Valley of Lights

Valley of Lights, Stephen Gallagher. Telos, 2005. Limited 100. 298 pages. Another outstanding Telos title! The book is attractive, with gold boards (the picture is of the paperback), and is solid, and, like the others, without a dustjacket. The only gripe is that they seem to use cheap glue for the endpapers because in all the books I have, these papers are lifting a bit—in fact, Parish Damned lifted up a lot, but I stored it with some weight on it and a week later it was fine. As for the novel, yes, it’s a classic. It was originally published in 1987 and has seen many reprints. At its heart, the plot is based on a chase: a cop is trying to end the killing spree of a body-jumping entity. Now, if I’d read a summary like that, I never would have even bothered picking a book like this up, let alone read it. And, boy, would that have been a mistake on my part. Gallagher does a fantastic job with this tale. There’s nothing ridiculous or campy or cheesy about this novel. The character development, the pacing, the plot . . . they’re all perfect. Even the entity is developed enough that you see what drives it, though you never actually learn what it is; it simply exists. I like that: a monster that isn’t explained as some genetic thing or a fallen angel or whatever is in science-vogue. This creature exists. Period. In this edition, there’s an interview with the author and a lengthy essay by Gallagher on the creation and life of Valley of Lights (the novel is two hundred pages long). Also there’s a thirty page story called “Nightmare, with Angel.” Like the novel, it’s an excellently written tale; however, it might not be to everyone’s taste due to the climax. It’s predictable. But, still, I enjoyed it thoroughly because Gallagher is such a terrific storyteller.