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Sexeh
reviewed by
Sexeh
Tom Piccirilli
Leisure Books $5.50, pb orig
I've placed Tom Piccirilli's name at the top of my must-read list, at least where horror is concerned. His short stories have been enlivening anthologies for a while now, and his mystery novels are gaining a reputation. Hexes is the first dark novel I've read of his, and I won't hesitate to pick up the next.
In this deceptively simple plot, Matt Galen returns to Summerfell after a five-year absence, summoned by the influence of the Goat, which he and his friends fought throughout their young lives even as it slowly claimed one townsperson after another. Matt and his friends learned their own hexes from obscure necromantic texts, using black magic against the forces of darkness that surround them but are invisible to others. Only the presence of Panecraft, a gargantuan insane asylum, hints at the bizarre goings-on in the otherwise picturesque New England coastal town, and Matt's father is its founder. Indeed, madness has manifested itself in Matt's family; his mother was confined behind the high fences of the asylum, and eventually she died and Matt's father did not disclose the location of her grave. Now several young girls and women have gone missing, and A.G., Matt's best friend and fellow worker of hexes, has been isolated for evaluation after becoming a suspect. Matt has no choice but to intervene, though he knows that the disappearances have only occurred to lure him away from his successful playwright's career and bring him home, where only a face to face meeting with what lurks above and below ground can loosen its grip on the town.
The general outline may sound familiar, but Piccirilli brings his superb voice and narrative technique to bear on the material, making it fresh again with his sharp observations and poetic imagery. Better start revising your favorite author list - Piccirilli deserves to be at the top.