The Lucifer Messiah

by Frank Cavallo

Sean Mulcahy answered Uncle Sam's call. In the autumn of 1917, he left his home, his friends, and the girl he loved. On the killing fields of the Western Front, he vanished without a trace. Thirty years later his best friend Vince Sicario is a broken man. Split from his wife, run off the NYPD, his world swirls in the bottom of a bottle. Until Sean comes clawing at his door. Bleeding. Delirious. And looking not a single day older. Vince turns to the only person he trusts, his wife Maggie—the woman Sean left behind three decades earlier. Together they hit the streets of Hell's Kitchen, seeking answers to Sean's disappearance and mysterious return. But others are on the same trail, and something terrible is lurking in the dark alleys and dirty corners of the West Side. Wise guys are disappearing. Mutilated corpses are turning up. The cops are baffled and gangsters are running scared. Rumors abound of strange gatherings in the shadows, of ancient horrors reborn, of blood feasts and pagan rites rekindled. Some say the savior of the damned has come. Sean may be in terrible danger. Or the greatest danger of all—the Lucifer Messiah.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy

388 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Frank Cavallo's dark fantasy "The Rites of Azathoth" has just been given a Second Edition from the Evil Cookie. His weird western "The Hand of Osiris" has also been re-released recently, keeping the dark and twisted legacy of David Barnett's Necro Publications alive and well.

Reviews

[Alexis Duckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first it was slow and a little hard to follow along with but I think it was the authors writing style because after a bit it was easier to read through and hard to put down.

[Mark Camilleri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lucifer Messiah is a story about Sean Mulcahy who vanished in 1917 leaving his friends Vince and Maggie wondering what happened to him until he came back almost accidentally to their door some 30 years later. The story takes place in post-war New York.

What happened to Sean during those 30 years gets unveiled as the story unfolds but what is more striking is his connection with those of "his kind." He was not only a person but also a fantastic creature that was to free those of his kind from the terrible Morrigan. The Morrigan as Keeper of the ancient secrets abused of its power. It was time that Sean, who among his friends was called Lucifer, got rid of the Morrigan and took over as Keeper.

However, Sean, who during those 30 years took over so many identities, that he rejected his own real identity, Lucifer, as one of the pretended identities he wore during his exile. Now he had to realize and take a decision fast during the Molting Festival, whether he was Lucifer the Liberator or else Sean Mulcahy, a nobody among his own people.

The narration is very light, the sentences well connected and therefore it makes it a very easy reading especially for those who do not like heavy philosophical texts that "ruin" a leisure story.

[Jimbonk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty disappointing. Very shallow characters and poor writing. Motivations and deaths were entirely flat; I didn't care. There were actually a few lines at which I grimaced and said "C'mon, really?" I can only assume this is his first book. However, it's an incredibly fast read, which is the only reason I bothered finishing. I don't think I'll be reading Mr. Cavallo again.

[Heather Berkowitz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't actually finish this book. I got about a third of the way through and had to call it quits. I found the characters too confusing and almost 100 pages in and the plot hadn't advanced much beyond the first chapter.

[Jamie]

This was an interesting book but a little hard to follow at times.