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by John H. Westerhoff
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by Irene S. Korn
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by Robert W. Broomall
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by Michael T Hinkemeyer
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by John Wesley Howard
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(Larger Image)
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Dark Specter
by Michael Dibdin
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Vintage (1998-02-03)
ISBN: 0679767231
EAN: 9780679767237
Dewy Decimal #: 823.914
Paperback: 352 pages
Release Date: 1998-02-03
SKU: mon0000039481
Condition: New
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.com
Dibdin is a connoisseur's thriller writer, widely admired for his neat craftmanship in such novels as Dead Lagoon. In this stunning new novel he once again widens the boundaries of his fiction, linking seemingly unrelated lives: a hapless family man whose world is blasted apart by apparently random events, police detectives in several cities investigating cold-blooded multiple murders, members of a cult whose initiation rite is an act of pure, rationalized malevolence. All these lives spin in desperate orbit around a man known to his followers as Los, the Eternal Prophet--a man whose mind is a ground zero of psychosis and mayhem.
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Product Description
In this majestically unnerving novel, Michael Dibdin, the creator of the acclaimed Aurelio Zen mysteries, explores themes that might have been ripped out of today's headlines, as he charts America's dual epidemic of religious cultism and random violence.
The murders take place in distant cities and with no apparent motive. All that connects them is their cold-blooded efficiency. But a dogged Seattle detective and a horribly bereaved survivor are about to come face-to-face with their perpetrator—a man named Los, a self-styled prophet who has the power to make his followers travel thousands of miles to kill for him. Out of mayhem and revelation, the minutiae of police work and the explosive contents of a psychotic mind, Michael Dibdin orchestrates a tour de force of dread. This should be read with the lights on and the doors firmly bolted.
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Customer Reviews
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Well written, terrible plot
Rating  (2)
Date: 2005-06-20
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Dibdin is an excellent writer and his prose is even stronger in a genre (crime writing) not normally known for that quality. I'd almost recommend reading Dark Specter for that reason alone because there aren't any other reasons to read it.
The plot, on the other hand, is contrived and more often than not predictable. Dibdin does a pathetic job convincing his reader of a number of unlikely coincidences that allow him to take an eery tale of cults in modern-day society and wrap everything up in a tidy Hollywood ending. Where the last line of the book should be one of the creepiest you've ever read, it's as unlikely and unbelievable as the rest of the novel because a number of key characters remain underdeveloped.
Skip this one.
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Awful
Rating  (1)
Date: 2003-02-28
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I've read and enjoyed other books by this author (i.e. Aurelio Zen mysteries). This effort, however, is terrible. The main character is a naive dope who is totally unlikeable. You don't identify with him enough, or for that matter dislike him enough, to care about what happens to him. The plot is pedestrian and predictable. I wouldn't have finished it were it not such a short book.I'm truly surprised that this author, who has demonstrated the ability to write entertaining books, failed so completely this time around. This book regresses to the level of a first effort by an unskilled writer, simply imitating the conventions and plot devices of the genre... Yuck!
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Disappointing
Rating (2)
Date: 2002-09-30
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I've read a few Michael Dibdins lately because Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine) recommends him. He can be an excellent writer, but this book was pedestrian in both writing and plot. I saw Los's solution to "How can a just God allow terrible things to happen to good people" very early on, and read to the end only to see if I was right. The main character was naive to the point of idiocy, thinking he could pay a social visit to what was obviously a cult leader. I give it two stars only because 1 star should be reserved for those who truly can't write.
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Creepy commentary
Rating  (4)
Date: 2001-11-07
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Yes, the ending is ridiculous, but it may be a commentary on the genre. To me it seemed calculated to make us think about the interest in the morbid which has kept us turning pages. I have been wrong before, however. Maybe he was just trying to write something that would look good on a movie screen.The writing was more pedestrian than that of the other books of his I have read, perhaps because he was writing in a new dialect. He does do a pretty good job of writing in American.
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Chapter Grabber
Rating (4)
Date: 2001-07-04
Dibdin knows how to capture your attention. He definitely knows how to draw you in. Each chapter leaves you wanting to read "just one more" as when you guiltily reach for "just one more" of your favorite sins. Felt the book sagged near the end-- too much quick tidying- but even the ending was unique. It ends with a bang.
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