The other edition in my library has a more complete review that I wrote when I read it again around 2008. I'd first encountered these when I was about 20 and was not aware of how Lumley relegates women in this and, I think, the other books - the basic triumvirate of mother, sex object and witch. That's all the women get to do is be had for sex, motherhood or advice pertaining to the supernatural, and the last one has to be dead to get that role. Sad really and a product of its time when it was expected not only from the writer and his male readers, but of women who only really knew female characters through the lenses of men who love to keep them in their little boxes. ( )

Brian Lumley is one of my favorite authors and this book is the reason. Every time I read it, it gets better. ( )

What a World Mr. Lumley has built, with unique characters, especially the Vampires. Can't wait to get the next book. ( )

Yay! A new to me series that's awesome! Loved this, will definitely continue. ( )

Nokkuð þekkt sería frá seinni hluta 20. aldar. Harry Keogh er gæddur þeim fágæta eiginleika að geta átt í samskiptum við látna, rætt við þá að fyrra bragði, lært af þeim og orðið stöðugt færari afburðamaður.
Á sama tíma kemst annar einstaklingur undir áhrifavald fornar vampíru sem reynir að nýta sér hann til að komast aftur á kreik.
Sagan gerist á tímum Kalda stríðsins þar sem öll stórveldin búa yfir deildum sem reyna stöðugt að nýta sér eiginleika dulspekinnar og herja á hvert annað.
Nokkuð sérstök skýring á orsökum vampírisma sem er nýstárleg og framhaldsbækurnar vinna frekar út frá henni. ( )

‘Necroscope’ and its many sequels are books I was definitely aware of as a teenager, but never got around to reading. I had a copy of one of them for ages, but like many of my books it never got read. That’s a shame, because I’m pretty sure the novel’s heady mix of horror, sex, espionage and coming of age story would have appealed to teenage me. As it was, adult me, reading it 30 years too late, still had a lot of fun with it.
The format borrows from the kind of multi-generational blockbuster sagas that were big in the 70s and 80s. The story follows two characters, one Russian, one English, who have completely separate storylines, until their psychic powers bring them together. Both have the ability to communicate with the dead, and both ultimately use this to serve their respective countries as spies. The cold war espionage angle takes up as many pages as the horror, but fortunately it’s entertainingly written and quite gripping for all its silliness. There are some solid action set pieces that feel a bit like Robert Ludlum (the king of fat 70s thrillers) and, on the Soviet side at least, lots of double crosses.
The horror is woven around this story. The opening, which sees the Russian necroscope mutilating a corpse to obtain its secrets, is very graphic indeed. After that the book is a fair bit tamer, but Brian Lumley does throw in some chills along the way. There’s an ancient vampire with an extended (and sexually explicit) back story, and a memorable scene that echoes the end of Peter Straub’s ‘Ghost Story’.
What I enjoyed most was the British character, Harry Keogh’s, story. He starts the book as a schoolboy and uses his abilities to absorb the knowledge and abilities of the dead, allowing him to ace his exams. As an adult, he taps into the brains of dead writers and enjoys a successful career as an author, publishing the books they didn’t have time to write before they died. Harry’s coming of age story is a satisfying twist on psychic horror and a lot of fun to read. The 70s school scenes brought back a few memories, and Lumley’s depiction of Britain at the time felt accurate (excepting the vampires and psychic spies).
At 500 odd pages, ‘Necroscope’ is the longest book I’ve read so far for ‘Carry on Screaming’ and it could definitely have done with a more ruthless editor. The pacing can be a bit off, and I enjoyed parts of it more than others. Whilst not typical of British horror at the time, its format and preoccupations (the Soviet threat, weird sex, spy shenanigans) are pretty representative of popular fiction of the 70s and 80s. Overall it’s a satisfying and entertaining read, packed with incident and a suitably twisted imagination.
( )

I don't know if I've ever read anything in quite this genre before. It's basically urban fantasy, except set during the Cold War (which makes some sense, given this book was released in 1986) and with an extra helping of espionage (ESPionage) thrown in. It's an interesting change and the two styles complement one another.

I don't know if I've read many books where the first two chapters go quite so strongly back and forth between this is cool and that's gross. It evened out a bit over the course of the book, but there was still a good amount of each.

The basic world building takes our own world and adds a bunch of ESPers on top; with ESPers being a general term for all sorts of supernatural power. We see people that can read minds, ones that can see far away events, and those that can speak with the dead (in two different flavors). It's an interesting sort of world and somehow manages not actually to feel too kitchen-sinky, which is a general problem in urban fantasy. Also, there are vampires. I have a feeling we'll be learning a bit more about them later, but so far I'm cautiously intrigued by this particular interpretation. They're weird and alien, which is neat.

One oddity with the book comes with the main character's abilities--that of a Necroscope. The basic idea is that he can speak with the dead and learn from / gain their abilities. It's a cool power, although in the last ten percent of the story it gets insanely powerful. I'm not sure how there can be a sequel, let alone a dozen of them. I'm curious to find out though.

Structurally, there's a framing story taking place in the present, telling the story that actually takes place throughout the past many years. In addition, we follow a few different viewpoints (following at least two main characters). It's a bit confusing at first, but started to gel for me about a quarter of the way through the story. There is at least one interesting twist that the frame allows, so I appreciate that.

Occasionally, the phrasing and especially the punctuation that interrupted my reading. I don't know if I've read a novel with quite so many ellipses and exclamation points. It's not a deal breaker, but it's weird.

Overall, worth the read and I'll check out the sequels. At the very least, I want to know how in the world their going to deal with such radical events for both main characters during the ending... ( )

Saving lives with MATH!
Silly read for Halloween
scary as a fart. ( )

This book had me riveted from the start. It did slow down a bit in the middle, but it kept that underlying feeling of dread I love in a horror novel. Vampires, Necromancers, Necroscopes (a person who can talk to the dead), the Cold War, and ESPionage (psychic/supernatural spy wars). What's not to like? ( )

Well, that became rather silly very quickly! I enjoyed the beginning, with its cold war "ESPionage" and the promise of Lovecraftian revelation, but it didn't deliver on that. Fun, but I'm not sure I'll bother attempting to sit through another. Shame. ( )

Silly! A slow but seemingly promising build-up that goes crazy off-the-rails in the last few chapters.

Super-heroes and super-villains without the capes, Necroscope reads like a comic book. Scratch that. Comic books have fluidity and constant action; this one starts and stops continuously with the reader (this reader anyway) vacillating between enthrallment and boredom.

I love the concept of ESP-based espionage units. And even though I despise vampires as trite and overused, I quite liked Lumley's twist on the concept. So I didn't hate the book; I just feel it had too many ideas jammed into one story. ( )

Great book. So glad I held onto it all those years ago.
I knew it would be a series I would come back to with a vengeance. ( )

Weird ESPionage from the master of mashing up horror and adventure:

Brian Lumley's Necroscope is not heroic fiction, which I typically focus on. It is very entertaining and has connections to Weird Sword & Sorcery adventure which led me to read it:

1) Heroes of Dreams & Khash series: I discovered Lumley’s writing via his Weird Sword & Sorcery. Vintage dark fantasy spawned in the early 1900’s from the work of pen-pals R.E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft; though it seems rare to find quality Conan-Mythos mash-ups. Lumely has done so a few times. First, his Hero of Dreams series is an overt mashup of Lovecraft’s Dreamcycle and Leiber’s Fafred and Gray Mouser series. Lumley’s Tarra Khash series (a.k.a. Tales of Primal Land) was written in a similar vein (i.e. fun Sword & Sorcery adventure in a Weird-Fiction, Cthulhu-esque world).

2) Blood Omen Legacy of Kain: A huge fan of the Horror S&S Game Series “Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain”, I was delighted to learn that Lumely’s writing influenced Denis Dyack’s vision of Nosgoth. Denis Dyack, creator of Silicon Knights, made the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain game (various incarnations from 1996 thru 2009). As a Kain fan I did not know the influence from Lumely until I saw an interview on Youtube (The Quantum Tunnel 2016 called Blood Omen Legacy Of Kain Deep Dive 1) in which Dyack reveals that the classic horror/action-rpg game was influenced by Lumey’s Necroscope series. Given the Visceral, Vampire, Lovecraftian, and Time Travel elements, this makes sense; however, the book has a contemporary setting versus the medieval one in the game.

As a fan of Khash, Heroes of Dreams, and Legacy of Kain… I just had to check out Necroscope. So what is it really?

Necroscope is “ESPionage” fiction (a word coined in this book), blending paranormal horror with spy adventure. It kicks off a series of 18 books (published 1986 to 2013). This first entry is entertaining and sets an expansive foundation for a wild ride. People with supernatural powers (predicting the future, speaking to the dead, etc.) are being enlisted into government agencies.

The book is ostensibly about the battle between the United Kingdom vs. the Russian governments special forces, but the conflict is really about Harry Keogh (speaker to the dead) vs. Boris Dragosani (who approximates a vampire). Each is associated with a government, but each is motivated by personal goals which take center stage. The reader learns about supernatural powers as these two do. After they master their respective powers, they go to battle in a most bizarre way chock-full of undead things and over the top time travel.

Expect lots of changing perspective and lots of story threads that will gel about half way through. Artwork is unexpectedly sprinkled throughout the book (even the Kindle version). The geometry puzzles and Moebius Strips shown relate the story and make for fun, relevant, diversions. This is very digestible horror for non-horror fans. A very fast read, recommended to just about everyone who likes dark adventure. ( )

Brian Lumley has created quite an in depth world with his Necroscope series. Sometimes there is too much depth, and the story gets lost in the world creation going on. This is both a strength and weakness of this novel. In this novel, Harry Keogh is the Necroscope. He has the special ability to communicate with the dead. He comes across a vampire buried in the mountains of Romania. The ancient vampire passes on his knowledge to Boris Dragosani, a Soviet spy, who sets his sights on world domination. Harry, along with the dead that he can communicate with, is the only one who can stop Boris.

At times the novel is intriguing. At other times it is quite tedious. I think the author could cut this book by about a third and would make for a better read. Harry is a well developed character, and the general plot is sound. It’s mostly an issue of style, and Lumley’s style is hit and miss. I would tentatively recommend reading it.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street ( )

My guilty pleasure/brain-blank read is pulpy, doorstop horror that doesn't skimp on the gore. What's more pulpy than Cold-War-era-vampire-spy-vs-dimension-hopping-zombie-spy? Nothing, that's what. Definitely tripping down to my local used bookstore to pick up the next Necroscope book. ( )

The MASTER. Lumley is a genius. I wish I could find another word to describe his work. This is what put him on the map. Vampires have become a silly teenage fad over the last few decades. BUT THIS GUY...…..this guy has created a world of the most savage, unrepentantly evil creatures. No emotional problems, no homo erotica. Lumley will tear your throat out and eat your nightmares. This book starts a series of unmatched brilliance. I am sure Hollywood has approached him multiple times for the film rights but I don't think Mr. Lumley is keen on giving over his work to be butchered and watered down by clueless screenwriters. I doubt audiences could handle the genuine product on film. It would be comparable to SALO. These vamps are monsters.... with a capital M. Devious, deadly and ruthless. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer  







Synopsis: 2 Paranormal Agencies, one in Britain and one in the USSR, are fighting it out.   One of the agents from Britain is a young man who is just coming into his powers. He can talk to and incorporate knowledge from the dead. He is the Necroscope.   The other main character is from the USSR and he is a necromancer, one who gets answers from the dead by touching, tasting, smelling, etc the bodies. It is disgusting. And he is the one who is trying to make a deal with a dying vampire.   My Thoughts: Spoilers Ahead I was recommended this and even though it has a vampire in it, I decided to give it a go. I am glad I did.   This book is written from 2 basic view points, British and USSR but they are not concurrent timelines until near the end. Really, it was reading 2 different stories that only come together in the last quarter or so of the book.   One complaint I had was about the 2 sex scenes. Completely gratuitous. I hate things like that.   The vampire aspect of things was pretty cool. They are a parasite that inhabits your body and you and it meld until you both are one. Lumley does a great job of making this one so deceptive that the reader doesn't know what is true or not, right up til the end. The USSR agent dealing with it is completely out of his class and gets his in a very nasty way at the end.   The necroscope guy was more about him finding out about his powers than in joining the agency. He doesn't actually join until the very end and then he masters time/space, dies/doesn't die, and ends up going to reincarnate in his unborn son. Yeah, it is weird and disturbing.   Gruesome'ness wise, this was better than I was expecting, but there are a couple of scenes where the necromancer goes to work and Lumley describes it in more detail than I wanted. Sucking out the brains of a corpse? I gagged. But it isn't a big part of the book and probably doesn't take up any more time than the sex scenes.   I do plan on reading more in the series, but on a provisional basis. I'll keep reading until I hit a book that I don't like and then I'm done.   Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Author: Brian Lumley " ( )

It seems like I’ve had Necroscope and some of its sequels on my bookshelves forever. I think my early twenties I tried reading one of them and got bored in the first chapter so didn’t get back to it. Thanks for a group read at Horror Aficionados group, I finally dug in, stuck with it, and soon became absorbed.

It still takes a mighty long time to take off, but it’s just a slower style, a long tome that promises interest but divides its action sequences randomly. When fight is present, it stands out and doesn’t hold back punches.

Harry is an outcast child trying to fit in at school, blessed with the powers of speaking to the dead. Some may call that a curse, but for him it works as he keeps the dead company. There’s an especially sad death where he shows later he can learn their skills by allowing them temporary possession and getting out of tough spots. When Harry was on the page, I was riveted to the story, loving to read through his viewpoints and what he went through.

The villains of the story were just as fascinating, if not more so. Dragosani is a demented power-seeker who has uncovered a vampire buried deep in the ground. He himself has learned how to unlock the secrets of the dead, but instead of the subtle dance and conversation Harry uses, he rapes it from their minds when they’ve first fallen and are still fresh. Telepathically the evil vampire Ferenczy communicates with him, bringing him closer with knowledge as the web.

It’s a serious book with little joy, but the evil Ferenczy managed to amuse me, especially when teasing Dragosani about his lack of experience. I can’t help but like the putrid character – he’s diseased in soul and mean as a snake, but he’s entertaining to read about.

Unfortunately the book finds itself spending a ridiculous amount of time in the heads of other characters too – characters in political positions that I care absolutely nothing about. The political angles and subplots mixed with these dry characters made the book duller than it deserved to be.

Overall my rating is strong (4 stars), and I was riveted, but I had to skim sometimes through some dull parts. Politics bore me like nothing else does.
( )

Great series, far darker than Twilight ( )

While this is a classic in horror, I struggled a bit. Overly wordy, especially when it was focused on Dragosani...I wanted to hear more about Harry Keogh. I will have to try the next in the series and see if I can dig it... ( )

A story with a character that can talk to the dead, one that can extract the dead's secrets, one that can give the "evil eye", a vampire, zombies, British and Russian secret agencies that employ agents with all sorts of ESP talents, and a sci-fi space/time continuum all set in the middle of the Cold War. How can Lumley pack so much goodness in 500 pages?

Necroscope is the book that started a horror series franchise before horror series were considered the norm. Lumley crafts a tale that was revolutionary for its time. Shades of Lovecraft permeate through the story as we get to know the protagonist, Harry Keough and antagonist, Boris Dragosani. Harry is a teenager in Great Britain who is learning to use his newfound ability, talking to the dead, and we get to watch the young necroscope learn and grow through the first two-thirds of the book. At the same time, we're introduced to Dragosani, a Romainian who works for the secret Soviet ESP agency. Boris is a necromancer and has the ability to extract secrets from the dead through gruesome mutilations. He also returns to his homeland in Wallachia every year to talk to the mysterious corpse buried in the mountains that gave him his unique ability. The story unfolds as we watch the two learn to harness their abilities and leads towards their eventual showdown.

The setting is the 1970s and it's in the middle of the Cold War and for anyone that grew up during this time, it adds an extra dose of suspicious unease throughout the story. Lumley does a wonderful job setting up the characters in a way that demands you to keep turning the pages. There are so many interesting ideas explored in Necroscope that only scratch the surface. I only hope that the rest of the books in the series delves into each and every one of them much, much further. ( )

In an age of vampires who are more prised for six packs than the size of their fangs its refreshing to have a book like Necroscope which treats the idea of vampires as something which should be feared. The first in what is now quite an extensive series of books, Necroscope is a great read for anyone who enjoys a good horror novel and doesn't mind a bit of cloak and dagger. A great book, a bit comic book-ish in my opinion which is probably why I loved it. ( )

This author is an extreamly good author. He focuses on fiction based books. The book is about espers and vampires. Stop Reading here if you dont want to know about the book and dint want it spoiled. It is abot harry Keogh an extreamly talented esper who can talk to the dead and even raise them from the dead and later learns to teleport. He is one a quest to find out why his mom died and to defeat a very powerful vampire in the making and destroy the old tricky vampire in the ground. read the book and get hooked on the series like i did.
-Dominick ( )

This is a re-re-read for me. I've read Necroscope a couple of times over now, and I always find it an immensely entertaining book. Lumley's details in the book are so fine, it's hard not to find yourself entirely immersed in the story. It's hard to imagine how much Lumley packs into this book: cold war confrontations between England and Russia; ESPionage involving psychics of varying levels; vampires; time travel; teleportation; zombies (of a sort); political intrigue; family secrets. Of course, you have to like horror novels as well, because Necroscope definitely is not for the faint-of-heart reader.

The plot of the book is your basic good vs evil, which eventually comes to a head with the confrontation between Harry Keogh, Necroscope, and Boris Dragosani, Necromancer. The differences between these two characters really creates the tension in the book. We follow the concurrent running stories of Harry Keogh growing up and Boris Dragosani as a young man, as they both come into their own with their powers. Dragosani, the necromancer, steals secrets from the dead by defiling their bodies in the most gruesome manner, while Harry Keogh, the necroscope, simply speaks to the dead, and befriends them. In Lumley's world, the dead simply carry on as a mind/conscious after death. The genius' of the world continue thinking their amazing thoughts, creating and composing and building, all in their mind but entirely alone. That is, until Harry comes along and discovers his ability to actually speak to the dead, and they are eternally grateful for this fact. So grateful, in fact, that they won't necessarily lay still in their graves when Harry's life is in danger.

As if Dragosani isn't dangerous enough, he also discovers (or is discovered by) Thibor Ferenczy, an ancient vampire, or wamphyr. In Lumley's world, the vampires are actually parasitic creatures who bond with humans and can reproduce once in their lifetime. Ferenczy teaches Dragosani the necromancer technique and eventually bestows on him the "gift" of becoming a wamphyri.

In all honesty, the book is a little slow to start off. There is so much back story to all the characters involved, that Lumley has to explain quite a bit before the story really begins to pick up, but once that happens, hold on! It's a roller coaster ride of a book, right up to the very last page. Lumley has created some very memorable characters in his cast, and his use of time travel and teleportation are extremely clever. I can't give details as that will be too spoilerific, but he does handle the time travel very well (after the fact, it has left me in mind of Tim Powers' use of time travel in The Anubis Gates). If you are a fan of action packed stories, and don't mind a little blood and gore on the way, Necroscope would definitely be for you. However, if you're a little bit on the squeamish side, I'd highly recommend avoiding Necroscope at all costs! ( )

The cold war. I remember that. You'd think the book would have more resonance considering there have been stories of Soviet spies in the news this week, but um...no. Those pesky Russians. What have they been up to? The action in this book is drawn out and slow, and there was so much background on the two main rival necromancers that at times I just wanted to say "move along little dogies, you're dragging the story down."

And Lumley's love affair with the exclamation point started to get to me really early in the book. It! really! did!

I dunno - maybe the series gets better, but I doubt I'll bother to find out. ( )