The Bog (1986 First Edition)

Archaeologist David Macauley discovers that the ancient but preserved corpses found in the Hovern Bog were all mysteriously gnawed to death by some unimaginable creature, that may still roam the bog at night

American archeologist David Macauley is thrilled when a 2000-year-old body is found, perfectly preserved by peaty water, in an English West Country bog; when another body turns up, David moves his family there. The villagers of Fenchurch St. Jude are a dour, clannish lot and the local lord, Marquis Grenville de L'Isle, isn't much friendlier. David's wife is vaguely worried by the local atmosphere, especially after hearing of a mysterius bog "creature," then David finds odd bite marks on the bog bodies and begins to wonder about their source. Mysterious occurences multiply, and soon David is in deadly conflict with a 4500-year-old necromancer and his demon. The book is a roller-coaster, alternately boring and exciting; the prose is often awkward and wooden, the people never more than cardboard figures, and the ostensibly brilliant David is occasionally pretty dim. While some of the magic lore is interesting, disbelief is never suspended effectively for long. Talbot wrote The Delicate Dependency.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For modern-day archaeologist David Macauley, Hovern Bog proves a rich source of bog bodies (ancient human remains preserved intact by chemicals in the peat water) and, ultimately, a near-catastrophic horror show for him, his family, and the nearby villagers of Fenchurch St. Jude. While exploring, Macauley encounters sinister local nobleman Grenville and his blood-thirsty demon, Julia. Grenville and Julia, both seemingly immortal, have terrorized the local countryside since the days of the Celts and the Romans. In that long-ago time Julia used Hovern Bog as a dumping ground; now for the most part, she is content slaughtering sheep. But with the appearance of the snoopy Professor Macauley things at Hovern Bog take a bloody turn for the worse. Hurt by a complex plot too dependent on coincidence, this otherwise entertaining horror novel is recommended for larger collections. James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Col.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.