Sign in with Facebook
K.J. Charles's Reviews > The Devil Rides Out
The Devil Rides Out (Black Magic, #1)
by
by
I felt the urge to return to Dennis Wheatley's occult thrillers after reading an excellent bio by Phil Baker. Obviously, this is terrible on several levels: hack writer, huge racist (though in fairness not antisemitic, which is at least less shitty than most 1930s pulp, and with a surprisingly open mind to the value of other cultures and religions considering the aforesaid racism. In some ways at least.)
But Wheatley can tell the fuck out of a story, with what he called a 'snakes and ladders' approach to plot (things going well for the heroes? Kick it out from under them!) and there's some really amazingly weird stuff in here alongside the compelling plot which had visible impact on 20th century British occultism. Plus, marvellous depiction of Alesteir Crowley. Very effective thriller, genuinely terrible writer, and all the alerts for ableism, racism, orientalism, et cetera ad nauseam.
But Wheatley can tell the fuck out of a story, with what he called a 'snakes and ladders' approach to plot (things going well for the heroes? Kick it out from under them!) and there's some really amazingly weird stuff in here alongside the compelling plot which had visible impact on 20th century British occultism. Plus, marvellous depiction of Alesteir Crowley. Very effective thriller, genuinely terrible writer, and all the alerts for ableism, racism, orientalism, et cetera ad nauseam.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Devil Rides Out.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Alexis
(new)
Aug 13, 2022 07:37AM
Also isn't the hero a duke who fights Satanists? I mean, yes, it's deeply problematic in all the ways. But I agree with you that these are embarrassingly, compulsively readable. And you're really tempting me to re-read.
reply
|
flag
I'm already on the second one, this is dreadful.
I also like the way all his characters sound faintly even though DW was clearly the straightest person who ever lived.
Alexis wrote: "I also like the way all his characters sound faintly even though DW was clearly the straightest person who ever lived."I'm basically gagging to do something with this milieu just because Wheatley is so amazingly po-faced and White Hetero English Officer about it, and it would be so much fun to fuck that up.
Have you seen the Christopher Lee film based on this? UK Title is The Devil Rides Out and the US title is The Devil's Bride. It's deliciously arch and the occult party in the woods is something to see. Same problems as the novel, obviously.
I remember reading this, in my very early teens. My father had it, plus a pretty open attitude to which books I was reading, and others by Wheatley, and I devoured them enthusiastically. (I lived in a small, entirely white, agricultural Northamptonshire village, so I'm afraid I didn't notice the lack of diversity). It was probably my first encounter with the occult, and I swallowed the details and plot whole. Lord of the Rings, read in my late teens, rather broadened my world view. Moving to a multi cultural city completed the process dramatically - first encounters with a multitude of races, religions, and languages. Looking back, I can recall episodes in the Wheatley books striking me as 'odd' and I'd not heard of Crowley before. Previous experience of fantasy had been strictly Enid Blyton, although talking animals and time slips to earlier British history had cropped up in the primary school library. Is it too obvious and age-revealing to say how different it was in the 1950s?
