2008-01-03 King of Fiction

It was a great day for fans of quality fiction when Mccammon came out of retirement to deliver the splendid Speaks The Nightbird a couple of years back. Happily it wasn't to be a one-off as Mccammon has now given us this very worthy sequel.

Queen of Bedlam, like its predecessor, follows the exploits of young legal clerk Mathew Corbett. Now living in early 19th century New York he becomes involved in the hunt for a serial killer known only as the Masker. As with Nightbird this premise is merely a stepping stone to a far more complex tale which culminates in a brilliantly tense and gripping finale. Along the way Mathew becomes an employee of a fledgling detective agency, a post that draws him into the machinations of an unseen master villain, Professor Fell. This briefly-mentioned character is one of the most intriguing aspects of a very intriguing tale, hopefully one who will take a more prominent role in future episodes.

Mccammon came to prominence as a writer of all things fantastic - vampires, aliens, telekinesis etc - but his abandonment of such things has not, in any way, lessened his ability to grip the reader; far from it. This is a door-step of a novel but when you've finished it you'll be left wanting more.