EDGE Boston

Sci-fi and fantasy writer Stephen Mark Rainey revisits the Second World War in , a horror novel that engages and thrills with a two-front battle against enemies human and monstrously Other. Rainey evokes the excitement of air-based combat while drawing a chilling picture of a ground war fought not just on the terrain of remote Conquest Island, but carried out in the minds of men under psychic attack by a being from another dimension.

Lt. Commander Drew McLachlan lands on Conquest Island along with his air group, to find the American base well run and well secured by a complement of Marines. But though the air sorties against the enemy go well, there’s an unsettling presence on the island that invades McLachlan’s dreams. When the dstant sound of drums in the jungle start to grow closer and louder, McLachlan and his men come to understand that they do not share Conquest Island with a native tribe of humans; far from it. They’ve inadvertantly invaded a stronghold guarded by super-human guardians of an ancient and powerful mind - and in time, the minds of every man on Conquest is in danger of being influenced, possessed, and controlled by a malevolence unlike anything the soldiers have ever faced.

Rainey writes convincingly of the air battles, creating the sort of excitement that movie viewers only wish they’d seen in films like Flyboys. On the ground, he generates an atmosphere of suspense and dread. This is solid action-adventure fun, and a treat to read on a winter evening. On the whole, Blue Devil Island is a first-rate horror story, and a deftly told tale of soldiers in courageous combat in the South Pacific theater of the last great war.

by Stephen Mark Rainey

Publisher: Five Star Press. Publication Date: January 17, 2007. Pages: 301. Price: $25.95. Format: Hardcover Original. ISBN-13: 978-1594-144-424