Scott Mariani's 22nd Ben Hope Thriller

 

Avon paperback original - 2020

Scott Mariani's latest Ben Hope thriller arrived from Amazon UK on Thursday 26th November, in the late afternoon. I finished it during Friday. I had looked forward to it since June, when I had gulped down The Pretender's Gold. It did not disappoint. In fact, The Demon Club is one of his best. I don't think it is just because it is freshest in my mind, but that it is a rattling good yarn. With settings in West Sussex, Surrey and more briefly in the Fort William area, Aragon and the Isle of Man, much of it is believable - even if the central premise and the blazing finale seem far fetched. 'The art of the possible' is a useful mantra to hang thrillers on.

Once again, Hope remains firmly in the centre of the plot, although there are far-away explanatory scenes between other characters, both good and bad. Charged with killing another ex-SAS soldier (or his new Scottish policewoman girlfriend will be shot), Ben track Jaden Wolf down, but then they both work together to bring down a Satanic cult, with its base in Surrey and a membership of the Great-but-not-Good, who worship the ancient Egyptian god Thoth. Even Hope is not superhuman and his Le Val partners, Jeff Dekker and Tuesday Fletcher (both fascinating characters in their own right) are, unbeknown to Him, able to rescue his girl Grace Kirk, from the evil cult's clutches. Moreover, Hope has several moments of weakness and despair (worrying about his girlfriend and his sister's safety) with recourse to bottles of Scotch. The mutual respect for his buddies shines throughout the book. 

The scene in the Isle of Man, where Hope and Wolf meet Vincent Eritas ('Veritas' - gettit?!) is splendidly eerie/creepy, even if his lair is really beyond belief. There are plenty of bodies along the way: six in Spain; two who were about to kidnap Grace; four in West Sussex, and well over fifty at the denouement at Karswell Hall and its lake island. All deserved!

There is a History lesson, ranging from the Hellfire Club of Sir Francis Dashwood in the eighteenth century through to Aleister Crowley and his early twentieth century collection of occult clubs, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Order of Thoth and, now, the Pandemonium Club. It is certainly pandemonium when Hope and Wolf, bolstered by Dekker and Fletcher plus Reaper Rigby, another old flame from the SBS, blast their way to take control of fifty or so flabby, unfit, unhealthy men in their middle age and above, whose idea of exercise was a leisurely round of golf and whose main form of cardiac workout was watching innocent people (usually young girls) get violently put to death just for fun. Members included one who was a likely Prime Minister in waiting; another was M.P. for Worcester; others were senior police officers, politicians and lawyers. And all perished in a deserved inferno in the banquet room of Karswell Hall because the helicopter carrying their Grand Master and his evil henchman to 'safety' was pinged by Ben Hope and crashed into the roof of the Hall. Very good riddance! I am not a conspiracy theorist (apart from China's role in the Civid-19 pandemic), but it doesn't take much imagination to think there are these occult groupings round the world, which include amongst their members men (it's nearly always men) who lead important and 'upright' lives in the legal, political and other commanding positions in Society.

So, thank you again Scott Mariani. I can't wait for the 13th of May 2021, when the next Ben Hope, as yet unnamed, thriller lands on my doorstep.