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Vetala Cycle #2
Shapes in the Mist: A Novel of Supernatural Suspense
London’s most notorious murderer walks its streets once more.
Whitechapel, 1917. Jerry Reinhart, an American fighter-pilot, returns to London to convalesce after losing an aerial joust with the German ace, Baron von Richtofen. Sick and unstable, he loses himself in the seedy streets, unaware that he has brought back something unspeakable with him from the Western Front. Something that begins to take on the shape of a killer who was never caught. As the bombs rain down on old London town, a man named Jack is being reborn.
Whitechapel, 1917. Jerry Reinhart, an American fighter-pilot, returns to London to convalesce after losing an aerial joust with the German ace, Baron von Richtofen. Sick and unstable, he loses himself in the seedy streets, unaware that he has brought back something unspeakable with him from the Western Front. Something that begins to take on the shape of a killer who was never caught. As the bombs rain down on old London town, a man named Jack is being reborn.
- GenresHorror
182 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 21, 2011
6 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
G.R. Yeates
13 books59 followersG.R. Yeates was born in Rochford, Essex and studied Literature & Media at the Colchester Insitute.
He has lived in China where he taught English as a foreign language.
A life-long interest in the First World War and world mythology inspired his series of vampire novels, The Vetala Cycle.
He has lived in China where he taught English as a foreign language.
A life-long interest in the First World War and world mythology inspired his series of vampire novels, The Vetala Cycle.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 13, 2011
First published in August of 2011, British author G.R Yeates’ novel ‘Shapes In the Mist’ followed-up from his debut novel ‘The Eyes Of The Dead’, which together form the first two instalments into the much larger ‘Vetala Cycle’ series.
DLS Synopsis:
It’s 1917 and WW1 American fighter-pilot Jerry Reinhart is flying over enemy ground, shooting down German observation zeppelins with the ease of a master pilot. All was going well until he lowers his guard for a second upon approaching the last zeppelin, finding himself suddenly ambushed by a small squadron of enemy fighter planes. The American manages to bring down the ambushing enemy fighters, but finds his plane at a loss against that of the notorious German ace – Baron von Richtofen who is on his tail.
Ditching into the Black Forest that rushes up to greet the American fighter-pilot, Reinhart stumbles away from the wreck of his fighter-plane, but before losing all consciousness, he witnesses vague blurs of reality and haunting shapes in the mist around him. For a second he is surrounded, and then the veil of unconsciousness swallows up the wounded man.
As if waking from a dream, Reinhart gradually becomes aware that he is back in the grimy city of London and waiting amongst the fellow wounded. Unsure where he is or what he’s doing here, the American soon draws the unwanted attention of a nearby Military Police Redcap named Cutter, who quickly singles the man out unfairly deeming the man to be a deserter. A brief fight erupts, leaving Reinhart fleeing the scene, now a wanted felon.
Seeking refuge amongst the seedy streets of London, Reinhart stumbles across the desperately poor widower - Liz Hope, who finds herself drawn to the dishevelled man. But out on the unforgiving streets of Whitechapel the sudden re-emergence of a number of horrifically gruesome murders are once again terrorising the Londoners. Over twenty years has passed since murders of such savagery were discovered. Over twenty years since the hideous reign of terror caused by one man stalking the seedy streets of London. Over twenty years since Jack last took a victim. But now it looks like he’s back…
DLS Review:
Yeates returns with his second instalment into his ambitious twelve-part Vetala Cycle series, with another incredibly evocative and intensely dark vision of unnerving horror. What becomes instantly clear is that the novel is monstrously oppressive and deeply atmospheric from the very outset. Yeates’ wordplay is like a hypnotic dance with the darker side of the English language. Indeed, his writing appears to be a living, breathing amalgamation of Lovecraft’s oozing imagery sliced and diced together with Ramsey Campbell’s surreal dreamlike prose and the downright soul-corrupting visions of early Clive Barker.
With that said, has Yeates pulled back somewhat with the heart-thumping intensity of the no-holds-barred splatter? Perhaps just a little, but in its place is something much more haunting. Where ‘The Eyes Of The Dead’ clawed inside your head with barbaric visions of shocking horror, ‘Shapes In The Mist’ seeps under your skin with its sheer bleak depression, that never once lets up. This is an unbelievably downbeat and clingingly morbid piece of fiction. Barely a glimmer of any hopeful or enlightening emotion is present throughout the novel. It grinds you down and swallows you whole. And it’s unrelenting and utterly captivating for it.
What’s already beginning to form from these first two novels is the symbolic imagery utilised by the Vetala. Rats burst from the pages in ‘The Eyes Of The Dead’ - ripping, chewing, clawing and biting their way through the readers skin. Now, with this next instalment, maggots find themselves squirming their way into the storyline with their instantly repellent nature. Appropriately symbolising the festering, decaying state of London’s underbelly during the later years of WW1, the symbolic use of the maggots is as provocative as it is plain old skin-crawling.
Yeates throws in the return of the near-mythical character of Jack The Ripper, drawing on the mystery behind this much visited true life monster. Twisting and corrupting the character beyond our world of reality, Yeates drags the plot defining presence of Jack into the grim atmosphere that has already been so masterfully established.
Strong and provocative recurring lines such as the hauntingly suggestive “We be echo” (a misinterpreted translation from a gravestone that was referenced by modern day serial killer Peter Sutcliffe during his trial) stamp their mark on the reader as they become utterly immersed into this dank and depressive past. What Yeates seems to be all too aware of is his ability to capture the right words, at the right time, and then carve them into the now vulnerable flesh of the readers’ brain. The almost poetic prose that Yeates maintains throughout his writing is as mesmerising as it is chilling. Those quick and simple lines that are revisited time and time again send shivers down the spine each and every time they are read.
The tale ends on a magnificently downbeat note, hammering away at the readers’ skull with the depressive horror of the novel brought to a final crescendo. Yeates cuts open the limitless imagination he clearly has to draw upon, offering out the squirming residue of another truly intense vision of how to draw the novel to a final end. Emotion is almost forgotten in place of the much more dominating desire to corrupt, repel and induce a growing feeling of despair.
This is nothing short of a masterclass in oppressive and evocative horror fiction – with layer upon layer of teeth gnawing away at the readers’ senses. For powerfully suggestive wordplay and a return to the oozing Lovecraftian imagery of bygone days, look no further than Yeates’ work. It’s like peering off a cliff edge into the hellish abyss that awaits below…
The novel runs for a total of 143 pages.
DLS Synopsis:
It’s 1917 and WW1 American fighter-pilot Jerry Reinhart is flying over enemy ground, shooting down German observation zeppelins with the ease of a master pilot. All was going well until he lowers his guard for a second upon approaching the last zeppelin, finding himself suddenly ambushed by a small squadron of enemy fighter planes. The American manages to bring down the ambushing enemy fighters, but finds his plane at a loss against that of the notorious German ace – Baron von Richtofen who is on his tail.
Ditching into the Black Forest that rushes up to greet the American fighter-pilot, Reinhart stumbles away from the wreck of his fighter-plane, but before losing all consciousness, he witnesses vague blurs of reality and haunting shapes in the mist around him. For a second he is surrounded, and then the veil of unconsciousness swallows up the wounded man.
As if waking from a dream, Reinhart gradually becomes aware that he is back in the grimy city of London and waiting amongst the fellow wounded. Unsure where he is or what he’s doing here, the American soon draws the unwanted attention of a nearby Military Police Redcap named Cutter, who quickly singles the man out unfairly deeming the man to be a deserter. A brief fight erupts, leaving Reinhart fleeing the scene, now a wanted felon.
Seeking refuge amongst the seedy streets of London, Reinhart stumbles across the desperately poor widower - Liz Hope, who finds herself drawn to the dishevelled man. But out on the unforgiving streets of Whitechapel the sudden re-emergence of a number of horrifically gruesome murders are once again terrorising the Londoners. Over twenty years has passed since murders of such savagery were discovered. Over twenty years since the hideous reign of terror caused by one man stalking the seedy streets of London. Over twenty years since Jack last took a victim. But now it looks like he’s back…
DLS Review:
Yeates returns with his second instalment into his ambitious twelve-part Vetala Cycle series, with another incredibly evocative and intensely dark vision of unnerving horror. What becomes instantly clear is that the novel is monstrously oppressive and deeply atmospheric from the very outset. Yeates’ wordplay is like a hypnotic dance with the darker side of the English language. Indeed, his writing appears to be a living, breathing amalgamation of Lovecraft’s oozing imagery sliced and diced together with Ramsey Campbell’s surreal dreamlike prose and the downright soul-corrupting visions of early Clive Barker.
With that said, has Yeates pulled back somewhat with the heart-thumping intensity of the no-holds-barred splatter? Perhaps just a little, but in its place is something much more haunting. Where ‘The Eyes Of The Dead’ clawed inside your head with barbaric visions of shocking horror, ‘Shapes In The Mist’ seeps under your skin with its sheer bleak depression, that never once lets up. This is an unbelievably downbeat and clingingly morbid piece of fiction. Barely a glimmer of any hopeful or enlightening emotion is present throughout the novel. It grinds you down and swallows you whole. And it’s unrelenting and utterly captivating for it.
What’s already beginning to form from these first two novels is the symbolic imagery utilised by the Vetala. Rats burst from the pages in ‘The Eyes Of The Dead’ - ripping, chewing, clawing and biting their way through the readers skin. Now, with this next instalment, maggots find themselves squirming their way into the storyline with their instantly repellent nature. Appropriately symbolising the festering, decaying state of London’s underbelly during the later years of WW1, the symbolic use of the maggots is as provocative as it is plain old skin-crawling.
Yeates throws in the return of the near-mythical character of Jack The Ripper, drawing on the mystery behind this much visited true life monster. Twisting and corrupting the character beyond our world of reality, Yeates drags the plot defining presence of Jack into the grim atmosphere that has already been so masterfully established.
Strong and provocative recurring lines such as the hauntingly suggestive “We be echo” (a misinterpreted translation from a gravestone that was referenced by modern day serial killer Peter Sutcliffe during his trial) stamp their mark on the reader as they become utterly immersed into this dank and depressive past. What Yeates seems to be all too aware of is his ability to capture the right words, at the right time, and then carve them into the now vulnerable flesh of the readers’ brain. The almost poetic prose that Yeates maintains throughout his writing is as mesmerising as it is chilling. Those quick and simple lines that are revisited time and time again send shivers down the spine each and every time they are read.
The tale ends on a magnificently downbeat note, hammering away at the readers’ skull with the depressive horror of the novel brought to a final crescendo. Yeates cuts open the limitless imagination he clearly has to draw upon, offering out the squirming residue of another truly intense vision of how to draw the novel to a final end. Emotion is almost forgotten in place of the much more dominating desire to corrupt, repel and induce a growing feeling of despair.
This is nothing short of a masterclass in oppressive and evocative horror fiction – with layer upon layer of teeth gnawing away at the readers’ senses. For powerfully suggestive wordplay and a return to the oozing Lovecraftian imagery of bygone days, look no further than Yeates’ work. It’s like peering off a cliff edge into the hellish abyss that awaits below…
The novel runs for a total of 143 pages.
July 29, 2015
Originally posted at Butterfly-o-Meter Books on Oct 23 2011:
After reading the first novel in the cycle, The Eyes of the Dead, and being thoroughly ruffled by the read, I’ll be really honest and say I somehow expected this one to go for the same “horror sweet spot”, to use the same tools of disturbia. I was dead wrong, no pun intended.
Of course, this is a sequel to the first novel in the cycle, but I can honestly say you’ll have just as much fun reading it on its own. Out of all the scary things I could have found lurking in there, waiting to pounce me, Jack wasn’t one of the ones I would have expected. It thrilled me that G.R. Yeates blended historical mystery with horror and suspense in such a masterful way. Where the scary elements of the first book were pretty physical and certainly scary in a material way, let’s say, the scary stuff in the second book is more of the psychological sort. Of course, the blunt revolting is still present, though in this book we’re dealing more with a study of the hideous side of humanity.
In this regard, I’ll confess to feel more at ease with the horror of this book rather then dread of the first.
I find that the characters are also easier to identify with as a reader, up to a point, and in certain circumstances; you enter a human world, and the scary element infiltrates inside it, whereas in the first book, it felt more like the other way around. I wouldn’t necessarily say I had a fondness for any of the characters, well maybe for Jerry; but overall, the mystery and original mix of yummy elements gripped me so hard, I could have easily loved this book even if I would have hated all the characters. The point isn’t liking them, anyways, this is not that kind of book that hangs on how much you’ll like the character or characters.
And for someone as character-oriented as I am when reading, that’s not something I get to say often about a book I loved reading.
True, the style of writing might take a bit of getting used to, as I find it is not quite the facile sort. It seems to me more of the artful sort of writing, and I’m very aware there are those that have a grudge against careful, expressive wording. But we’re not talking classic flowery writing by any means, more of a mix between the easy-to-read style and a more luxurious one, rich in ideatic content.
To me, this is perfect for a good, scary read. It’s very smart, engaging, original, and an all-around delight, plus I think this is the best season for it, isn’t it? Give it a try, it’s the good kind of spooky.
After reading the first novel in the cycle, The Eyes of the Dead, and being thoroughly ruffled by the read, I’ll be really honest and say I somehow expected this one to go for the same “horror sweet spot”, to use the same tools of disturbia. I was dead wrong, no pun intended.
Of course, this is a sequel to the first novel in the cycle, but I can honestly say you’ll have just as much fun reading it on its own. Out of all the scary things I could have found lurking in there, waiting to pounce me, Jack wasn’t one of the ones I would have expected. It thrilled me that G.R. Yeates blended historical mystery with horror and suspense in such a masterful way. Where the scary elements of the first book were pretty physical and certainly scary in a material way, let’s say, the scary stuff in the second book is more of the psychological sort. Of course, the blunt revolting is still present, though in this book we’re dealing more with a study of the hideous side of humanity.
In this regard, I’ll confess to feel more at ease with the horror of this book rather then dread of the first.
I find that the characters are also easier to identify with as a reader, up to a point, and in certain circumstances; you enter a human world, and the scary element infiltrates inside it, whereas in the first book, it felt more like the other way around. I wouldn’t necessarily say I had a fondness for any of the characters, well maybe for Jerry; but overall, the mystery and original mix of yummy elements gripped me so hard, I could have easily loved this book even if I would have hated all the characters. The point isn’t liking them, anyways, this is not that kind of book that hangs on how much you’ll like the character or characters.
And for someone as character-oriented as I am when reading, that’s not something I get to say often about a book I loved reading.
True, the style of writing might take a bit of getting used to, as I find it is not quite the facile sort. It seems to me more of the artful sort of writing, and I’m very aware there are those that have a grudge against careful, expressive wording. But we’re not talking classic flowery writing by any means, more of a mix between the easy-to-read style and a more luxurious one, rich in ideatic content.
To me, this is perfect for a good, scary read. It’s very smart, engaging, original, and an all-around delight, plus I think this is the best season for it, isn’t it? Give it a try, it’s the good kind of spooky.
June 2, 2014
Horror novel “Shapes In the Mist” by G.R. Yeates is the second novel in his “Vetala Cycle” series of novels which was kicked off with the author’s debut novel “The Eyes Of The Dead”. The story again starts during the horrors of WWI with American fighter-pilot Jerry Reinhart being the main character. Jerry is a master pilot but even he can’t survive a fight against notorious German ace, Baron Von Richtofen and is therefore forced to ditch in a forest. He manages to scramble from his downed aircraft but soon witnesses strange and haunting shapes in the most before finally losing consciousness. However, his return to London amongst the wounded coincides with the emergence of a number of horrifically gruesome murders that seem to imply the infamous Jack the Ripper has returned. Before long he is drawn into a nightmarish adventure where he attempts to understand what may have followed him from the Western Front.
Once again Yeates showcases his intensely dark and atmospheric writing abilities with this sequel. His descriptive and poetic phrasing which he uses to visualise some rather surreal and disturbing images really helps to increase the feeling of unease felt by the reader as they work through this depressing and chilling piece of literature. I think the actual gore and splatter is toned down a little bit when compared to the previous novel, “Eyes of the Dead” but that doesn’t reduce the feeling of horror which is brought out by the bleak and downbeat plot.
One of my biggest issues with the previous novel is that I wasn’t able to fully understand what was going on as the book flitted between reality and surreal hallucinations. This time I am happy to say that everything came together much better and I was able to follow the plot without getting lost. There is still the surreal dark imagery, bleak foreshadowing and oppressive atmosphere but this time everything is brought together in a much more satisfying experience.
Overall, this is an excellent example of oppressive, surreal and bleak horror fiction. The novel’s downbeat narrative continues to sap at the spirits of the reader right up to the intense final scene all ably enhanced by Yeates’ wonderful imaginative and poetic prose. If you want to get lost in dark imagery and surreal bleak storylines then this horror novel is something you should try to obtain.
Once again Yeates showcases his intensely dark and atmospheric writing abilities with this sequel. His descriptive and poetic phrasing which he uses to visualise some rather surreal and disturbing images really helps to increase the feeling of unease felt by the reader as they work through this depressing and chilling piece of literature. I think the actual gore and splatter is toned down a little bit when compared to the previous novel, “Eyes of the Dead” but that doesn’t reduce the feeling of horror which is brought out by the bleak and downbeat plot.
One of my biggest issues with the previous novel is that I wasn’t able to fully understand what was going on as the book flitted between reality and surreal hallucinations. This time I am happy to say that everything came together much better and I was able to follow the plot without getting lost. There is still the surreal dark imagery, bleak foreshadowing and oppressive atmosphere but this time everything is brought together in a much more satisfying experience.
Overall, this is an excellent example of oppressive, surreal and bleak horror fiction. The novel’s downbeat narrative continues to sap at the spirits of the reader right up to the intense final scene all ably enhanced by Yeates’ wonderful imaginative and poetic prose. If you want to get lost in dark imagery and surreal bleak storylines then this horror novel is something you should try to obtain.
August 16, 2017
Shapes in the Mist is another great story by GR Yeates. Yeates offers a visually compelling story that takes you on a journey to a time where the world was in turmoil. Not only because of the war waging between countries but the supernatural war waging inside London's citizens. Yeates' characters had to face their worst sins in the form of a mist that took over their minds and made them relive these sins. They lived their own hell on earth. I found this book to be very thought provoking that made me take a look at my own sins. I can't wait for the next Vetala Cycle installment.
March 5, 2013
This is one of the best horror books I read in 2012. It's very dark, surreal, and visceral. Not for the timid. But I thought it followed in the footsteps of the masters of horror well. Very well described, with a plot that tied together into a bundle of madness.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews