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From Black Rooms by Stephen Woodworth
01/12/2006 . Source: Simon Cooper 
pub: Bantam Books. 334 page paperback. Price: $ 6.99 (US), $ 9.99 (CAN). ISBN: 0-440-24253-3. Buy From Black Rooms in the USA - or Buy From Black Rooms in the UK  check out websites: www.bantamdell.com
This is a thriller with supernatural tendencies. It's set in the contemporary world with one key difference: a few humans are born with the ability to play host to dead spirits. These are known as 'Violets' due to the pure violet colouring of their eyes.
This novel is the fourth book in a series. The main character is Natalie Lindstrom, a Violet who once worked in the crime unit of the North American Afterlife Communications Corps, the NAACC. She's trying to escape her past but, of course, that isn't going to happen.
There's no need to have read any of Woodworth's previous outings and the action of this book starts well. Natalie is caught up in the plans of Dr. Carl Pancrit, a rogue element in the NAACC who wants to create Violets artificially through genetic manipulation. His head geneticist, Bartholemew Wax, has committed suicide, taking a bunch of permanently possessed trial subjects down with him. But in this world, death is most certainly not the end. Pancrit sets out to summon Wax back to complete his work and, by way of blackmail, Pancrit threatens to destroy the things Wax loved most - great art.
Pancrit makes identical copies of works such as Munch's 'Scream' and threatens to destroy them if Wax's spirit doesn't co-operate. He also enlists the help of Evan Markham, a Violet arrested earlier in this series of books for killing other Violets. For added spice, Markham is obsessed with Natalie Lindstrom who is now trying to make her way in the art world, summoning the spirits of dead painters to do new work.
There is a tenuousness to some of the plot link-ups and if you're looking for an airtight narrative you'll be disappointed. However, this book is more about thrills and spills. In that respect, the beginning and end don't let up in pace, but it does sag a little in the middle. It loses its focus somewhat, perhaps because of the presence of the two uber-baddies where one might have been better. Also Woodworth develops a romance between Natalie and a handsome/tortured artist Calvin Criswell. I haven't read the other books in the series but from the blurbs, this romantic element seems present in all.
I didn't find the characters particularly convincing or real and the science element of the existence of dead spirits is laughable. If anything, science here is the enemy. There is a cloying religiosity throughout the book. As an example, each Violet has a protective mantra they speak to banish dead spirits from them. Our hero recites the Lord's Prayer whereas the psycho Violet killer ticks off the elements in the Periodic Table!! Although, it's pretty clear from early on that the concept of the spirits will be used in this way.
The simplicity of this approach irritated me. This carries over into Woodworth's treatment of other areas. Dead spirits are summoned to paint new masterpieces, which they do quite happily. It's even rather comic when Munch is summoned and Natalie is worried because you know that Munch, he's a bit mad isn't he! But good old Edvard has a blinding realisation about himself and his issues with the female sex and everything goes swimmingly.
However, saying all that, Woodworth's writing is evocative and there is a good amount of page-turning appeal here. This isn't a book to really sink your teeth into but I could recommend it as a holiday-type novel. A light read with a twist.
Simon Cooper
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