Necromancer by Scott Harper is the second of a series featuring the character Wendy Markland. Wendy and her now dead boyfriend had been running a business that preyed upon the gullibility of the average citizen. What I mean is that they played on the fears of people who actually thought that the noises they heard in the dark were some sort of evil creature out to do them harm. Or so Wendy and Jacob initially thought. Charging these people for a service that they both considered a scam, they made some money at the expense of others.
It was as easy as taking candy from a baby.
When they discovered that the creatures of the night were actually real, their world changed and not for the better.
Jacob had issues dealing with the existence of vampires. Who wouldn’t? Wendy, who had tagged along with Jacob on their fake hunts handled the news a bit better while Jacob committed suicide. The con game was no more and for Wendy it was a sharp dose of reality.
Flash forward a few years and Wendy, still living under the stigma of being a con artist, sees a news report about the possibility of zombies spotted in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. These Pine Barrens also known as the Pinelands are home to another mythical/legendary creature, The Jersey Devil. This adds more mystery to the overall storyline.
Wendy travels to the Pine Barrens to see for herself if there really are zombies roaming that area. After all, she already knows vampires exist so why not attempt to clarify that the reanimated dead do as well?
Meeting the sheriff is not a pleasant event for her as he knows her history of running with a scam artist and considers her to be there to run a con on the citizens of his county. Her initial perception is that the area would be a prime location for vampires.
The brush off from the sheriff puts Wendy in a situation where she can either leave town as suggested or stick around and see what’s really happening. Of course she sticks around and goes to visit the sheriff’s cousin who actually witnessed the zombie.
Events transpire where the sheriff is none too happy about Wendy’s involvement right along with his cousin’s husband. However, what the two women uncover leads them not to vampires but to a demonic presence in the Barrens that wants to gain enough power to take over the world. During the investigation Wendy uncovers that there really is a necromancer operating in the area. This person is responsible for calling forth the demon and reanimating the dead which now include wildlife that have eaten some of the tainted corpses.
Harper’s Necromancer falls more into the paranormal thriller than a zombie horror novel. The zombies in the story are more like ground troops sent out to do the bidding of the demon. Not exactly set dressing but more of a subplot that adds to the primary story. The character of Wendy Markland is a strong female lead for this series but there were some scenes that I had to question as being relevant to the plot. In roughly the middle of the story, Wendy has just survived a zombified bear attack in the rain and mud and is back at the house she’s staying at when she steps out of the shower and admires her body in what can only be a scene written to titillate the reader. She comments to herself that she’s so glad she uses depilatory creams. Now I had to ask myself what was the purpose of this scene. It had no bearing or relevance in the storyline at all. I could understand if she was checking for bites or injuries, OK that makes sense you just survived a zombie encounter. But to focus on how she’s so happy she uses some form of hair removal product? Was this a possible lead in to where she coats herself in Crisco and runs naked through the woods fighting the zombies? No. To me, adding in that piece of internal dialogue lost momentum in the story.
Overall, Necromancer was an enjoyable read and has a strong start to become a series focused on the paranormal.
Available on Amazon.
