Read September 2019. Published 26th September 2019 by Urbane Publications.
After The Devil's previous, and unsuccessful, attempt to get a well-earned holiday, it seems that Him (or is it Her?) Upstairs has a new mission for him to undertake before any chance of a rest. Back into an unwieldy human body our hero goes!
This time, his eternal badness has to solve the case of the kidnapping of Medina Cade, and he has a new partner tagging along in the form of Detective Sergeant Laurie - and DS Laurie is not brooking any shenanigans.
Unfortunately, The Devil may have complicated matters himself by accidentally setting in motion an apocalypse, engineered by those old Roman tricksters Brutus and Cassius who are keen to take get him out of the way- and so upsetting the Natural Order of things. The situation is about to get mighty bad for the poor old humans and this is far from conducive to solving a kidnapping!
Can our cosmic bad guy and his new side-kick find out what happened to Medina Cade and scupper the plans of the evil Roman duo before the World is destroyed?
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Having thoroughly enjoyed Hellcorp, I was really looking forward to getting stuck into the story of The Devil's next obstacle in the way of his well-earned break. Folks, I have not been disappointed.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Hellcorp, I was really looking forward to getting stuck into the story of The Devil's next obstacle in the way of his well-earned break. Folks, I have not been disappointed.
Although The Man in the Dark is exactly the same length as Hellcorp, it seems like a lot more happens in these pages than the first time around - I suppose this is because an apocalypse is a pretty big deal, especially when the terrible events put in motion are happening worldwide. In any case, the story is more deliciously involved that that in Hellcorp and takes place on a wider stage.
The Devil has a new partner in the form of DS Laurie and she is quite a tough cookie, which as it turns out is just as well, because their adventure is a mighty dangerous one (apocalypse and all...see above!). I loved that Laurie was not willing to accept any of The Devil's nonsense and she made an good partner for him through their trials and tribulations.
The are plenty of farcical and darkly comic situations throughout The Man in the Dark, which will make you chuckle like those in Hellcorp, but there is also a fair sprinkling of some pretty gory horror in this installment too - apocalypses can be pretty horrific after all, especially when they are being engineered by a pair of despicable old Roman traitors, like Brutus and Cassius. It also turns out that Him/Her Upstairs is going to have to pull His/Her weight in this story too, before everything can be sorted out.
No spoliers, guys, but this is an absolute thrill ride of a book and I loved every minute of it. Having now read two of Jonathan Whitelaw's books, I can confirm that the Neil Gaiman echoes can definitely be found in his writing - the Heaven vs Hell element in The Man in the Dark certainly reminded me a bit of Good Omens. I am also a big fan of a less obvious book title that you have to read the book to understand, and completely approve of this one.
If you loved Hellcorp, you will adore the Man in the Dark. Get reading now and take my word for it that you are going to be aching to read the next book in the Hellcorp series as soon as it is published. Mr Whitelaw, how long will we have to wait? I need to know what happens!
The Man in the Dark is available now from your favourite bookseller.
Thank you to Jonathan Whitelaw, Urbane Publications and The Love Books Group for providing me with a copy of The Man in the Dark in return for an honest review.
From the book cover:
There's another mystery to solve - a woman kidnapped by terrorists and the world trying to find her. While he hates doing God's bidding, The Devil can't resist trying to put one over on Him. But nothing is EVER that simple.
While the Devil helps the London cops crack the case, there's trouble in the Underworld. And two of humanity's greatest backstabbers - Brutus and Cassius - are sharpening their knives with an eye on stealing his crown.
It's a race against time to find the girl, be the bad guy and maybe stop the apocalypse.
About the author:Jonathan Whitelaw is an author, journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism. Subjects he has covered have varied from breaking news, the arts, culture and sport to fashion, music and even radioactive waste with everything in between. He's also a regular reviewer and talking head on shows for the BBC and STV. ‘The Man in the Dark’ is his third novel following his debut, ‘Morbid Relations’ and 'Hellcorp'.
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