- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Press (2 July 2001)
- ISBN-10: 0593048962
- ISBN-13: 978-0593048962
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 774,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A beautiful woman, formerly the world's best-known medium is now a recluse, having given up the glitz of public adulation. Not knowing that she is being stalked by a psychopath killer, an assistant editor is sent to find her, stepping into a nightmare.
From the Back Cover
The lines are open . . .
. . . but the messages are sounding bleak for Seffi Callard - cool, charismatic, beautiful and now the world's best-known spiritualist medium. Suddenly a victim of her own remarkable gifts, she's been forced to back away from the glow of public adulation, becoming a paranoid recluse at her father's home in the Cotswolds.
Maybe the only person who can understand Seffi's crisis is her old schoolteacher Marcus Bacton, who was the first to identify her skills. Marcus, now editor of an obscure journal of the paranormal, sends his assistant, American journalist Grayle Underhill, to Seffi's rural hideaway . . . and into a nightmare.
Who is stalking Seffi Callard - and from which side of the grave? The search for an answer will involve disillusioned police detective Bobby Maiden and the eccentric entertainer Cindy Mars-Lewis - himself facing vilification by his public after a series of bizarre tragedies linked to the national obsession with getting rich quick.
At a Victorian neo-Gothic castle in the Malvern Hills, they discover that, for one psychopathic killer, getting rich is less important than never getting dead.
Brilliant and original, Will Kingdom's second novel - full of sharp characterization, black humour and electrifying suspense - will convince you that there really are more crimes in heaven and on earth . . .
Acclaim for The Cold Calling:
'Part Wicker Man, part trad-whodunnit, part tough gangster thriller, The Cold Calling finally stands revealed as a tidy charmer and Kingdom as a real find.' Crimetime
'An unusual and enjoyable thriller set among the prehistoric sites of Britain.' Chic
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Will Kingdom is Phil Rickman writing under another name. He allows himself slightly more humourous leeway in his characterization and dialogue as Kingdom.
His story is both creepy and gripping. What keeps you on the edge of your seat as you read this, is the way in which Kingdom never lets horror or the supernatural overwhelm his story. He seems to believe -- that Unknown and Uncanny is much more scary than a full-on foaming demon.
Kingdom may have only two novels to his name -- but they're both jewels
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A great follow-up to "The Cold Calling". The boundaries between the supernatural and 'real' world are seamless, and I love the way he portrays otherworldly interactions as both inspiring and frightening, depending on the character who's exploring. Events race along to a very satisfying climax - "thriller" is definitely the right word.
Let's hope he writes another soon!
Let's hope he writes another soon!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For those readers who were lucky enough to happen upon Will Kingdom's first novel, The Cold Calling, his second book, Mean Spirit, has been a long time coming. This novel brings back several characters from The Cold Calling, and Kingdom once again weaves, in his inimitable fashion, a dynamic and intricate thriller. Mean Spirit grabs your attention in the prologue and doesn't release its grip until the end of the epilogue's tabloid tidbit. At the center of this story is a troubled medium, aptly named Persephone "Seffi" Callard, who cannot seem to free herself from a psychic hitchhiker of the foulest kind. Seffi contacts her old teacher, Marcus Bacton, in a desperate attempt to find relief. Marcus, ill with the flu, sends his American editorial assitant, Grayle Underhill, in his stead. Soon, both Grayle and Seffi, finding themselves in mortal and psychic peril, manage to get back to Marcus' castle in the Black Mountains. Acting separately and on their own good intentions, Grayle and Marcus manage to involve two " old friends", detective Bobby Maiden and Cindy Mars-Lewis, a Celtic shaman in drag whose current gig is playing host on the national lottery television show. When they join forces to aid the young psychic, they soon find themselves as deeply in danger as she is. Both Grayle and Bobby are confronted by ghosts of their own that they must deal with. And Cindy, besieged by demons of another kind, must use his shamanic abilities to save not only his friends, but himself as well.
Kingdom's latest novel deftly articulates the theme of psychic marginality and the shadowy side of human nature. His characters are all "mediums" of sorts who live their lives on the edge of mainstream culture. That theme reverberates in the vivid imagery and description he uses throughout the story. Kingdom's strategy of intermingling a variety of "outside" texts and narratives into the novel is brilliantly borrowed from the gothic and detective genres. The result is a darkly delicious thriller that makes this reader want to keep coming back for more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I WOULD GIVE 20* IF IT WERE POSSIBLE
Such a great book, with a wonderful cast of off-beat characters, particularly 'Cindy, the Shaman'!
If you obtain this book you will not be able to put it down until you... Read more
If you obtain this book you will not be able to put it down until you... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Mrs. Judith Lugg
Mediums and the Lottery
Seffi Callard, charismatic medium, thinks she's being haunted but a very unpleasant manifestation. She has taken refuse in her father's home in the Cotswolds in an attempt to... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Damaskcat
Ee, it just gets better and better...
...The follow-up to Cold Calling.
This sees the return of the main characters, incuding the Welsh cross-dressing-ventriloquist Shaman, who reappears with his entertainment... Read more
This sees the return of the main characters, incuding the Welsh cross-dressing-ventriloquist Shaman, who reappears with his entertainment... Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by Beau Nidle
Gripping
I could not put this down. There were so many twists I really wondered how the author was going to resolve this - and he does, to my mind very effectively. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2008 by Mary Queen
One mean read...
This is a great follow-up to The Cold Calling, Kingdom's first book (Kingdom being the non de plume of successful crime/mystery writer Phil Rickman). Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2008 by Rebecca Lang
Everything you could want ...
.. from a thriller. Writing as Will Kingdom, Phil Rickman has created another cast of characters I found myself really caring about. Read more
Published on 12 April 2008 by Polly Potter
Brilliant Stuff
Will Kingdom (Phil Rickman) pushes all the right buttons with this stylish supernatural thriller. All the main characters from the first book in the series - The Cold Calling - are... Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2006 by A. Watson
Absolutely Brilliant
As someone who is getting jaded with the whole crime/thriller genre of late due to the prevalence of 2-dimensional characters and paint-by-numbers plotlines, I was not expecting... Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2005 by Bertbert
Back To The Best
I was hooked on Phil Rickman about 8 years ago and was a bit disappointed with the Merrily Watkins series. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2004 by Jamie Crofts
A rich read with a bitter supernatural twist.
Is it people or 'spirits' that fuel the mystery and the thrill in this tale? As with all his books Rickman (Kingdom) allows the characters to lead us through his tale. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2003 by theTramp
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