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The Lamp of the Wicked (Merrily Watkins Mysteries)
 
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The Lamp of the Wicked (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) (Hardcover)

by Phil Rickman (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 356 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan (4 April 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0333908058
  • ISBN-13: 978-0333908051
  • Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.6 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 409,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

There are shades of the gruesome murders of young women by Fred and Rose West in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, in this fourth outing for Reverend Merrily Watkins, Welsh village vicar and Deliverance Consultant (formerly exorcist) after becoming involved in a dispute between an elderly plant hire operator who accuses a spivvy young rival of starting a fire in his yard in which his nephew dies. The young man is later identified as the killer of several young women. But has the whole truth been fully uncovered? Merrily receives anonymous phone calls; candles and incense are left burning in her church and there are alleged angelic visitations on which many will heap scorn. Rickman goes from strength to strength in this beguiling, highly satisfying mix of murder and the occult.


Product Description

The fifth mystery featuring Merrily Watkins. As Electricity pylons now mark the old Roman road from Gloucester to Monmouth. Midway along it is the unlovely village of Underhowle, confronting a new prosperity...but also home to a man the police have identified as the killer of several young women. But for Merrily Watkins, this truth might never have emerged -- but is that the whole truth? For, as the police hunt for more bodies, Merrily is increasingly worried that the detective in charge might have become blinkered by ambition. Meanwhile, Merrily has more personal problems: like the anonymous phone calls...the candles and incense left burning in her church...not to mention the alleged angelic visitations on which many will heap scorn. It is her musician boyfriend Lol who follows an unexpected path into the mind of the confessed murderer, while Merrily herself must quell revulsion in scrubbing away the psychic stain left by a dead monster.
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most original writer around at the moment, 21 Oct 2003
By A Customer
I have read all of the Merrily Watkins books so far, but this one is my favourite. The story starts out almost as a straightforward murder/mystery/revenge plot, before rapidly turning into something much darker (as we have come to expect from Rickman). The links to real life events (I won't spoil it by telling you what they are) just add the perfect touch of 'could almost happen'.

The action is well paced, with the main storyline backed up nicely by the subplots of Lol fighting his inner demons (again) and Jane struggling with her relationships with her mother, her boyfriend and life itself!

Phil Rickman is difficult to place in a category. Some would class him as horror, psychological thriller, crime. This book has elements of all of these and I personally think Rickman deserves a category of his own. I am certainly glad I chanced upon 'Wine of Angels' in my local bookshop.

This book is an outstanding read. If you haven't encountered Merrily Watkins before then I would recommend it, together with the other novels for a thoroughly absorbing read. Go and buy them now!

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Rickman book I couldn't put down!, 24 April 2003
Eagerly awaited by me (as a bit of a Phil Rickman fan), The Lamp of the Wicked - the fifth novel featuring the Reverend Merrily (exorcist and chain smoker) - did not disappoint. Good old Gomer Parry Planthire is here, along with Lol, and other familiar characters. Fans of December and The Man in the Moss will be delighted to find Moira Cairns here in one of the sub-plots. The increasingly angst-ridden Jane (Merrily's daughter) shows just how convincing Phil Rickman's characterisation is. These people - with their flaws, foibles and self-doubts are extremely believable, as are the new characters that turn up.

However, this book (the fourth so-called 'spiritual procedural') felt significantly darker than previous Merrily books and Rickman doesn't spare your emotions in dealing out cruel twists to characters you find you have become surprisingly attached to over time. Without revealing too much of the plot, there are connections made to some very dark real-life goings-on in the same part of the world.

There are a couple of things I have come to admire in this author's work: the skilful way he develops the plot through short insights into the thoughts of the main characters; the way contentious issues are convincingly voiced through a character (in this case the ill-effects of electricity pylons) without breaking the narrative flow; the convincing dialogue and characterisation.
I don't often re-read novels (in fact, I can only think of about 4 I have ever re-read), but I have recently embarked on a big re-read of the other books that feature Merrily Watkins (The Wine of Angels, Midwinter of the Spirit, A Crown of Lights, The Cure of Souls) and am finding them just as captivating second time around.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing read, 4 May 2005
This review is from: The Lamp of the Wicked (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) (Paperback)
"The Lamp of the Wicked" is another outstanding book in the Merrily Watkins series. Fot those who are new to the series, Merrily Watkins is the parish priest of Ledwardine and also the Deliverance Consultant for Hereford.

Rickman gives all the characters very clear voices, and whilst he is dealing with the possibility of serial killings he manages to keep control of the plot. This book is probably the darkest of the series so far - it's complex story and the usual twists are well executed.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but ...
I am reading the Merrily Watkins books and have really enjoyed them all so far. I read them because I like the escapism (and the fact that there's a supernatural element and a... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2007 by A Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Angels and Electricity
When Fred West took his own life on New Years day 1995 he left a long, lingering shadow that still reaches from beyond the grave to blight the lives of his victim's families. Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2007 by A. Watson

5.0 out of 5 stars Meets expectations
The latest in the series of Merrily Watkins procedurals. Merrily and Gomer Parry discover a womens body in bizarre circumstances and become embroiled in an investiagtion of a... Read more
Published on 5 May 2003 by Terry Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Turn on "The Lamp"
Once again, in his latest Merrily Watkins offering, Phil Rickman performs his literary legerdemain, juggling multiple plots and characters and keeping them, along with his... Read more
Published on 30 April 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Merrily We Go............
At Last! The latest - and in many ways the best - of Phil Rickman's Ledwardine/Merrily Watkins books is here. Read more
Published on 22 April 2003 by twinsoulz

5.0 out of 5 stars Rickman does it again
After a long wait the new Merrily Watkins mystery is finally with us, and what a corker it is too. From the start you know that this story has taken a darker turn than the... Read more
Published on 16 April 2003 by demonchild6

5.0 out of 5 stars Rickman's best yet
I'm a long-term Rickman fan and the arrival of a new Merrily Watkins mystery is a big event for me. Life gets suspended till I've finished the book though in with the excitement... Read more
Published on 10 April 2003 by little bookroom

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