The Sepulchre

Chill #2

by Jory Sherman

There was the green slime.There were the creeping vines.. There was a Louisiana mansion, haunted by a malevolent and vibrating force more powerful than the humans who lived there, whose terrifying history remained buried in 18th century France. There was a young girl of virginal beauty who slept.some said in a coma.in that mansion, and in her dreams she was possessed by the demonic ancestors who plagued the house, the land and its swamps, the sepulcher. And then there was Chill, who came for a birthday party and stayed to fight the evil forces that threatened them all with supernatural powers beyond comprehension. Dr. Russel V. Chillders (Chill) is a private investigator of the supernatural. His special lady and assistant is Laura Littlefawn, half-Sioux, with psychic powers, a "sensitive," who sees beyond the natural world. This is the second in their spellbinding explorations into the realm of psychic phenomena.

Genres: Horror

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2003

About the author

Jory Sherman was born in Minnesota and grew up in West Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado. He was a magazine editor for a time and had some of his work published, including some poetry, short stories and articles. Sherman had a friend who owned a publishing company and asked him to write a novel for the company. From that offer came five more novels, all written in one year. He wrote the supernatural mystery series, "Chill," which was somewhat revolutionary for the times, but which earned him an eight book contract. He then came up with the idea for "Rivers West," a series which had each book written by a different western author. Then came the "Baron Saga," the first of which was "Grass Kingdom" which earned Sherman a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Letters. Sherman has also won the Spur Award for his contribution to Western Literature.

Reviews

[Θανάσης · Rating 1 out of 5]

Το βιβλίο αυτό, είναι το "Ο Τσιλ" που κυκλοφόρησε από τις εκδόσεις Σίμωσι στην σειρά Βιβλιοθήκη του Τρόμου. Το γράφω μόνο και μόνο, για να το ξέρετε και να το αποφύγετε!! Εκτός αν είστε βλαμμένοι σαν κι εμένα και θέλετε να τα διαβάσετε όλα :)

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do not get me wrong; this is a bad book. The one star reviews are correct. But 1: I have read worse. 2: I didn't read this expecting it to be good. I expected it to be bad and stupid but a time capsule of the '70's and that's why I read it. And it delivered.

I wasn't sure whether the author was male or female until I got a little into the story and firmly decided they were a man. The women are described by how much sexual desirability they have and the main character Dr. "Chill" is a clear male fantasy stand-in character. He's a vegetarian, sharpshooting, martial artist doctor of woo-woo and whatnot. He's apparently extremely attractive and fit and knows more than everyone else and can be a therapist to all those with problems, helping out with intricate family problems and supernatural diseases with ease. He reveals to the reader that because he's a vegetarian he no longer gets hungry, really and sometimes fasts for a week at a time. It's ridiculous. The part where he shills Red Zinger by Celestial Seasonings was my favorite, however. That is why I read books like this. I love it, it's so goofy.

But. The women are passive, hysterical, drunks or "sluts" except the mysterious, ethereal half-Sioux medium Chill works with who hilariously intuited that he was about to get laid with someone else and calls his room phone to interrupt.

The one Black character. Oh good lord. A cowardly, eye-rolling, greedy, dialect-talking servant. What's worse, I think the author thought he was being sensitive.

The plot was confusing and never gels together into a coherent backstory. But it is an interesting look at the kind of mumbo jumbo supernatural thing that fit into that time period. I want to read another one if only for that.

But, yeah no. It ain't good.

[Kiriakos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Βαρετό και χωρίς ενδιαφέρον, το διάβασα μόνο από περιέργεια

[Dale · Rating 1 out of 5]

The daughter of a TV producer falls into a coma in their Louisiana mansion. As luck would have it, psychic investigator extraordinaire Russell "Chill" Chilldres just happened to be a guest for their birthday party. And as thrilling as comas are, it pales in comparison to reading about people speculating about comas.

It might have something to do with her being either possessed by and/or reincarnated as either Oliver Reed or Vanessa Redgrave from the Devils. Or something to do with a will, or the oil that's running under the property.

But our hero never gets around to figuring it out. Instead, he spends most of his time describing his vegetarian snacks. We get a several lines on the this new thing called herbal tea from Celestial Seasonings, and a whole paragraph on cilantro.

Aside from some crawling vines and creeping algae, the only thing that happens in the book is courtesy of Moses, the African-American servant. Who's written in dialect. And is ascared of just about everything. And is greedy, cowardly, and treacherous for good measure.

"Mistah, you steppin' into somethin' mighty bad here."

Even the characters lose interest in the whole daughter in a coma thing. The father talks about his career in the television industry, Chill flirts with his secretary. There was a chance things would get seedy with an incestuous love triangle between a stuffy old man, his drunken wife, and his amorous daughter, but it gets tamely resolved into a cry for attention. (Sherman wrote two non-fiction books on the subject of incest).

There was so much talking over drinks in the drawing room I was surprised to learn Sherman wasn't British. He appears to be a beat poet that turned to westerns, with the Chill series in the middle.

More reviews at Trash Menace.

[Μιχάλης · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first Jory Sherman book I read and, unfortunately, I have two more in my library (Vampire and Scorpio house).

The book could've been quite entertaining, but it was not. The plot is a tad bit complex. See, a movie producer moves to a house in New Orleans, only his daughter falls into a coma caused by demonic possession three days before her sixteenth birthday. But fear not, because doctor Childers, aka Chill, is coming for the party and, as a reknowned expert on the paranormal. Oh, and he is also an ex-marine crackshot and a vegan and the producer's secretary cannot keep her hands of him.
Then there is a friendly couple in the house and their teenaged daughter constantly tries to seduce said producer. and there is also Laura, the medium who comes along to help Chill and their unrecquited love that gets in the way.
The first half sort of reads like "The Manitou", starring Chuck Norris, because everybody can see that the awesome Chill can kick any Misquamacas' behind with ease, so instead we have everybody so busy running around and psychoanalysing each-other that half the book reads like that. And it is sort of entertaining.

But then, since the solution to the whole possession story is dull, the writer adds a subplot with a mystery, investigations and people running around the swamp, that translates to some 70 or 80 pages reading like a Scooby Doo episode, only we watch Fred and Daphne instead of Shaggy and Scooby.

And, to reach a final straw, the ending is nice and moral and totally ethical where everybody is happy and almost no-one gets hurt.

Nuff said.

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 1 out of 5]

dreadful
so bad is a wonder that sth can be so bad