Synopsis:

Sleuth, scholar, shaman: A W. Hill’s hero Stephan Raszer is no ordinary private eye, which explains why crime fiction master Ian Rankin has dubbed him “a James Bond for the spiritually uncertain 21st century.” And why the Los Angeles Times pronounced Raszer’s darkness-in-daylight world one filled with “twists, turns, thrills and turbulence.”

In The Last Days of Madame Rey, Raszer's task is yet another daring rescue, this time to retrieve a rich young lawyer from the wrong side of the karmic tracks. But once hired by Fortis Cohn’s worried father, who hopes to free his son from the spell cast by right-wing demagogue Bronk Vreeland, Raszer finds himself at the vortex of a startling series of eerie events.

Could Vreeland’s Mt. Shasta-based Military Order of Thule be unleashing the unatural earthquake spasms rippling through Northern California? Has April Blessing, Raszer’s stunningly sensuous and far too independent-minded operative, misjudged her ability to handle Bronk’s fascination with her? Most importantly, what ancient mysteries are encoded on the document left behind at Madame Rey's Palmistry & Tarot Parlor by a doomed film executive?

Stephan Raszer’s offbeat investigations are entirely addictive close encounters, channeling influences from Raymond Chandler to the The X-Files, from Jules Verne to Dr. Strange. With its high humor, rich adventure and heart-stopping suspense, The Last Days of Madame Rey will have you telling friends that you’ve just encountered a new novel unlike any other.

Book Excerpt:

Raszer’s metier was the infiltration and analysis of religious sects, doomsday cults, and other extremist groups which operated in the shadow sector between free exercise of religion and organized mayhem. His specific mission was usually the retrieval of a family member who had somehow come to be caught in the sticky embrace of such a group. These were the the poor souls who had clipped out the ad that read ‘Is Your Life Out of Control?’, attended the first meeting, and never come home. Because the work was difficult, the preparation exhaustive, and the risks relatively high, Raszer’s services did not come cheap, though he was considerably on the shy side of what either good lawyers or feng shui practitioners charged these days. The money was usually not a problem for his clients, whose missing loved ones were the living proof of an axiom to which America-the-bountiful had yet to orient itself: that spiritual hunger seemed to grow in direct proportion to material success. If it was not tended to before the organs of the spirit began to atrophy, the hunger would manifest as depression, depravity, or delusion. Raszer’s lost sheep fell into all three camps. They were the neglected Bel Air wives whose despair lithium could not leaven, the children who came of age without benefit of real parenting, and occasionally, the breadwinners themselves, who one day woke in panic to find themselves wholly unsuited for their role.

These were the borderline lives, the ones without a convincing story, the stories without a worthy protagonist. Their numbers were growing exponentially. The consumer society was breeding them like rabbits, and Raszer’s business had grown.

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Topics/Categories:

California mysticism, cult activity, Hollow Earth lore, Jungian depth psychology, Morocco, Polar shift, psychotropic substances, Religious extremism, right wing militias, secret societies, tantric sexuality, tarot

Type of Work:

Novel

Publishers:

Carroll & Graf

Awards:

BookSense Pick citation Association of Independent Publishers Best New Science-Fiction

Purchase From:

Borders Books & Music

Original Publish Date:

2007-05-01

ISBNs:

10: 0-7867-1881-1 13:978-0-78671-881-8

Reading Guides:

Daemonic Reality by Patrick Harpur Everything Is Under Control by Robert Anson Arktos by Joscelyn Godwin

Formats:

Hardcover