands

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!

CURFEW is a very satisfying horror read.

CURFEW is a very satisfying horror read, especially for fans of H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, and H.R. Wakefield. The characters are well-portrayed, without resorting to cardboard stereotypes too much (Warren Preece, perhaps?). I really cared about the "good guys" and was genuinely nervous reading certain scenes at night. Also, the bloodletting and elements of sexual tension were present in just the right amounts without overdoing it. All in all, I highly recommend this thoroughly enjoyable horror novel.

An amazing blend of satire and suspense

Evoking small-town suspicions and Middle Ages mysticism with deceptive ease, Phil Rickman's "Curfew" is the kind of story that hooks you with the first line and then reels you in at its own leisurely pace. You won't even notice how scared you are until you put it down and notice how dark it's gotten outside. And if you think you see the spectre of Black Michael's hound loping across your lawn, just do like the citizens of Crybbe do, and pull your shades