By Stephen Volk

PS Publishing, out mid-October

Whitstable, Leytonstone, Netherwood – evocative names and places in the lives of three Dark Masters.

With the demise of Spectral Publishing, those of us who had thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Volk’s first two novellas in the Dark Masters trilogy had reason to fear that the series might never be completed. Luckily, PS Publishing stepped into the breach, and four years after Leytonstone, we travel with Dennis Wheatley to Netherwood – the last home of Aleister Crowley.

I’ve discussed the first two novellas in detail on their original publication, and while Volk has made some amendments, there’s nothing in the review of Whitstable or Leytonstone that is negated by these (indeed my admiration for both has risen with a re-read). The novel length Netherwood is all new, and I won’t be waiting as long to re-read it.

It’s up to the reader to decide which the Dark Master is in this story – is it Dennis Wheatley, whose stories used to be almost the default reference for tales of black magic and battles against demonic possession? Or is it Aleister Crowley, 666, the Wickedest Man in the World, seen here at the very end of a life spent in ways that would horrify most “normal” people? Both are depicted unflinchingly, with Volk demonstrating his gift for recreating a period with casually mentioned details that bring the characters and scenes alive in the reader’s mind – and he turns that talent to a terrible journey that the two men take together. The afterword has an important note of caution – this isn’t Roger Delgado’s Master chanting Mary Has a Little Lamb backwards in a 1971 Doctor Who story; there are evocations here that have a distinct odour of brimstone… and they will have you just checking that unexpected movement in the corner of your eye.

Among the debates between Crowley and Wheatley, and both men’s memories, there’s much for the reader to consider regarding the banality of evil – alongside the overt references to the discovery of the concentration camps at the end of the Second World War (the book’s set in that immediate post-War period that was a mix of freedom and continued entrapment for many) and the atomic bomb, there are echoes of Hindley and Brady. There’s also scrutiny of demons of a very different sort from the ones that Crowley associates with – the sort that plague every creative person in one form or another…

Verdict: Netherwood is the capstone to an evocative and beautifully written trilogy – highly recommended. 10/10

Paul Simpson