A trial for witchcraft proves the tip of an iceberg of intrigues in this
absorbing historical mystery, the first newly published novel in 10
years from McCammon (the book was written in the mid-’90s), a bestseller
in the 1980s with such supernatural novels in the Stephen King
tradition as Usher’s Passing and Baal. Set in 1699 in Fount Royal, a
coastal settlement in the colonial Carolinas, this latest unfolds the
adventures of magistrate Isaac Woodward and his assistant, Matthew
Corbett, who have been summoned to the struggling town to adjudicate in
the trial of Rachel Howarth, a young widow accused of deviltry that is
blamed for murders, wretched weather and other calamities driving
settlers away. Though town leaders press for swift execution, Matthew is
persuaded by Rachel’s dignity and fortitude that she’s innocent. Using
skills honed living by his wits as an orphaned child, he pursues
inconsistencies in testimony and throwaway clues and uncovers an
elaborate plot involving pirate booty, animal magnetism and deadly
deceit at the highest levels of town organization. This robust tale is
as historically detailed as it is long, and its recreation of an era
where superstition held its own with enlightenment is among its
strongest achievements. Anachronisms, improbably fortuitous coincidences
and private dramas that make Fount Royal seem a pre-Revolutionary
Peyton Place lard the plot, but Matthew’s race against time to save
Rachel with the rudimentary tools to hand makes a compulsively readable
yarn. McCammon’s loyal fans will find his resurfacing reason to rejoice.
(Sept.) Forecast: Those who enjoyed the author’s last three novels
(Mine; Boy’s Life; Gone South), studies of the human condition that
transcended genre labeling, will snap this one up, too. But McCammon
also lost readers with these novels because in them he turned away from
the horror themes that made his reputation. This latest could well gain
him new fans, but it won’t win back any horror readers.
Unabridged.
Read by Edoardo Ballerini.
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