I Want My Mummy

 When I needed a Mummy book for part of a GoodReads challenge, my mind immediately went to Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars, but then I was like, "Curses, foiled again," because I read that last year. For some reasons, mummies aren't big in horror fiction. On the screen, yes, but on the printed page... Well, the pickings are slim. And thus the search began. Eventually, I stumbled across Ragman by JG Faherty, and two things sold me on this book. Besides the fact that it was about mummies, the deciding factor was that it took place in NYC. As a native New Yorker, I'm a sucker for anything that takes place in and around the Big Apple.

The book opens in Egypt, 1888, where we witness a group of men descecrating the ruins of a temple and killing one of the priests, allowing them to get away with artifacts stolen from the premises. As always happens among friends when money is in the picture, there's treachery, and one man ends up taking the fall for all of them.

Jump to present day, New York City, where we witness the awakening of Ahmes the Second, High Priest of Sokar, risen from the dead to carry out a blood oath. One year later, someone is killing homeless people, literally sucking the lives right out of them. Elsewhere in the city, someone is killing of some of society's elite gentlemen, literally ripping them apart. Tom Reardon, a retired/disgraced detective now working security detail, answers a cry for help against his better judgement. After all, he's not a cop anymore, but a deeply rooted sense of duty has him springing into action. It almost costs him his life. Later, at the precinct, after giving his statement, he comes face to face with his old partner, Daniel Reese. There's history between the two, some good, some bad, and it's the bad that overshadows their reunion. Reese is responsible for investigating the Ragman murders, the death of the elite gentlemen, one of whom will turn out to be Reardon's employer. As a result, the two former friends are forced to work together to try to find out who is behind the killings before anyone else dies. They don't do a very good job of it, not at first, but what can you expect when two men firmly rooted in reality are forced to confront the supernatural. It isn't until they become targets themselves that they begin to accept the fact that what they are dealing with isn't exactly human. And how do the brutal murders tie in to the string of homeless murders?

Ragman isn't an out-and-out horror novel, but a combination of who-dunnit and Friday the 13th, part mystery/part slasher fiction that's heavy on the supernatural. It's well paced and the characters are likeable enough. Reardon comes across as an Everyman, far from perfect, able to make mistakes and accept the consequences of his actions, which makes him more relateable. Reese, on the other hand, is an extreme character, in that he reacts more emotionally to things than Reardon, and as a result, tends to harbor grudges that border on the irrational. As a result, it takes a while to warm up to Reese as a character. There are times, I must admit, where I kind of wished Reese had fallen victim to the Ragman so I don't have to deal with the whiny, angsty emotions he's struggling with. But by the end, you're rooting for the pair like they were Batman and Robin.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its share of issues. I tend to visualize while I read. What I mean by that is the scene unfolds like a movie screen in my mind. As a result, there were a few details in the beginning that threw me as not being possible (yeah, I know we're dealing with a supernatural slasher, so nothing is actually possible), but these were details rooted in reality, minor details that made me go, "Huh?" And then there were the eye-roll moments, which, for me, is when one of the characters took a tour of the Other Side. I had the same problem with the movie Insidious. I thought it was great---until the characters ventured over to the other side. That's where it lost me. Thankfully, though, in Ragman, this is a mercifully short visit before we're thrust back to the "reality" of Faherty's world.

If you're a fan of mysteries, slashers, or supernatural thrillers, this is one I would definitely recommend. 4/5 stars