Book Review: The Devil’s Whispers by Lucas Hault

About:

The Devil’s Whispers by Lucas Hault is a current work of gothic horror, paying homage to the classics. Mr. Hault is an Indian Novelist specializing in dark fantasy and horror.

• 248 pages
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ TCK Publishing
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1631611747

My rat­ing for The Devil’s Whispers — 3
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Thoughts:

From the beginning, one could assert that The Devil’s Whispers by Lucas Hault is influenced by Dracula, as well as Frankenstein. At some points. Like the Victorian classic, the literary narrative is told through letters, as well as diary entries.

It was an easy job to draw direct lines to Dracula, one might even make a case that this book is a retelling of the old story. The author’s way of encompassing and manipulating evil within buildings, a sense of danger around every corner is well done. The attraction of dark, by the players as well as the readers, is fascinating, as much as it is foreboding.

I did, however, found the book to be somewhat inconsistent. Women’s voices juxtapose between Victorian English and today’s jargon. Men’s voices also change, when you write for yourself you don’t put in lines like “I said with a wink”. The characters are acting inconsistently within the story, as well as within the timeline. This is too bad since the Victorian segments worked very well.

To the author’s credit, I never got the feeling he was writing a movie in novel form.

The effort and talent of the author certainly shine through. I, however, couldn’t figure out if this is a copy or an homage to the previously mentioned classics. If you didn’t read Dracula or Frankenstein, or you like the genre, I’m sure you’ll certainly enjoy this book.

The Monster:

What the author didn’t capture, however, is the sense of Xana, the monster. I didn’t find her compelling as I did with his inspirations. She’s simply just that, a monster that wants to destroy for eternity.

Dracula, a manipulative, otherworldly being uses his power to his advantage. He gets up every evening having to decide who is less worthy to live than himself. He is determined and uses others’ obsessions to his advantage. The book tried to, but I think didn’t succeed, in capturing this by having Gerard Woodward embracing his dark side.

Nor is the Xana an immigrant, the core of Dracula’s story. The classic stranger in a strange land trope was done so well in Dracula, is missing here. I also would have liked for the legends of shapeshifters to be explored more. There are a plethora of myths about them from almost every culture we know of.

Synopsis:

Gerard Woodward, a British lawyer, travels to the countryside castle in 1903 to update a dying man’s last testament. Gerard soon realizes that his bedroom door is locked from the outside. Gerard’s fiancé, Reayln awaits his return but can feel dread overcoming her.

In London, the horror continues as children vanish, animals are mutilated, and a dark creature roams the streets. Soon Raelyn becomes the creature’s next target.

Buy The Devil’s Whisper from Amazon.com*
More Books by Lucas Hault*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books