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Roger Brook #11
The Irish Witch
1812 - 1814
The Hell Fire Club is being revived � by a sensuous wanton who calls herself the Irish Witch. Once more the titled of the land are being sucked into its vortex of vice and degradation. And among them is Susan, Roger Brook's young and lovely daughter.
Soon it will be Walpurgis Night. Soon a ruined castle will echo to the baying of initiates as Susan is led towards an altar � there to be ritually violated by the Priest of Satan.
The Hell Fire Club is being revived � by a sensuous wanton who calls herself the Irish Witch. Once more the titled of the land are being sucked into its vortex of vice and degradation. And among them is Susan, Roger Brook's young and lovely daughter.
Soon it will be Walpurgis Night. Soon a ruined castle will echo to the baying of initiates as Susan is led towards an altar � there to be ritually violated by the Priest of Satan.
435 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1976
9 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Wheatley
381 books248 followersDennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) [Born: Dennis Yeats Wheatley] was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors in the 1950s and 1960s.
His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks.
He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).
In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, presented as case files, with testimonies, letters, pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to go through the evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: Murder Off Miami, Who Killed Robert Prentice, The Malinsay Massacre, and Herewith The Clues.
In the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Joséphine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.
He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic, to all of which he was hostile. During his study of the paranormal, though, he joined the Ghost Club.
From 1974 through 1977 he edited a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere under the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. This series included both occult-themed novels by the likes of Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley and non-fiction works on magic, occultism, and divination by authors such as the Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, the historian Maurice Magre, the magician Isaac Bonewits, and the palm-reader Cheiro.
Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.
His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, indicating a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence has declined, partly due to difficulties in reprinting his works owing to copyright problems.
Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published posthumously in a set by Heron Books UK. More recently, in April 2008 Dennis Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion.
He invented a number of board games including Invasion.
-Wikipedia
His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks.
He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).
In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, presented as case files, with testimonies, letters, pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to go through the evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: Murder Off Miami, Who Killed Robert Prentice, The Malinsay Massacre, and Herewith The Clues.
In the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Joséphine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.
He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic, to all of which he was hostile. During his study of the paranormal, though, he joined the Ghost Club.
From 1974 through 1977 he edited a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere under the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. This series included both occult-themed novels by the likes of Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley and non-fiction works on magic, occultism, and divination by authors such as the Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, the historian Maurice Magre, the magician Isaac Bonewits, and the palm-reader Cheiro.
Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.
His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, indicating a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence has declined, partly due to difficulties in reprinting his works owing to copyright problems.
Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published posthumously in a set by Heron Books UK. More recently, in April 2008 Dennis Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion.
He invented a number of board games including Invasion.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 6, 2014
After so many years of actively avoiding the vast library penned by the much maligned Dennis Wheatley I found that his brisk pacing and bellicose action proved to be quite a treat. Screw the naysayers! Wheatley is an enormously entertaining author, whilst this is undoubtedly pulp fiction, it is well crafted, and the full-blooded hero's and their acts of bravura always encouraged me to read just one more chapter than I had planned to. (many times pushing the 3.30 AM mark which leads me to believe that I have become a fan of his work!) 'The Irish Witch is stirring stuff indeed, but the occult contents are somewhat spare; and I can certainly see how the exacting detail of Napoleon's canny warmongering could prove a little distracting: I profess, I too questioned the wholly spurious cover, which might lead a credulous Electric Wizard fan into thinking, he or she, had happened upon the satanic mother-lode, only to receive a rather lengthy and exacting treatise on the especially grim horrors of the Napoleonic wars. That said, the scenes with old nick's followers are a lurid joy.
I feel that 'The Irish Witch' is more of a 3 and a half stars affair, and it would easily have merited a fourth if Wheatley had delivered a little more blasphemous bodice-ripping, since that would have greatly appeased baser my proclivities.
'They described Satan's member as huge, as cold as ice, and barbed like an arrow, so that its motion tore their vaginas and they bled profusely even while screaming from a succession of erotic climaxes more rewarding than any human had ever given them' p.297 (how glorious!)
I feel that 'The Irish Witch' is more of a 3 and a half stars affair, and it would easily have merited a fourth if Wheatley had delivered a little more blasphemous bodice-ripping, since that would have greatly appeased baser my proclivities.
'They described Satan's member as huge, as cold as ice, and barbed like an arrow, so that its motion tore their vaginas and they bled profusely even while screaming from a succession of erotic climaxes more rewarding than any human had ever given them' p.297 (how glorious!)
September 18, 2016
I have no idea how to review this but let's give it three stars for the amount of wtf'd and horrified giggling it has given me. The Magical Frog Defeats Satanists. Honestly. My life will never be the same again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2023
Satanic rituals in a remote Irish Castle and the basement of a London townhouse, a girl in a locked room, a priest, a naughty nun, aristocrats, peasants, the IRA and the "divil himself" - this ticks all the boxes for an old-fashioned horror yarn.
I had heard about Dennis Wheatley, and recently decided to start reading his books after they were recommended to me in a book club while we were discussing horror.
This one is very dated, and many of his fans say it is not one of his best, but it's charmingly spooky.
It would work better as the treatment for a film (Hammer House of Horror, naturally). It needs a bit of editing as there's a lot of unnecessary detail (though I enjoyed his description of the road trip through the Wicklow mountains and south Dublin in the 1960s as I live near the places he mentions, including the Hellfire Club, Luggala and Galloping Green).
I had heard about Dennis Wheatley, and recently decided to start reading his books after they were recommended to me in a book club while we were discussing horror.
This one is very dated, and many of his fans say it is not one of his best, but it's charmingly spooky.
It would work better as the treatment for a film (Hammer House of Horror, naturally). It needs a bit of editing as there's a lot of unnecessary detail (though I enjoyed his description of the road trip through the Wicklow mountains and south Dublin in the 1960s as I live near the places he mentions, including the Hellfire Club, Luggala and Galloping Green).
May 15, 2021
Was looking forward to some trashy pulp goings on, full of witch curses, high society love triangles and satanic orgies, as promised by the first few chapters.
If that’s what you were hoping for, be warned! About 90% of this book consists of dry descriptions of Napoleon’s military tactics, as Roger Brook embarks on a not-particularly-engrossing adventure to rescue the Earl of St. Ermin’s from imprisonment.
Despite the bulk of the book being a bit of a drag, it is sandwiched in the story of a witch’s curse, which is entertaining pulp and could have made an enjoyable novelette.
Worth reading for the denouement, in which the heroes are saved from evil forces by a giant frog, summoned by a power that had been bestowed upon an English gentleman by a Native American chief in an earlier encounter. So numbed was my brain by all the previous goings on that I had forgotten this plot point, so the ending came as a fun surprise.
If that’s what you were hoping for, be warned! About 90% of this book consists of dry descriptions of Napoleon’s military tactics, as Roger Brook embarks on a not-particularly-engrossing adventure to rescue the Earl of St. Ermin’s from imprisonment.
Despite the bulk of the book being a bit of a drag, it is sandwiched in the story of a witch’s curse, which is entertaining pulp and could have made an enjoyable novelette.
Worth reading for the denouement, in which the heroes are saved from evil forces by a giant frog, summoned by a power that had been bestowed upon an English gentleman by a Native American chief in an earlier encounter. So numbed was my brain by all the previous goings on that I had forgotten this plot point, so the ending came as a fun surprise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2025
I'd call this more of a country hopping adventure tale instead of something about witches. The Irish witch is mostly a book-end to the rest of the story about a man and his wife who have just recently survived Napoleon's retreat from Russia. They travel across the sea and over many lands including New York and Canada on their way home to Britain. befriending many people from different walks of life. And many soon to be famous people. When the story follows the main character Roger, it focuses mostly on him and things from his perspective, all of his thoughts. It is a highly driven character story. But the many, many people we meet along the way are just as interesting and important. there are so many different themes in this book, from a husband and wife travelling far distances for survival, countries at war, high society in the early 1800s, government Spies, prison breaks, interactions with famous people, occultism and even a love story or two. Many parts of this book are quite accurate historically. with the main characters flowing alongside real life events and they are written brilliantly. It's so intriguing to be reading a story woven into historical events in this way and I definitely enjoyed learning these facts while the story continued. The witch owns a club in which she gathers together many people from high society to indulge in events of lust all in the name of the Devil. When Roger's daughter and his best friends son become involved, Roger must take matters in his own hands to try to rescue them. Ending in a climactic scene during a black mass within a run down old castle in Ireland.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2018
This was absolute, utter shite. In Wheatley’s canon of very many very bad books, this manages to be worse. It almost feels like he might have been a tad senile while writing this, it makes so little sense. You can see the times have changed from the Devil Rides Out, because there are a couple of rather explicit soft porn episodes in the beginning of the book. The casual racism and sexism hasn't changed, though. With the exception of a scene or two, the actual story has little to do with the title of the novel. Rather, it is a boring travelogue and recounting of Napoleon’s campaigns. The characters and story are so disjointed that it is hard to believe the book was not written by a nine-year-old. Had Wheatley stopped in the 1930s, he would have been legend. This is an affront to the forests used in making the paper.
August 8, 2025
As a fan of Wheatley's earlier works, I found this one a slog to get throug as the titular witch does not appear very much, and the swashbuckling black magic adventure style that made his Colonel Verney/Duc de Richleau stories so magnetic only comes to the fire on the final few chapters.
The bulk of the story is made up of history lessons about the Napoleonic war, and whilst Roger Brook's travels across America, Canada and Europe did have some exciting action scenes, the whole plot was very messy, padded out and felt like half a black magic idea smashed together with some sort of historical slant on British military history that Wheatley felt he must get down on paper.
Having read The Satanist not long ago and felt that was Wheatley treading water and losing his focus, it appears that The Irish Witch takes its place.
And what was that frog thing all about?
The bulk of the story is made up of history lessons about the Napoleonic war, and whilst Roger Brook's travels across America, Canada and Europe did have some exciting action scenes, the whole plot was very messy, padded out and felt like half a black magic idea smashed together with some sort of historical slant on British military history that Wheatley felt he must get down on paper.
Having read The Satanist not long ago and felt that was Wheatley treading water and losing his focus, it appears that The Irish Witch takes its place.
And what was that frog thing all about?
December 22, 2024
Having read a few Denis Wheatley novels some decades ago and enjoyed them, I thought I would revisit this author. However the Irish Witch proved to be a major disappointment. A large proportion of the book was taken up by somewhat painstaking, tedious and detailed descriptions of various campaigns and individuals involved in the Napoleonic wars, which, although probably historically accurate, had very little relevance to the main plot of the story and could have been compressed dramatically making the book more readable. Accepting that one has to suspend reality to a degree when reading any novel involving the occult the plot had potential but the ending seemed hurried and ridiculous!
June 16, 2025
I first read this book as a teenager in the 1970s when interest in the occult was strong. Having decided to re-read it I can say that the title "Irish Witch" is a misnomer. The majority of the book deals with the adventures of Roger Brook during the time of the Napoleonic Wars and has very little occult content until the latter stages. I only completed the book because I studied the Napoleonic period at school and it held my interest. The book seems very dated but took me back to my teenage years.
November 12, 2023
This book is a mess. It starts off as an occult thriller, but then it turns into a history textbook, with descriptions of the Napoleonic wars taking up much of the rest of the book. It returns to the original plot at the end, but one is still left with the impression that this is two books mashed into one.
Read
February 10, 2022The lurid cover and blurb is a tad misleading. Still, I enjoyed it (thankfully).
Read
February 2, 2024In this eleventh of the Roger Brook, the occult is included.
October 13, 2024
Very poor. 90% of this book is a history of the Napoleonic Wars. The 'Irish Witch' story is a small addition to the narrative. Not recommended.
November 19, 2012
The sweep of a Wheatley. This is the first Roger Brook tale I have read, and you soon get sucked in.
Wheatley does have a habit of giving you two or three pages of historical background, sometimes via a long speech by one of the characters, which is a hard cram for a few pages. It's as if the book turns into a newspaper dealing with, say, Napoleon's latest campaign. It all fits with the story and gives background, but it's a little irritating. Today all this factual stuff would be deftly inserted so you learn painlessly.
But stick with Wheatley and you soon get your rewards. He's a master who knows how to make you turn the page.
Roger Brook, Pitt the Younger's secret agent in Europe, is married to Mary and is fond of her, but he still meets his true love Georgina when he can and makes love to her, hoping they will be able to get together for good after the death of her aged husband. The fact that Roger Brook is a cheater is something which the narrator accepts with a worldly shrug.
A good linguist, Brook can pass as a Frenchie. When necessary he assumes the identity of 'le comte de Breuc'.
When you get past the details about of Pitt and the war with Bonaparte and the Americans too, and legislation and politicking of the day, you reach the tale of the
New Edition of the Hell Fire Club. The Irish witch is in charge, along with the hideous Father Damien, and the coves and wenches are creeping around the altar.
There's a wonderful Fenimore Cooper sequence with a great Indian character (Cree) called Leaping Squirrel, whose bacon Roger Brook saves.
Roger Brook has face to face dealings with real figures from history such as Napoleon, Wellington and members of the Rothschild ('Red Shield') family.
There are bizarre and over the top happenings which make for an enjoyable escapist read, much like a literate comic book.
Wheatley does have a habit of giving you two or three pages of historical background, sometimes via a long speech by one of the characters, which is a hard cram for a few pages. It's as if the book turns into a newspaper dealing with, say, Napoleon's latest campaign. It all fits with the story and gives background, but it's a little irritating. Today all this factual stuff would be deftly inserted so you learn painlessly.
But stick with Wheatley and you soon get your rewards. He's a master who knows how to make you turn the page.
Roger Brook, Pitt the Younger's secret agent in Europe, is married to Mary and is fond of her, but he still meets his true love Georgina when he can and makes love to her, hoping they will be able to get together for good after the death of her aged husband. The fact that Roger Brook is a cheater is something which the narrator accepts with a worldly shrug.
A good linguist, Brook can pass as a Frenchie. When necessary he assumes the identity of 'le comte de Breuc'.
When you get past the details about of Pitt and the war with Bonaparte and the Americans too, and legislation and politicking of the day, you reach the tale of the
New Edition of the Hell Fire Club. The Irish witch is in charge, along with the hideous Father Damien, and the coves and wenches are creeping around the altar.
There's a wonderful Fenimore Cooper sequence with a great Indian character (Cree) called Leaping Squirrel, whose bacon Roger Brook saves.
Roger Brook has face to face dealings with real figures from history such as Napoleon, Wellington and members of the Rothschild ('Red Shield') family.
There are bizarre and over the top happenings which make for an enjoyable escapist read, much like a literate comic book.
February 21, 2016
Book eleven concludes Napoleans reign interspersed with an adventure by Mr Brook into America and Canada.
Very enjoyable with great continuation from book ten, as has been the case with all the books in this series.
Loved it.
Very enjoyable with great continuation from book ten, as has been the case with all the books in this series.
Loved it.
October 24, 2016
A decent enough occult historical though i found the ending a bit rushed and somewhat forced.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews