PARANORMAL REVIEW: The Black Book of Modern Myths - Alasdair Wickham

Release Date: 05/05/11

SYNOPSIS:

'True are The NIGHTmare Of a person that FEARs. Safe A re the BODIES Of tHe Silent World'. When a young man first saw this message typed out on his computer at home a shiver ran down his spine. It was clear what was happening - the poltergeist which had plagued him for months was now manifesting itself in a most original, modern and terrifying way. As the world around us experiences an epidemic of supernatural events, Alasdair Wickham collects together the strangest, creepiest and most enthralling in a compendium of brilliantly told and chillingly convincing tales. The Black Book of Modern Myths explores the richness and malevolence of the supernatural from across the globe, including possession, witchcraft and Mothmen sightings to cursed movie sets and ritualistic killings in the Cornish countryside. No mystery is left unexamined. But beyond these traditional notions of the supernatural, The Black Book of Modern Myths shows us the paranormal connecting with the hi-tech world. These days, the ghosts really are in the machines...Do you dare enter?


REVIEW:

Fascinated by the paranormal world for a number of years I was more than happy when I received this book. Although to call it a book would be a disservice as it’s more an encyclopaedia than a straight out novel. Whilst you can read it in this way, personally I’d advise reading it as a bathroom title, something that you can dip into here and there which will keep it fresh and enjoyable with each visit with one of the features that I really liked being the small boxes with stories pertaining to the material to which I’d been reading to that point.

Whilst the title has a lot of good stuff in there, there’s also the overdone material. For example the film set curses and possessions has all appeared in other titles and I’d have liked it had they gone for some other films with perhaps a more modern twist that haven’t been done to death already in documentaries or even in other titles. Add to this the pointless addition of a Ouija Board on the back cover (which the book doesn’t even look at) and it was something that is there more for a scare factor than anything else. Personally I’d have been happier had this been omitted and kept the cover plain black, it would have looked smarter all in and, if we’re being honest here, wouldn’t make this a title that some will avoid purely for its addition.