Synopsis:
“I won’t let death stop me.”
25 years ago, young businessman Ron Jarvis made a sinister deal that changed his life forever. The cost was high… but who can put a price on power?
Now, Ron is the CEO of a global media empire, and one of the richest men in the world. And yet, to help his daughter, Ron will once more seek out the architect of that hideous pact, bringing death, despair, and total destruction to all around him in a jaw-dropping frenzy of outrageous, bloody carnage.
Review:
In his most extreme, depraved and glorious work to date, David Sodergren (I can’t speak for his alter-ego Carl John Lee) reminds us that karma is indeed a bitch. Where “Rotten Tommy,” is bizarro and romantic, and “Summer of the Monsters,” is tender and coming-of-age, “Death Spell,” is gross and damp. A writhing and pulsing and coalescing “good for her,” “coming-of-rage,” story complete with violence and vengeance, and damn near boiling over with bile, “Death Spell,” whilst undeniably a wholly nasty book, is also my favourite by Sodergren since “The Haar.” I’d like to thank the author for the ARC, and for continuing to repulse me. If you’re looking to test your limits… stomach… gag reflex… then you can consume “Death Spell,” for yourself from May 1st, but don’t be surprised when it’s still haunting you six months later.
Ron Jarvis has in all fairness, built quite the empire out of Grayfriar Media- but it’s an empire built upon violence, voodoo… and worms. He’s killed, he’s had people killed, but perhaps worst of all, he fathered Vivienne, and raised quite the entitled brat. As the daughter of the second richest man in America, she has dated many a house-hold name, but she’s fixated upon Nick Pulaski- stuntman turned action movie star. The two did briefly date, but that came to a bitter end when she stabbed him in the leg during an argument. To Vivienne’s utter horror he has since rekindled a flame with his highschool sweetheart Carol, whilst she continues to obsess. She’s sure that the two are meant to be. She’s sure it’s destiny. But she’d appreciate it if her daddy could speed things up between the two of them… and Ron is almost certain that he knows a guy.
Sodergren is an accomplished writer across the board, but he excels consistently with his characters. “The Haar’s” Muriel McAuley is a bad-ass who I still think about on the regular, “Rotten Tommy’s,” Becky Sharp is written with such nuance and care, and in “Death Spell?” Sodergren is able to make us loathe almost the entire cast with an absolute passion. If “Death Spell,” was adapted for the stage (unlikely, the clean-up would be immense) people would be hissing and throwing rotten fruit, they’re that vile. I can’t quite put a finger on which oligarch in particular Ron Jarvis is not so loosely inspired by, but he has the unmistakable stink of at least one of them, and he is truly detestable. A media mogul whose hands are filthy with more than tricks of the trade, Ron’s character highlights the dangers of over-ambition, how it can manifest as greed and calcify into corruption. Despite the fact that he really, really loves his daughter, he does so in the same way a collector loves a coin. He is the antithesis of a good father, and is responsible for spoiling Vivienne beyond redemption. Vivienne, as far as I can tell, is not some grand metaphor, or (despite what she may like to think) a symbol of something larger than herself, but her comeuppance is nothing short of indulgent.
Sodergren’s prose is not for the faint of stomach or heart. It’s visceral in a way that elicits genuine physical reactions: winces, grimaces, the occasional dry heave. Usually, at this point in a review, I like to reference a scene. You know… that scene. Nick Cutter’s “turtle scene,” or that rat from “American Psycho,” (the book obviously) spring to mind. With “Death Spell,” it’s the entire 230-ish pages. Relentless and unflinching, the novel offers little reprieve. What levity there is comes courtesy of Sodergren’s sharp, dark humour- David’s one-liners and Meatloaf references are honestly so much fun. The pacing? Wildfire as opposed to slow-burn. Propulsive, compulsive, and designed to be impossible to look away from, I absolutely demolished this one, as I have with everything else I’ve read from him.
Undeniably nasty, unapologetically brutal, and steeped in something best left unidentified, “Death Spell,” is another superb addition to Sodergren’s rather impressive back catalogue. The unholy love child of Roger Corman and Clive Barker “Death Spell,” certainly veers harder into splatter territory than its predecessors (with “Dead Girl Blues,” perhaps being a runner-up). It’s different, but it’s still David, the common threads being: great writing, great character work, and the pug on the spine: buy it in paperback.
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