How do you kill something that’s already dead? It’s simple. Every zombie, mummy, and vampire knows the answer to that question. Life is the only thing that can defeat death.
But somehow Grigori Rasputin didn’t get cc’d on the memo. In Ghosts of Empire, the self-proclaimed mystic from the early 20th century was orchestrating an attack on London from his icy tomb in St. Petersburg. The mad monk died in 1916, but he stubbornly continued to preside over the vagaries of the universe. “Death was the only constant,” he crowed.
Thank goodness Gabriel Cross (aka the Ghost) was visiting England during Rasputin’s siege. The New Yorker was hoping for a little R&R during his vacation (see Ghosts of Karnak for further details), but he wasn’t the sort of guy to shy away from a coven of Russian wizards making trouble. “The Ghost is part of my life,” explained Cross. “Wherever I go, he goes too.”
Rasputin and his Korschei Corps had inveigled their way into London, bringing with them a dark elemental magic from abroad. Like an album by Iggy and the Stooges, the power they wielded was primal and raw. It was up to Cross, the British Secret Service, and an eight-foot tall perambulatory tree to turn back the invasion. “I’m amazed at our capacity to find trouble wherever we go,” said an exasperated member of Team Ghost.
This is the fourth Ghost novel from author George Mann, and each one has been an enjoyable steampunk/superhero mash-up featuring a “solitary figure of vengeance.” If you like pulp fiction and mysteries with a supernatural twist (like us), you’ll undoubtedly enjoy the ongoing adventures of Gabriel Cross and his crimefighting colleagues.
After an explosive novel-ending kerfuffle, Rasputin was smote by the very elemental forces he claimed to control. He bragged to his enemies that he had mastered death, but in reality all he had done was perpetuate it – inflicting misery upon everyone around him. He was nothing but a living corpse held together by ancient tattoos, pictograms, and sigils. Like every ghoul before him, Rasputin was destroyed by life.
[Ghosts of Empire / By George Mann / First Printing: October 2017 / ISBN: 9781783294183]
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