Oh boy, you pretty much get it all here. There are your innocent arcane studies into the occult. We also got some folks pinin' for their tragically lost loved ones. Some super old necromancer takes you under his wing and shows you a lotta creepy friends and tosses you that casting of the runes Matrix book you can't seem to return to the library. Some weird things happen and you kinda go along with it all. When they start puttin' the Woodoo-Voodoo stuff on all the people that are trying to get you back on the righteous path, you know something more bad's goin' down. The only way you are going to peel this one is by getting the exorcist and the bad man in the room together and then get the hell away and see what shakes out. Better hide for the rest of your life when it's all over too.

Five star cosmic Eastern vampire tale. All good, no bad. Read it straight through. ( )

THE MATRIX is my personal favorite of Aycliffe's supernatural works. There's a couple of reasons for this; the main one is the setting.

Edinburgh is in my heart. I spent a while working there, and over my lifetime I've spent many happy hours wandering the strets of the Old and New Towns, and sampling beers in the many great bars to be found.

The same streets, and bars, populate this book. But there's something else here too, ghosts from the great city's past, always just at the corner of your eye, always reminding you that there are some dark passageways that are best left alone.

Aycliffe takes his hero, a man from the Wesern Islands, and sends him down one such Edinburgh passageway, one that proves to be a warren full of pale things, ancient sorceries, and some of the creepiest revenants you'll find anywhere in fiction.

The protagonist's journey through the labyrinthine streets, and his mental deterioration as he does so, is expertly handled, and the sense of deep history, claustrophobic and gathering in layers around you, perfectly catches the spirit of Edinburgh.

I read it here in Newfoundland on a warm spring day, but I felt the cold wind coming off the Firth of Forth as strongly as if I was still there.

If you want an Edinburgh ghost story, Aycliffe has the perfect one for you right here.

Highly recommended.
( )

This is the third novel I have read by, in my own view, one of the best contemporary authors in the genre of atmospheric chilling horror. I didn't think this was quite up there with his Whispers in the Dark and The Silence of Ghosts, but he still succeeds in building up slowly an atmosphere of creeping dread and of the unknown and horrifying insinuating itself into everyday life. The central character Andrew McLeod is a young man from the Western Isles of Scotland now studying and researching in Edinburgh. His field is the sociology of fringe occult groups, in particular one called the Fraternity of the Old Path, and what draws people of particular backgrounds or social classes to such groups. But as his researches grow deeper, they become an obsession, and the academic research gives way to pursuit of occult lore for its own sake. At this point he comes under the influence of Duncan Mylne, who claims access to even deeper secret knowledge. As Andrew McLeod comes ever more under Mylne's influence, his other contact points with reality fall away, but he also notices strange things that lead him to begin to question Mylne's motives. The final revelation of Mylne's intentions is suitably horrible and the effects on Andrew's own life and those of his loved ones tragic. I found the resolution of the main plot slightly puzzling and unsatisfactory, but this was as always a great and atmospheric piece of writing. ( )

Old fashioned horror story, Andrew Macleod becomes obsessed with the occult and falls under the spell of the mysterious Duncan Mylne, who has a secret agenda and Andrew is an essential part of his future plans. The writing is very descriptive and as with all classic horror relies on the imagination of the reader to bring the story to life in his mind...."And yet, for all the neglect, the building had lost none of it's power. It had been designed to communicate a sense of religious awe, and that remained in the sheer scale with which it towered over the passer-by. But it possessed something else, something I had felt the first time I saw it in my dreams; a sense of brooding evil so overpowering that it took the breath away. There was a force in the very fabric of the building, a strength of purpose, as thought the stones themselves had been imbued with a malign and ancient consciousness. Even without setting foot inside, I could feel that same presence of fear and loathing and brutality..." The story evolves around a book known as "Matrix Aeternitatis" and the evil vision within, taking the reader on a journey from the island of Stornoway to the rain soaked streets of Edinburgh and the oppressive heat of North Africa. As we race towards an exciting conclusion Andrew Macleod must use all his cunning to outwit the evil that accompanies Duncan Mylne. ( )

A very solid horror novel. Was subtle in its scares. Reminded me somewhat of Lovecraft, given the 1st person style, the supposedly erudite narrator who is taught the real ways of the world, and the author's refusal to fully reveal the monsters themselves.

The idea that there are scary things that are so big, so scary, and that will drive you insane on the spot, and as such the narrator can only hint at their awfulness, certainly makes for a scary book if done right.

I would recommend this to people who have already read the cannon (King, Barker, Simmons, McCammon). ( )