I'm a complete noob and I hope it's OK to just post book reviews here. My latest '70s read is The Priestess by Frank Lauria. To read this book is to be transported back to the esoteric '70s. The hero, Dr. Orient, gets his strength from yoga and meditation. He can clean up in any casino by reading the auras of the gamblers (to see who's winning and who's not). Even the book's vocabulary reflects that of the '70s -- a delightful feature.
If Dr. Orient is the book's hero, its antiheroes are Mojo Pay and his wife Mama Pay. Master practitioners of the Cuban version of voodoo — Legumi — the Pays use their magic powers to control Miami's lucrative drug, gambling and prostitution businesses. Orient, who seems to know something about every ritual of every esoteric religion, decides to take on the Pays, and their deadly weapons of conjure bags and poisonous snakes. The book will give readers at least a smattering of knowledge about Afro-Caribbean religions and their rituals. The voodoo dances and rituals that are seen in some old horror movies are explained here in fairly extensive detail.
Although there is adequate horror in The Priestess, to me this book reads mainly like a detective novel, with Dr. Orient serving the nearly superhuman detective and Mojo Pay as the deadly dangerous, supremely powerful bad guy. The narrative is suspenseful and keeps the reader turning pages.
My latest '70s read is The Priestess by Frank Lauria. To read this book is to be transported back to the esoteric '70s. The hero, Dr. Orient, gets his strength from yoga and meditation. He can clean up in any casino by reading the auras of the gamblers (to see who's winning and who's not). Even the book's vocabulary reflects that of the '70s -- a delightful feature.
If Dr. Orient is the book's hero, its antiheroes are Mojo Pay and his wife Mama Pay. Master practitioners of the Cuban version of voodoo — Legumi — the Pays use their magic powers to control Miami's lucrative drug, gambling and prostitution businesses. Orient, who seems to know something about every ritual of every esoteric religion, decides to take on the Pays, and their deadly weapons of conjure bags and poisonous snakes. The book will give readers at least a smattering of knowledge about Afro-Caribbean religions and their rituals. The voodoo dances and rituals that are seen in some old horror movies are explained here in fairly extensive detail.
Although there is adequate horror in The Priestess, to me this book reads mainly like a detective novel, with Dr. Orient serving the nearly superhuman detective and Mojo Pay as the deadly dangerous, supremely powerful bad guy. The narrative is suspenseful and keeps the reader turning pages.