{"id":3887,"date":"2009-08-25T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2009-08-25T06:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=3887"},"modified":"2009-08-24T21:36:39","modified_gmt":"2009-08-24T21:36:39","slug":"dark-entries-a-john-constantine-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2009\/08\/25\/dark-entries-a-john-constantine-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Entries – a John Constantine Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Ian Rankin<\/strong> & Werther Dell’edera<\/strong> (Vertigo Crime\/Titan Books Edition)
\nISBN: 978-1-84856-342-1<\/p>\n

Award-winning – and officially honourable – crime writer Ian Rankin makes a remarkable debut as a graphic novelist in this superbly unsettling horror story starring the best anti-hero in the business. John Constantine, seedy modern magician and consummate bad seed. tends to bring out the best in his writers, and although the plot here is nothing new the treatment of the large cast of characters is a deft juggling act nicely handled, while the narrative set-pieces are gripping and stuffed with good old fashioned creepy tension.<\/p>\n

Constantine has acquired a certain reputation in the right circles over the course of his life, so he’s not too suspicious when a sleazy TV producer offers him wads of cash to advise on the latest reality show Dark Entries<\/strong> (I have to admit I loathe the title) wherein six contestants are isolated in a rigged haunted house, competing for big prizes and fully expecting to be scared out of their wits.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately what’s terrifying these housemates is nothing the producers and technicians devised but appears to be the real thing.<\/p>\n

Quickly inserted into the show as a new contestant Constantine finds himself mired in a diabolical mystery involving the seemingly innocent competitors, and too late realises that he’s fallen for the oldest trap in the world. Stitched up like a kipper, his only chance is to free his companions before he can escape the house and the horrors that built it.<\/p>\n

Sharp, gritty and deeply compelling this is a powerful recapitulation of classic horror and murder yarns complete with a sting-in-the tail that will leave the reader breathless and hungry for more.<\/p>\n

Viscerally illustrated by Italian artist Werther Dell’edera<\/strong> this black and white hardback is similar in format to the old Paradox Press<\/strong> DC imprint to which gave us A History of Violence<\/a><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0and Road to Perdition<\/strong> among other gritty adult thrills. Dark Entries<\/strong> is easily in the same class and would make any reader a very happy – if nervous – fan.<\/p>\n