About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

DEMON OF THE AIR
by Simon Levack
Simon and Schuster, February 2004
400 pages
10.99GBP
ISBN: 074323975X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I always felt that the first words in Marion Babson's DEATH IN FASHION were hard to beat for grabbing the reader's attention - 'Hell!' said the Duchess. 'Those bastards have delivered the wrong flowers!' Simon Levack's first sentence in DEMON OF THE AIR, for me, has certainly beaten her with 'Blood lay in layers on the steps.of the Great Pyramid, the afternoon's flowing over the morning's, the fresh over the dry.'

This is a new period for historical mystery -- Mexico at the height of its glory under Montezuma in 1517 but already uneasy at the rumours of pale-skinned, bearded strangers with powerful weapons. The situation is unusual -- the hero is Yaotl and he is in the awkward situation of presenting for 'flowery death' at the hands of the priests a sacrificial victim who has already died (he had jumped from the pyramid). Yaotl obviously lives on his wits and his nimble tongue is ready with excuses so that the disappointed priests won't use him as a convenient replacement or addition. He escapes to continue the story through his fast footwork down the suicidally steep pyramid steps!

Yaotl sold himself into slavery. His life has been a complex one plumbing the depths of humiliation in Aztec terms but, perhaps because of the extremes of his experiences, the Emperor chooses him as an investigator of some very strange events involving sorcerers who have apparently escaped unseen from prison. His initially inept efforts to investigate make him a true private eye in the American Thirties tradition; he continually gets beaten up sometimes for reasons that he does not understand. Understanding eludes him for a long time though eventually he reaches a solution to the problems.

The picture that Simon builds up of Aztec society is complex and fascinating; details concerning food, clothing, the city, religion and slavery are woven cleverly into the story. More importantly the levels of society and the relationships within and between the different groups are clearly delineated. The brutality of Aztec ways is laid bare and the framework of ideas that support this harshness are shown. The language used by the soldiers, slaves and other men is suitably earthy. Yaotl's situation elicits a mixture of sympathy and irritation in the reader which makes him a good protagonist.

Simon Levack is promising further adventures for Yaotl in future so I expect developments in his character and responses to situations to occur. I enjoyed the evocation of the period very much though I did find the unremitting brutality hard to take.

The first chapter of this book won the UK Crime Writers' Association New Writing competition in 2000.

Reviewed by Jennifer S. Palmer, January 2004

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]