Boy, is this completely different from any of the Barbara Michaels books I've read so far. Structured differently, and written with a tad more sophistication than a lot of her other romantic suspense books. Just a tad, though at first I thought I was in for something more on a level with Whitney's works. I'm sort of glad it wasn't, really, because otherwise this book would have scared the hell out of me. Instead, it was just fun, with a bit of non-visceral horror at the end. It feels like Michaels might have been taking a popular trope at the time and turning it on its side, showing it from a different perspective.

The book is structured in three parts, meant to mimic metaphorically, a traditional Fox Hunt. The Meet, The Huntsman, and The Quarry. Of course, the reader is supposed to suspect the Huntsman at every turn and bemoan the weakness of The Quarry. All I'll say about any of it is that, while I definitely suspected one facet, there were many that were unexpected on their revelation.

Michaels ratchets up the suspense from page one, to the point that it feels the pages themselves might snap from the tension; it's only when things come to a crisis that the book fails, just a little bit, to deliver what could have been a more explosive resolution. Mind you, it was still a good ending, and I don't know how such explosiveness might have been achieved, only that for the amount of tension built up, the release of it was slow and measured. Horrifying in its way, but not detrimental to anyone's pulse.

I read this for Halloween Bingo, using it as my official Wild Card for the Classic Horror Square. It's not a classic, but the horror bit was closer to the mark than I expected. ( )

As always, Barbara Michaels gives a terrific cast of characters, a perfectly macbre setting, and a plot you can't shake a stick at. I would've have given the book 5 stars, but I had to take away a few points for the old 'death-bed confession' plot tool to weave it all together. That was my only disappointment. ( )

I was very disappointed with this book. BM makes witchcraft seem like the devils religion. FYI witchcraft or it's proper name Wicca has NOTHING to do with the devil or satanism. The whole ritual at the end of the book is false. We DO NOT kill people or sacrafice babies in ritual. this has never been done not now or ever in the past. Wiccans are very loving and peace people who would love to be able to speak freely of about their religion without the general public going haywire. I wish that BM would have let the readers no that in no way shape or form are these rituals real and that wiccans do not practice such disgusting acts in our rituals on any of the eight sabbats not four, there are eight. If you are going to write about a religion please have some knowledge of that religion and let your readers know that you have researched the material that you are writing about and be rest assured that these practices are fictious and that true wiccans do not and never have carried out such heanous acts of violence. NEVER AGAIN THE BURNING TIMES! BLESSED BE.

January 2, 2000
Prince of Darkness
Barbara Michaels

This is probably my least favorite of Barbara Michaels’ books, though she remains pretty much my favorite author of all time. I don’t remember ever reading this one before. It came out originally in 1969, so it has to be one of her earliest works, after Master of Blacktower and The Wizard’s Daughter.

The synopsis on the back of the book really reveals very little of what the story is about, and even who the protagonist is. This turns out to be Peter – at least, his POV is what the reader primarily learns the story through. All we know in the beginning is that he has come to Middleburg, MD all the way from England, and he’s on some kind of mission – and not a friendly one. He seems to be seeking retribution for something, and his target is a young ex-college professor with a particular interest in the Old Religion, Dr. Katherine More. She’s wealthy and lives as a hermit, and the reader gets a sense of extreme tragedy in her recent past – something that has made her retreat even further into a world of her own, surrounded by elements of witchcraft.

You never quite know until the very end who’s involved, and it’s something of a surprise (was for me, anyway), or whether Peter will turn out to be friend or foe.

The plot is great. What was lacking was the wonderful characterizations that BM is normally so excellent at. None of the characters are really fleshed out; at least not in a way that would make you care one whit about them or be interested in what happens to them. Not even Peter, the principal narrator. BM is great with fleshed-out female protagonists, and the story would have been much better if she’d stuck to that. ( )

Ok, I admit it. Michaels got me on this one. At the beginning of the book she portrays the male protagonist as a guy you might not even want in the same room with you, and it's not until about 75 pages in that you realize his motivations aren't what you thought they were. It's a hidden identity book with a really harrowing ending involving elements of a closed society behaving very badly indeed. ( )