THE GHOSTS OF KARNAK
By George Mann
Titan Books
271 pages
George Mann’s steam-pulp hero, the Ghost, returns in this, his third outing. When Gabriel Cross’ girlfriend, Ginny Gray, fails to return from her sight-seeing trip to Egypt, he is a bit concerned. That feeling of tread is only magnified when his friend, police detective Felix Donovan informs Garbriel that he’s been investigating a series of gruesome murders wherein the bodies are left with ancient Egyptian symbols cared into their flesh. Donovan suspects a group of fanatical cultists who worship ancient gods.
At the same time, a local crime boss whose enforcers wear mechanized armor is somehow involved and Gabriel and Donovan soon discover there is turf war going between the mobster and the cultist. The mystery continues to lead them in various directions, but all eventually coalesces to the point where the Ghost discovers Ginny may be in the hands of a madman who plans on using her body to host the spirit of a long dead Egyptian deity.
As ever, Mann spins a fast pace action tale with colorful characters who easily could have stepped out of the pages of any classic pulp magazine. The Ghost series is one of his best and something every pulp fan should pick up.
