The Smile of a Ghost by
Philip Rickman
hbk out November 05
Published by Macmillan
at £17.99
After his last couple of books, I was already beginning to think that Phil Rickman is
the best writer of dialogue in the business and his new 'Merrily Watkins' confirms
this impression. With his utterly convincing descriptions of people and places in the
Welsh Marches, the reality is such that I find it hard to believe that this is fiction.
With previous books, I pored over large-scale maps to follow the action and in this
new one, I went on the Net to study Ludlow and its castle, which is the main focus of
'The Smile.'
Merrily, a young vicar who is the exorcist or 'Deliverance Consultant' for the diocese
of Hereford, is in danger of being ousted by antagonistic elements within the Church,
who foist a supercilious female canon and a smarmy retired psychiatrist on her, intent
on making her redundant. This coincides with the unexplained death of a young boy
who falls from a tower in Ludlow's spectacular castle. His uncle, a recently-retired
detective, is suspicious and when another girl crashes to her death, a well-known
castle ghost story is revived, a true tale of a 12th century when a betrayed maiden
leaps from one of the towers after slaying her lover. Even the bishop confesses to
Merrily that, when a curate in Ludlow, he lost a bet over staying in that tower at night,
due to his fear of dark forces.
A new factor is a strange former Gothic pop-star, Belladonna, who parades the town
at night in weird clothing, carrying a candle and looking forward to being dead. Lots
of side plots impinge on the central story, which reveals sinister Internet chat-rooms
that encourage youngsters to kill themselves. All the usual characters are there, such
as Jane, Merrily's highly-independent daughter, and Lol, the diffident musician and
former psychiatric patient who is now almost Merrily's partner. I was afraid that my
favourite figure, Gomer Parry, the JCB driver, would be missing, but thankfully he
makes an albeit-brief appearance on p.275 !
Phil Rickman writes books which are big as well as excellent, yet the reader gobbles
up the pages in no time, desperate to know how it turns out. As always, he makes the
story walk the shaky tightrope between the supernatural and reality, keeping it sane
enough to ensure one's belief, yet surreptitiously nudging the most sceptical reader
into considering the unthinkable.
The Merrily Watkins books are easily amongst the most interesting being written in
Britain today and I cannot understand why they not yet been snapped up for a
television series.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
The Smile of a Ghost by
Philip Rickman
