The Haunting of Michael Merlyn
The Haunting of Michael Merlyn
By Vincent Valentean
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
2.21.24 - I was going to wait until the end to write down my thoughts however I just am not able to do that. I am 70% of the way through the book, it’s excellent and I have enjoyed the mystery up to this point very much but I feel the need to pause and express myself. The first chapter surrounds the last moments of Jonathan Sullivan and it’s creepy. He is so terrified and you can feel that terror. Terror that is taking place in a location that should be safe, his home. He had only hours ago learned information that changed his view of the world, discovered a secret so horrific that he felt chased. Ultimately Jonathan passes, somewhat mercifully in my opinion of a fentanyl overdose that his brandy is spiked with. As he is dying he sees his unknown pursuer and in his drugged state thinks that he recognizes this pursuer but is not completely sure, not trusting his own eyes.
The second chapter finds us in the office of a psychiatrist, with the victims wife Susan Sullivan. This psychiatrist is named Eileen Baker and she was also Jonathan’s psychiatrist. Now in this session after Susan expresses needing to know if Jonathan’s death was suicide, as the police have deemed it, or murder. She needs to know if her rejection of his dreams caused him to commit the ultimate sin. She feels so much guilt that it’s crippling. The good doctor makes a suggestion that I feel is something that she would never do. She recommends that Susan contact a medium/paranormal investigative team for help getting her closure. She pointedly recommends Michael Merlyn’s team that consists of Kate the investigator from Lies from Beyond and his sister (foster sister) Victoria.
We move forward, they take the job, meet with Susan. Start their investigation. Now if you have read the other books, which I recommend that you do, you know that Michael through one of his cases, an exorcism, took a nasty spirit into his body and has imprisoned him there. This spirit is that of Jeremiah Kassidy, a prolific and violent serial killer. This spirit claims to have occupied many bodies and to have existed for 2000 years and based on his strength we are inclined to believe him. Michael spends every waking moment trying to keep this creep locked away and it’s a constant battle. He always worked alone as he is terrified that the beast may one day be released and hurt those he cares about. So his current working arrangement, in his mind, is not ideal.
He uses alcohol and sarcasm to keep the monster at bay finding himself in many bars and pubs along his journey. After finding some very important information he decides to stop off at a local bar before heading back to his team. Conveniently good Dr. Baker shows up at this bar and ends up telling Michael that information on the clue that he has found. For me this meeting is just too coincidental. She leaves him her card offering her help should they need it.
So when his team hits a road block, Michael and his sister go to visit the good doctor to see if she can tell them any additional information about the Crimson Flame, who is the killer that their investigation has lead them to. Now this generous doctor has injected her good self into their case. It turns out that Kassidy and the Flame knew each other in life. Kassidy was a sort of mentor to the Flame. When the Flame was finally caught 30 years after his start he opened like a book to the authorities and ended up turning in Kassidy. We learn some other things about Kassidy. Interesting things. Then our lovely doctor makes a suggestion…she suggests that they put Michael under hypnosis so that they can talk to Kassidy. Michael of course has a mini meltdown, refusing to do this.
Unfortunately the next thing that happens in the case is tragic. Susan Sullivan is found by the team (Baker is with them) stabbed to death in her home. Being the decent bloke that he is, and under the shadow of Susan’s murder, Michael reconsiders the hypnosis.
I think that everything that has happened to this point has not been about the Crimson Flame or the Sullivan’s. I think this is about Michael’s otherworldly passenger and I think that the good doctor has manipulated all of this to get to him. I believe her intensions to be malicious and right now if this were not fiction she would be a bloody mess on the floor, lucky if dental records could identify her. Of course this is just my suspicions based on unfolding events but it all seems a little too convenient to me. I suppose we shall see if my suspicious mind is correct.
2.22.24 - Damn I’m good! That bitch was totally behind everything. Have to admit that bitch should have been an actress and not a psychiatrist. Could have had less student debt. We all knew, after finding out that Kassidy was the Flame’s mentor, that he taught him other worldly things, one of them was how to trap souls. Turns out Kassidy ends up trapping his protégé as a punishment for giving him up. The story behind how they ended up with one another is interesting and sad. One that you will have to read the book to find out about. That crazy bitch has done all of this just so that she can get Michael there, learn from Kassidy what she needs to release the spirits from their trap, get Michael to release the Flame from his prison and then allow the Flame to possess her body so that they can become one (she says like Michael and Kassidy but really it’s more like Bethany and Erin at the beginning that I think she is looking for). Things get a little hairy but her little confinement of Victoria and Kate does not got to plan and they escape and show up there (a whole slew of things happen in between this, things that made me so very angry…like I said if the good doctor were real and I knew what she was doing she’d never have the chance to become one with the Flame. I’d scoop out her insides with a spoon first! (Ghouls aren’t all necessarily scavengers) It all comes out in the wash in the end, with me thanking all that is good that she does not get away and become some sort of Moriarty. I don’t think I could have handled that. The battle is interesting and that’s all I shall say. I am glad that Victoria and Kate understand the true danger of Kassidy now that they have had the pleasure of meeting him. I am also glad that Michael realizes that he would probably not be around anymore and that a crazed psycho possessed bitch would be out on the streets killing over and over again had it not been for Victoria and Kate showing up. So once again a team they soon get a new job…and this is where my mouth hung open like I’m trying to catch flies.
Oh the epilogue…this one not so dreaded. If you have read some of the previous books by Vincent Valentean you have undoubtedly heard the name Jacob Shepherd. I highly recommend reading The Haunting of Jonas Estate. This is the story that you get to know Jacob Shepherd. Merlyn and Shepherd are Valenteans main go to characters. Shepherd is mentioned all the time as many characters utilize his book to get a grasp on what is going on with their situation. Merlyn however does not have a very high opinion of the man as he sees him as a fake. Which he is. At least he was before the happenings at Jonas Estate. Sometimes those kinds of things change a person’s perception profoundly. His daughter is definitely a sensitive though. Now, the end of this one finds Merlyn being hired by Shepherd. When this bloody thing unfolded I wanted to jump up and down, yelling. But all the little Ghoulies in the crypt were sound asleep so I restrained myself. I CANNOT wait for this book to come out! I am chomping at the bit to get my teeth into it! I swear to you if Chinese hackers shut us down and I cannot get my hands on this book I will go to China and eat them all….and then be hungry again in an hour.
