Gay photographer Will Rabjohns is obsessed with capturing images of wildlife on the edge of extinction. His obsession stems from a childhood encounter with the mysterious Jacob Steep and his companion Rosa Mcgee. Jacob has a similar obsession ~ he and his knife are the perpetrators of the final extinction of certain species and sketches each image in a journal. These images date back many years causing Will to question the true nature of these two dangerous people.
On assignment Will is attacked by a dying polar bear, and whilst lying in a coma he relives the time in Yorkshire when he and two friends met upon Jacob and Rosa on the Yorkshire Moors. What they are shown troubles them for the rest of their lives, and ultimately causes the death of one of them.
Troubled on his awakening and his knowledge that the animal kingdom remains in jeopardy whilst the two Nilotics roam the earth, and with help from the elusive Lord Fox, Will leaves his AIDS riddled friends in the US and returns to England to seek out Jacob and Rosa to end their murderous ways even if it costs him his own life.
This is not the best Barker book that I have read. He normally writes either horror or fantasy but this book was written in reality on the edge of fantasy and just didn’t capture my imagination. I’m sure there was meant to be some meaning between the extinction of animals and his friends dying from AIDs (‘extinction’?) but it wasn’t quite visible and didn’t really work for me. The story plodded, and became confusing towards the end with no real conclusion. Having an openly gay character and his usual explicit scenes was also a little off putting.
Written in 1996, I’m happy to say he’s written better since.
No comments:
Post a Comment