Voodoo Child

An Emmy-award winning writer relates the chilling tale of ruthless drug-lord Mal Sangre and voodoo priest Shane LaFitte, who fight the ultimate battle of good and evil behind the scenes of New Orlean's Mardi Gras celebration.

Amazon.com Review

The air was suddenly charged with a bright actinic glare: she could see millions of raindrops, each one separate and distinct, frozen on their fall to earth. Lightning, she thought ... and surely it was thunder that followed immediately, even though the groundshaking rumble sounded eerily like the laughter of some grimly amused giant or elemental... But a thunderbolt didn't explain the vision Lia saw against the clouds, stark in the bright light, frozen like those myriad drops of rain: the vision of a gigantic gaunt man, towering as high as the clouds themselves, wearing black vestments, a stovepipe hat and small, round glasses. She could see the clouds dimly through him, and it seemed, as he moved, that his tattered coat was full of stars. That's a Voudoun (voodoo) god. Pretty impressive, eh? This loa (spirit-god) and a few others join a male houngan (Voudoun sorcerer-priest) from Haiti, a female probation officer, a male jazz musician, a female ER doctor, and a little girl as the cast of good guys in Voodoo Child. Add to that crew one powerful bad guy--another sorcerer named Mal Sangre (Bad Blood) who hopes to win favor with some very bad loas with a sacrifice of thousands of human beings. You now have a potent brew for a supernatural thriller. And what's the obvious locale for a big voodoo showdown? New Orleans. It's a surprisingly light novel for one with such heavy themes--rather like a crime or caper tale. The language is fluid, the plot is well paced and suspenseful, and the fact that the characters are two-dimensional doesn't detract that much. You'll learn a lot of fascinating Voudoun and Creole words, too. Some readers may long for a glossary, but if you're patient and wait a page or two, Reaves will give you each word's meaning in context. --Fiona Webster

From Publishers Weekly

New Orleans, a town whose every alleyway seems imbued with dark magic, serves as a colorful backdrop for this very busy horror thriller set at the height of Mardi Gras. Six years ago, Haitian sorcerer Jorge Arnez, known throughout the community as Mal Sangre, bewitched reluctant Voudoun priest Shane LaFitte into committing a ritual murder that put him behind bars. When Shane hits the French Quarter on parole, he finds Mal Sangre preparing a sacrifice to the dark gods that will give him incontestable control of the city. Shane's efforts to thwart his nemesis eventually bring him into contact with a cornetist, an ER surgeon and a parole officer, all of whom have been touched by Mal Sangre's evil influence. Reaves (Night Hunter) makes each of these characters sympathetic and memorable, but the many subplots and counterplots he spins from their experiences never converge satisfactorily. The story is fragmented, especially at the climax, which divides its energies between a grisly operating-room scene and a supernatural showdown amidst the mausoleums of the Pontchartrain Cemetery. Nevertheless, events are fast-paced and suspenseful, and Reaves's masterful command of his setting turns a taste of the Big Easy into a delectably spicy read. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the aftermath of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, falsely convicted murderer Shane LaFitte (paroled for good behavior) risks his freedom to stop an evil sorcerer's bid for power. An emergency room intern, a parole officer, a struggling jazz musician, and a child marked for greatness by her voodoo loas (spirits) find themselves drawn into the confrontation. The author of Street Magic (Tor, 1992) and Night Hunter (Tor, 1995) demonstrates his talent for capturing the exotic flavor of his settings in this fast-paced tale of supernatural forces at work in the modern world. Recommended for most fantasy and horror collections.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Some readers may react to this novel with skepticism: Yet another horror story set in New Orleans at Mardi Gras? But lovers of smart horror tales will quite enjoy Emmy-winning screenwriter Reaves' effort, in which multiple story lines unfold smoothly. Mal Sangre is a drug lord skilled in the art of black magic; a man he framed for murder may be the only person who can foil his evil plans. K. D. Wilcox, an emergency-room technician, falls for a jazz musician whose violent solution to his money troubles brings horrific consequences. And Lia St. Charles is a probation officer whose concern for her parolees leads her into danger.Horror fans will enjoy the way Reaves makes the surreal--especially, as the title indicates, voodoo--seem real. Readers will also appreciate his (mostly successful) efforts to avoid the usual horror-story cliches. A good, suspenseful novel that belongs in any library's horror collection. David Pitt

From Kirkus Reviews

Emmy Awardwinning Hollywood screenwriter Reaves's new and improved fantasy number leaps right over his previous Night Hunter (1995) and Street Magic (1991). Maybe that's because his characters here really take their voodoo seriously. At the prodigal age of 20, Shane LaFitte returns from his travels to his home in Haiti. And although he at first believes Voudoun to be mere charlatanry, he finds himself taken on anyway as a sorcerer's apprentice. Three years later, he's become an accomplished master of white magic phenomena, ``a houngan, the one to whom the townspeople come with their illnesses, their fears and their prayers'' for recovery and redemption. Shane is saved from jail by Jorge Arnez, a beautifully outfitted Cuban refugee who's a far more skilled santero than Shane himself. Their friendship lasts for four years, until Arnez takes up with the black arts. Then both leave Haiti for New Orleans, where Arnez, now known as Mal Sangre, gets going as a pimp. Shane serves six years in the Louisiana State pen for killing his wife Anisse while in a zombie state, induced in him by Mal Sangre. His probation-parole officer, Lia St. Charles, also claims as a client April Delaney, a 19-year-old recovering crack addict and alcoholic streetwalker who's the mother of four-year-old Soukie. Mal Sangre later gets around to kidnapping Soukie for a blood sacrifice to the evil gods. When Shane is set up to be killed by Mal Sangre, he arms himself--but then is busted by Lia for possession of a firearm. So Shane must tunnel his way out of jail, past visions of his dead wife, to prevent the gods from investing Mal Sangre with divine power after his sacrifice of Soukie in Pontchartrain Cemetery. . . . Not bad for those into blood sacrifice. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1: The dead were celebrating on Bourbon Street. It was Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, the last night of Carnival, and the narrow streets of the Vieux Carr were packed with costumed merrymakers partying themselves blind in the last hours before midnight. The night air was redolent with the smells of Cajun spices, barbeque and spilled beer. Over on St. Charles and Canal Street huge floats moved slowly through the crowds, pulled by tractors and filled with riders tossing doubloons, cups and plastic beads at delirious throngs shouting "Throw me something, Mister!" On Bourbon and Royal people leaned perilously from wrought-iron balconies, clung to street lamp poles and danced atop parked cars. Jugglers, unicyclists, stilt walkers and acrobats found space somehow in the tightly packed crowd to demonstrate their skills. Dominatrix nuns and transvestite priests dispensed favors, while jazz from Dixieland marching bands and syncopated zydeco clashed with boom-box rap and hip-hop. Legions of horsemen dressed in satin and velvet robes, feathered plumes rising over their heads, passed proudly by, flanked by clowns, masquers and mimes. On the corner of Royal and Conte an evangelist in sackcloth and ashes shouted predictions of divine doom through a bullhorn. Naphtha-fueled flambeaux carried by white-robed black men shed flickering light on the scene. The dead blended easily into the revelry; on this last frenzied night of Carnival the sudden appearance of Satan himself would hardly raise eyebrows. Members of one of the many costumed krewes that helped stage the parades and festivities, they wore loose black robes and porcelain skull masks. They stalked through the throng, somber figures contrasting with the crowd's bright colors. Unlike the other masquers, they dispensed few party favors -- only an occasional blood-red bead or baggie full of crimson powder. This did not seem to bother those filling the picturesque French Quarter. After all, the dead are not known for their generosity. (Copyright 1998 by Michael Reaves)

About the Author

Michael Reaves is an Emmy-award-winning television writer, screenwriter and novelist. He has written for Star Trek: The Next Generation and the new Twilight Zone and was a story editor and writer on Batman: The Animated Series and on Gargoyles, and a writer-producer on the animated prime time series Invasion America. He's had thirteen novels published, including The Shattered World, Darkworld Detective, Street Magic and Night Hunter. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

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