Synopsis
Electricity pylons now mark the old Roman road from Gloucester to Monmouth. Midway along it is the unlovely village of Underhowle, confronting a new prosperity...but also home to a man the police have identified as the killer of several young women. But for the local exorcist, Rev. Merrily Watkins, this truth might never have emerged -- but is that the whole truth? For, as the police hunt for more bodies, Merrily is increasingly worried that the detective in charge might have become blinkered by ambition. Meanwhile, Merrily has more personal problems: like the anonymous phone calls...the candles and incense left burning in her church...not to mention the alleged angelic visitations on which many will heap scorn. It is her musician boyfriend Lol who follows an unexpected path into the mind of the confessed murderer, while Merrily herself must quell revulsion in scrubbing away the psychic stain left by a dead monster.

Stunning. I don't understand why Phil Rickman isn't as well known as other British writers, because his writing is amazing as he explores the blurry boundaries between good and evil. His characters feel real, Jane with her teenage angst, Merrily, chain smoker, vicar and Mum who constantly tries to do her best whilst doubting her motives. But this is the darkest book I have read for a while as Rickman weaves into his tale events from the real world, events which reverberate through his story much as they continue to do in real life.