Reviewed by: JA Gill
Genre: Crime Thriller/Horror
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Author:
Gary Val
Tenuta lives in The Evergreen State and has written for Fate Magazine, a publication about the paranormal. A father of two,
Tenuta’s interests in the occult and numerology date back to the early ‘90s.
According to his website, Tenuta’s debut novel Ezekiel Code spent time on Amazon’s Bestseller list. Ash: Return of the Beast is his second
novel.
Description:
Jumping off
from the sensational and contradicting events surrounding the death of Aleister
“The Great Beast 666” Crowley, one of the most famous occultists in history, Ash: Return of the Beast is a detective
story about fame and power and the dark arts.
Appraisal:
There is a
lot to like about Gary Val Tenuta’s Ash:
Return of the Beast. This second novel from the author of Ezekiel Code is a competent crime
thriller with satanic overtones—nothing like the threat of devil worshipers
summoning Sumerian demigods across the spectral plane to shake up a standard
police procedural. Tenuta is clearly well versed in the esoteric knowledge of
the occult—his enthusiasm for the topic is palpable on the page—and he cleverly
uses one of the main characters as a foil to get the information across without
sounding pedantic. “A week ago—hell, even just a day ago—he would have thought
that was crazy talk,” admits a recently converted detective.
Most crime
thrillers reside in the natural world, where the methodical application of
logic and evidence gathering—“You know my methods, Watson”—are ritualized, even
fetishized. In Ash the killer and
cops are neither devious nor particularly clever, just dogged, which is not to
say unhurried, in going through the motions of their respective tradecraft.
“Using this code you just calculate the alphanumeric value of any word or
phrase,” says a special agent versed in the occult. And voilà! For the universe
Tenuta creates is only mysterious and coincidental to those who don’t know the
rules. To those who do, fate is everything, and by hewing to standard operating
procedures—from within an ancient text of demonology or following a
hunch—answers reveal themselves.
Tenuta’s
enthusiasm for the subject matter (a self-described “dweller of realms outside
the box”) makes for an indulging read, but one cannot help notice the niggling,
perhaps unavoidable, contradiction at the heart of the story. The unfathomable
chaos and utter destruction to be loosed upon the world are literally held at
bay behind a “to-do” list, downright bureaucratic in its superficiality: drink
this goop, chant this esoteric verse, wear this robe, etc. As easily pickable
as the door to other worlds is to unlock, it strains credibility to then wonder
why it isn’t continually flung open. It is not that Tenuta’s good guys should
always prevail, as readers will find, but that there is something
un-Sherlockian in them—that no matter what side you’re fighting for—to botch
things up at the eleventh hour.
FYI:
Trigger
warning: some graphic rapes scenes
Format/Typo Issues:
none
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