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 My imagination was whirling with the mysterious happenings in this small village. I could almost feel the heat and smell the scents of the town. By the end of the book I was wishing for more, maybe the author will write another story with Joan and tell more of her story. I was reminded of some of the works of Dean Koontz while I was reading this novel.
Reviewed by Teresa Aguilar
The Night Battles
by M.F. Bloxam
The Permanent Press
Hardcover: 240 pages, ISBN: 978-1-57962-171-6
Unable to work through the memories of the death of her mother Joan Severance has left her professional life in ruins. Her mother ,an anti-mafia photographer/journalist, was murdered in a car explosion in Sicily. The bomb that killed Simona Origo and the Palermitan prosecutor she was riding with had been planted in a sewer drain on via Malaspina and detonated remotely, probably from the balcony of a high-rise apartment nearby. I read that the force of the blast drove one of the armored car's seat springs into my mother's vagina. It also tore the prosecutor's right arm off at the shoulder and left his belt buckle embedded in his chest. I was seventeen when it happened. I hadn't seen or heard from my mother in seven years.
American Historian Joan Severance arrives in Valparuta to research archives recently opened. In her search of old probates she has become obsessed with the possessions of the dead. Joan meets the library's archivist Chiesa and is thrown into a world of the Paranormal where the villagers are called upon to battle evil with the spirits. Fellow archivist Chiesa is one of the benandanti.
I missed it entirely on Chiesa. All I saw in him was the creeping, painful zealousness of the recently reformed--that and an addict's self-loathing. I didn't see that he was making an example of himself. What curtailed my view? I'll tell you two things. Chiesa, like it or not, was of the benandanti. He could move the seen and the unseen like magician's cards. Strange happenings around the town draw Joan farther and farther into this world. She finds herself immersed in the paranormal occurrences. Thinking she has fooled the village into taking her on after ruining her career in America she finds that she was drawn to Valparuta purposely.
Although The Night Battles is an amazing story, my only disappointment was with the ending. I expected something more of the ending from the build up throughout the book. However, the author has a special gift in this writing style and I was astounded by the author’s talent of bringing the story to life. My imagination was whirling with the mysterious happenings in this small village. I could almost feel the heat and smell the scents of the town. By the end of the book I was wishing for more, maybe the author will write another story with Joan and tell more of her story. I was reminded of some of the works of Dean Koontz while I was reading this novel. So I expect to see many great works from M.F. Bloxam in the future.
About the reviewer: Teresa Aguilar is a stay-at-home mom who lives near Lake Fork in Emory, Texas. Married for over 17 years with three children, the whole family shares a interest in books of all genres. She aspires to own a book shop of her own one day. Her time is spent raising her children and her miniature dachshunds and one orange tabby cat. She also tries to grow trees in clay, and finally having some success, maybe to have some shade in the future to read under. She would also like to say thank you to her cousin Jeanneta who read “The Hobbit” to her when she was a small child and started her love affair with books.
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