Bizango – "A secret society of black magicians."

John Lafcadio was investigating an apparently normal child abduction when he spotted the abductor trying to flee the premises. Struggling with the perpetrator, Lafcadio had a strange substance blown into his face. Shortly after Lafcadio was found by his colleagues and was pronounced dead at the scene.

He soon found himself in the morgue where they had started an autopsy. As the mortician started to cut into Lafcadio's chest two police officers burst into the room and stopped the proceedings.

Lafcadio then found himself drawn into the mysterious world of Voodoo where the evil Legendre was using his voodoo abilities to blackmail wealthy victims.

White Bizango is an extremely disconcerting story. I suppose it is the idea of being trapped, alive, inside an apparently dead body and actually being conscious during your own autopsy. This is the stuff of nightmares. Can you imagine lying there, unable to move, whilst someone cuts into your chest. Screaming silently and praying that somehow you will manage to move an eye, a finger, enough to make them realise that you are still alive. It really doesn't bear thinking about.

As a novella, White Bizango is the perfect length to be read in one sitting and I personally found that it benefited from this. The story is intense and compelling and drags the reader deep into the world of Voodoo magic.

Unnerving and discomforting!

Synposis
Rescued from the morgue and a bizarre and unpleasant end, Louisiana detective John Lafcadio owes his life to the Cult Crime Co-ordinators. Known also as the Voodoo Cops, their job is to dispel superstition and nail crimes of ignorance.

There's a growing need for their services. A new kind of predator is on the loose. When the middle classes began to adopt vodoun as a lifestyle fad, their doors were opened to a ruthless white male with a command of the religion's darker practical secrets.

Hunting down Lafcadio's would-be killer will be no easy task. His victims are also his protectors. And how can Lafcadio hope to identify a man whose eyes he once stared into, but whose face he can't remember?

WHITE BIZANGO - straight crime, Gallagher style.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY JOE R. LANSDALE: "WHITE BIZANGO's mood wraps around you like a warm blanket. Gave me the kind of sensation I used to have as a kid, watching some monster movie late at night, rainy and windy outside, sitting on the couch or in front of it, tenting a blanket over me, feeling wonderfully and pleasantly terrified."