Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Other People

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Author: Pat A. Brisco
Genre: Horror
Setting: USA / undisclosed
Types of Werewolves: Normal Wolves
How Lycanthropy is Caused: Hereditary

Synopsis: When Mrs. Constantine Vidor hires private detective Carl Denner to
search her missing brother, Ladius Doln, he assumes it to turn into a routine
case, but his investigations soon after indicate that there is more to it.
Everything points toward a involvement of "the others", a race of Witches,
Vampires and other beings. And Carl Denner should know, because he's one of
them.

Review: The 1970 written novel The Other People would by today's standards
fall under "Urban Fantasy", and what stands out while reading, is that it seems
to have been set-up as opener for a planned series which then never got written.
As such the book makes for nice, light reading material but there's a lot of
unnecessary character backdrop for something that runs only about 140 pages, and
the actual plot is paper thin.
The main character of the book, Carl Denner is a werewolf by birth and as such
he's part of "the others", a race consisting of Werewolves, Vampires, Witches
and other things that go bump in the night, that, so we are told, evolved along
side the human race as predators, but the unexpected growth of the human
population forced them to live in secret among them.
Brisco weaved with her book a mix of classic sleuth novel and supernatural
folklore that has it's roots in story serials with their typical brand of smart,
irresistible heroes.
Fans of "Pulp Novels" and "Urban Fantasy" fans should find it entertaining
enough for a day at the beach or a winter's evening, but for fans of the Horror
genre it likely lacks enough supernatural content to satisfy them.

-Reviewed by Daninsky

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