Dark Debts Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews ,
June 1, 1996
Gripping, much heralded horror debut novel by top TV
scripter Hall. The five years Hall spent on writing, revision, and deep research
reap big rewards for the reader in this very serious (and spiritual) shocker.
The story: A dark debt, or curse, hangs over the family of a Georgia
ex-Satanist. The Landry family has been working off this debt, unbeknownst to
its infected members, with insanity, suicide, robbery, murder, and even mass
murder. Cam Landry, a reclusive young Los Angeles crime writer who has just
signed a publishing contract for $300,000, suddenly goes berserk, robs a liquor
store, kills a clerk, then commits suicide. Cam's ex- lover Randa, a journalist
for an alternative newspaper, wonders what could have provoked this senseless
deed. Romance blooms when the determined Randa goes to the town of Barton,
outside Atlanta, to talk with the last surviving Landry, hermit Jack, who knows
that insanity, murder, and perhaps suicide likely await him as well. Meanwhile,
in Manhattan, Father Michael Kinney, a sexy young Jesuit who edits a far-out
Catholic magazine, falls for Tess, a lapsed-Catholic New Yorker editor, when she
has him write a piece about an adolescent who murdered his family after an
exorcism Michael helped administer failed. Michael, it turns out, is related to
the Landrys and is also being stalked by the family curse. Then, fired from his
magazine job and exiled to a Georgia parish, Michael meets Jack Landry. Will
Michael save Jack, then give up his Roman collar and marry Tess? Can he survive
when the same demon gnawing at Jack also goes after him? And why doesn't God
help Michael fight the demon? Hall's soft-bang climax has a cliched ring, but
even readers skeptical of demonology will find themselves beguiled by her
stringent arguments and research, all set off by strong characters and witty
dialogue. (First printing of 150,000; film rights to Paramount;
Book-of-the-Month Club featured selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1996,
Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From
Booklist , June 1, 1996Amazon.com
Once you meet the Landrys of Georgia in this debut thriller by a veteran television writer, you'll never again use the words "a family from Hell" lightly. Dark Debts focuses on two couples: a Jesuit priest and reluctant demonologist named Michael Kinney, whose growing doubts about his calling are energized by an affair with a New Yorker editor; and Randa Phillips, a columnist for a Los Angeles alternative newspaper, who was the longtime lover of Cam, seemingly the sanest of the Landrys, until he killed himself, and is now involved with his only surviving brother, Jack.
An unspeakable curse has consumed a poor Southern family and Michael Kinney, a fallen priest, represents their only hope for salvation. In his struggles to save them from total ruin, Kinney also wages a personal battle to clear his name from a past injustice. As he investigates a deadly hotel fire and sifts through accounts of demonic possession, satanic ritual, and sightings of Jesus, Kinney comes to terms with his own personal demon, an unrivaled terror determined to bring the priest to death before he can find redemption. --This text refers to the audio cassette edition of this title