NECROSCOPE: THE TOUCH

 By Brian Lumley

 Review by James R.Cain

I'll admit, I was a bit sceptical approaching this addition to the series.  In my experience, series have their time and then after that, more often than not it's a case of flogging a dead horse.  This time around though, I was pleasantly surprised to find that in Necropscope: The Touch Lumley has proven me wrong.  

Harry Keogh, the original Necroscope is dead, but a sliver of his soul has passed to Scott St. John who is mourning recently deceased wife.  Scott is unaware of his new psychic powers until strange things start to happen in his life.  He's contacted by a very strange women and then picked up by E-Branch - UK's psychic special forces unit - for interrogation.  E-Branch have identified Scott as a man with emerging psychic powers, but they don't quite know what they are.  In investigating Scott however they foresee that humanity and the world is in jeopardy from an unknown threat and the only hope of salvation is Scott and two unknown allies.  And thus begins our tale . . . 

Scott and his allies are pitted against the Mordris.  These are three aliens who can kill or mutate victims with a touch and have an insane agenda to disprove the existence of any God by destroying entire planets and races of sentient beings.  In some ways, the whole setup is almost like a James Bond novel, a fact that Lumley comments upon himself tongue-in-cheek within the story.  The Mordris have set themselves up in a mountain stronghold with slaves toiling to create a doomsday device to bring about the destruction of Earth (and this device is fuelled by gold none-the-less).  This doesn't matter however.  The story thumps along from cover to finish as Scott becomes aware of his awakening powers.  It's a race against time for the new Necroscope to save the world, and the novel finishes with quite a climactic confrontation as Scott and his allies and E-Branch assault the Mordis and their minions in their lair.  I found the Mordis to be a worthy threat, unique and equal to the Wamphyri of the previous novels.  

I enjoyed the original Necropscope series very much.  Necropscope II I found enjoyable, but I felt it lost a lot and was a shadow of the original series.  In Necroscope: The Touch though, I found that Lumley had in many ways returned to his roots.  It's a worthwhile addition to the series.  I'd recommend it to Necropscope fans certainly, and new readers as well.  Necroscope: The Touch can be readily enjoyed stand-alone.  I am looking forward to the next sequels in this series.  This novel is recommended!    

  

Publisher:  Solaris

ISBN 13: 978-1-84416-485-1  (Paperback 432 pages)

ISBN 10: 1-84416-485-3