Gabriel Blackstone, a London computer hacker, gets involved
with something he doesn't understand and seeks the answer
to a missing person case which may turn out to be an
unlawful killing. In SEASON OF THE WITCH this very modern
man mixes his investigative techniques between computer
viruses and psychic powers.
Gabriel is asked by a friend to help discover the
whereabouts of her stepson Robbie Whittington. Since their
student days together this lady, nicknamed Frankie, knows
Gabriel has a latent talent for finding people, and the
police have given up the search. We are not told why
Gabriel is now afraid to use this power, but he only
reluctantly agrees, staring at a photo of Robbie and seeing
an image of a big house in its own grounds. Books, crows
and mystical objects are also in his vision, and he
experiences a feeling like drowning. Finding the house,
Gabriel begins to investigate its occupants.
The two Monk sisters who live here are somewhat
stereotypical witch types, with the expected black cat,
herbs and pagan masks. One sister sells the imported masks
as ethnic artwork and they don't appear to have any other
source of income, which is odd in expensive London. At the
same time these eccentric women are modern enough to have
gone bungee jumping and one has done some eco-warrior
protests, though we only see them comfortably in their
home, cooking meals for Gabriel as soon as they get to know
him. He's careful not to say anything about his mission.
For all he knows, young Robbie died here. If he could just
intrude into their computers he might learn something...
and then he starts to believe that one of the sisters is
psychically spying on him in turn.
I was regretful that we see so little of London and that
the focus is on so few characters. The larger than life
sisters were certainly well-drawn and should be enjoyed by
any Wiccans, while Gabriel's hacker colleague is rather
stereotyped, though the message of security being required
on computer systems is strongly put. Given that the Monks
knew Gabriel was a hacking thief I found it surprising that
they would leave him alone with their computer. Anyone
liking paranormal stories will be interested in the
suggestion that a group is testing out people's abilities
of this type.
Natasha Mostert has also written 'The
Midnight Side' which is more of a horror, again partly set
in London. She's an interesting writer, from South Africa,
with some good ideas and a dark slant to her works. SEASON
OF THE WITCH is a good introduction.
Gabriel Blackstone is an unscrupulous hacker and unrepentant
"remote viewer" who can't resist his ex-lover's request to
look into her stepson's disappearance. His investigation
leads him to a rambling Victorian home that bewitches him-as
do its beautiful, enigmatic owners, the Monk sisters. The
pair are solar witches, obsessed with alchemy and the Art of
Memory, a practice invented by the ancient Greeks.
With his uneasy suspicion that one of the sisters is a
killer, Gabriel sets out to determine which. But the more
entangled in the case he becomes, the more deeply he is
drawn into the sisters' entrancing world-losing hold of
reality even as he falls into mortal danger...
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