Some time after the events of ‘Mayhem’ we return to London. Many of the characters we met in that novel return, and we can see the impact of those events on their lives.
Following the loss of her husband Juliana has become an over-protective mother to her young son James. She is a husk of her former self, but she remains friends with Dr Bond – unaware of the role he played in James’s death. The three men involved in that evening have kept quiet about their involvement, and Dr Bond even dares to hope that he might one day marry Juliana.
Initially, everything seems rather dull. Everyone is going about their business and nothing particularly out of the ordinary happens (which, in light of what was happening at the time, is no bad thing). Then the battered body of a woman is found in a train carriage and it gets Bond thinking about the events of previous years.
In this novel we are introduced to Edward Kane, an old friend of James, and he asks Bond to look into some letters that James sent. In these letters, James talks of the Upir and the awful things it made him do. Bond appeases Kane’s curiosity with plausible explanations for these comments – but the information included within the letters’ pages opens up new questions for Bond.
Suddenly we are plunged into a horrific tale- where Bond learns of the extent to which those closest to him were caught up in the impact of the Upir’s existence. Unable to let this go, Bond continues to seek answers to his questions – with devastating consequences.
This novel was more focused on the personal decline of Bond, and it had less interest in some ways. There were minor irritations because of poor editing, but the story was a fascinating example of horror.