Publisher's Synopsis
This collection includes all five stories featuring Blackwood's psychic detective, John Silence, M.D., and--except for the brief "A Victim of Higher Space," a mere bagatelle--each of the tales is compelling in the way all good Blackwood is compelling: each features a leisurely exposition followed by a slow series of incremental complications which both inform and disarm the mesmerized reader until he is prepared for the well-executed conclusion. The two best stories included here are the much anthologized "Ancient Sorceries" and "Secret Worship." If you do not know them already, you should certainly read them, even if you're not a great fan of terror tales. The other three stories, however, are also effective and unique. "A Psychical Invasion" is unusual in that, drawing upon the notion that dogs resist ghostly phenomena and cats explore them, it allots 8,000 words (roughly 40% of the story) to a detailed description of the behaviors of one cat and one dog on one particular night. I know this sounds boring, but it isn't. (I became quite absorbed in interpreting the animals' actions, and, while I was doing so, I had no doubt whatsoever that Blackwood's ghost was real.) "The Nemesis of Fire" begins conventionally with a local haunting on the grounds of an English Country estate, but--after a few twists and turns--concludes with a battle against the darkest magic of Ancient Egypt. "The Camp of the Dog" realistically creates the atmosphere of a camping trip to a remote Northern island, its comforts and its terrors (Blackwood was an avid camper), but its most notable feature is the way it resolves the problem of a rather decent sort of werewolf chap who is trapped by his sincere repressed love into a psychic spiral of lustful--and hairy--transformations. All of these stories are worth reading. Oh, and--by the way--since you've gone this far, you might as well read "A Victim of Higher Space" too. It is short, with one or two good laughs in it, and contains a really cool description of John Silence's consulting room, including his little tricks and gadgets.