The Killing

Novel by James Darke (England) 1985.

Normally you would expect book six in any series to be stale and repetitive, but Laurence James, though working to a strict formula, manages to keep his writing fresh enough. After his wife is killed by Robert Monk and his peaceful new life in Virginia destroyed, John Ferris follows him back to England, his vow of vengeance renewed. Ferris and his albino companion, the strange Andrew Turlough, miss him by a mere fortnight. But in following Monk's unmistakable trail of death across the countryside, Ferris comes upon a real coven of aristocratic witches and realises that it is the trap he needs to capture Monk once and for all.

This is actually packed with incident, marking the final end of Robert Monk, the introduction of the first real witches and the first use of a darker side to John Ferris. There are also two wonderful scenes: the seduction of John Ferris and its ensuing sexual violence, and an account of the sorry demise of the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, which brings a new perspective to Monk's fear of Ferris. But the albino, Andrew Turlough, is used only sparingly, and the finale at Medmenham Abbey is too short. One of the more average entries in The Witches series, but still far better than the first book, The Prisoner, and its first sequel.