Jago

Jago was originally published in 1991 and comes under the heading of 'speculative fiction' which is just about perfect; this is one of the strangest novels I've read. The plot flits between supernatural, science fiction, fantasy, religion, superstition, Armageddon and folklore with a dollop of horror just to round things off and it's a long, long read at 500+ pages on Kindle.For the first 200+ pages Newman takes his time to build the world into which you're about to be thrown. The scene setting throughout the book is exceptional and one of it's strengths. In this case we're transported to the small village of Alder in the West Country where there's soon to be a festival of huge proportion, similar to Woodstock, and the population of Alder is invaded by a sea of visitors.In the middle of this sea of life stands cult leader, former priest, Anthony Jago who suddenly turns to the dark side and begins using his supernatural powers to create mayhem and misery.The world begins to break down around the festival goers and the villagers. What's real and what's not?. Horror comes at them in weird forms and from many different directions but much of that horror has been dredged up from inside themselves and manifests itself in weird, bizarre behaviour and 'acting out'.I enjoyed that Armageddon in this instance might be caused more by the toxic nature of people than toxic chemicals. That was clever. Be aware there is some strong imagery and this writer is not afraid to go over the top but; take it all with a pinch of salt because he also throws a lot of disturbingly comic moments into the mix to break things up.Will the world be saved?. Well; there are some good guys here as well as bad guys but I'm going to leave you to read the book to find out what happens.Expect the unexpected on every level.Jago reads like 1970/1980s horror the time when authors didn't make sense of what they wrote because horror and supernatural fiction could be oddly psychedelic. Think Ray Bradbury, Graham Masterton or early James Herbert. It's true to say Kim Newman ramped things up with Jago.Completely disturbingly and in parts superbly good.

It took a long time for me to trudge through this English country horror story, a tale of cult possessions and a kind of alternate Glastonbury festival which feels a lot like Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave...Jago was written back in the early 1990s before Newman's success with the AD series. It certainly feels like an early novel and doesn't have the polish and drive of his more recent stories, nor much of the acerbic wit or sharp-eyed satire. Instead it feels more like a lumbering old James Herbert horror-mystery -- nothing wrong in that, but it's a far cry from the captivating world of the Diogenes Club.There are moments of eye-opening excellence; some genuinely shocking sequences and some wonderfully weird inventions. But perhaps Jago wasa bit too ambitious in trying to weave together so many different perspectives and themes: Newman more than pulls it off in later books, but here I got bogged down in some of the rambling narrative. I'm almost surprised they didn't take a severe set of editorial scissors to it for the new edition: it always hurts to leave some of the action on the cutting room floor but it would've been a better book for it.An old-fashioned door-stopping monster of a book. Best read on holiday, over several days, when you have time and inclination to do little else.7/10

The main novel, Jago, has the classic grimy feeling and disturbingly real characters that are typical of Newman's writing, but much less humour than you usually find in his books. It also makes some perspicacious but uncomfortable points about human nature and reality. All in all, it's very good, exciting and frightening, but less fun than his other works.The short stories included at the end, however, are a wonderful reward. The characters of Jago are translated into other settings of vast originality and sweep you along through the nearly-familiar world with frequent bursts of laugh-embarrassingly-loud wit. They have the feeling of old fashioned adventure stories laced with a lot of dry, black observational comedy and it all works perfectly. Honestly, the three bonus short stories are worth the price, even without the novel.

An early Kim Newman novel with three additional standalone short stories with alternative versions of some of the characters. The novel "Jago" is a nightmare/hallucination filled story of a religious cult in the English West Country. It's set up very deliberately, with good character back stories before the apocalyptic mayhem kicks in. It's enjoyable and also interesting to read an early Newman work as his style was developing. The three short stories are very worthwhile and satisfying later Newman works and the lengthier two are much closer in tone to the "alternative literature/steam punk" style of Anno Dracula.Recommended.