Book Review: Forest of Souls

Reviewed By: Ali Karim - RAM

Forest of Souls     Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC
Carla Banks
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Psychological Suspense
HarperCollins UK, 2005, 400 pages

HarperCollins UK really have been developing their crime thriller list with some real zest of late, and this [sort-of] debut novel is a scorcher by a new name to the genre. I was a little suspicious about this Carla Banks, because the characterization is so vivid and chilling that it felt far too robust to be that of a novice. Sure enough, after a little digging around I discovered that Carla Banks is a non-de-plume for Danuta Reah, who is a master of psychological suspense and stark characterization. Her last novel 'Bleak Water' really knocked my socks off. I guess Carla Banks / Danuta Reah, like the Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine relationship, is formed by a divergence of style and material. Carla Banks delves into the past and shows how menace and evil can live on and penetrate the contemporary world, but she uses Reah's ability to weave characters like a black widow spider into a web of deceit and evil.

The plot of 'Forest of Souls' hangs on the trail Faith Lange endures to find out who really killed her friend Helen Kovacs, a University Researcher who was investigating the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, journalist Jake Denbigh is asking a great deal of questions about Helen's father, the elderly Marek Lange a man who escaped the horrors of war-time Europe. Marek Lange refuses to discuss his past, but there is a link to a concentration camp survivor who appears to know more than she lets on. Faith realizes from the notes of her dead friend Helen Kovacs, that there is more to her death than the authorities have alluded to, even her estranged husband has secrets and lies.

A man is arrested, but Faith is not convinced that he is Helen's killer. Before long Jake Denbigh and Faith find themselves going East, to Minsk to try and uncover the trail that leads from the ashes of the past to the murders of today.

The Forrest of Souls is a novel of tremendous power and resonance, and has a plot that is as deceptive, and as reptilian as a serpent. It examines how the horrors of the past can never really be forgotten [or perhaps forgiven], and that the secrets of the dead are far from buried. At times this book really shocks, not because of violence or gore, but because of the disturbing pictures it paints in your mind; pictures that cling inside your head like a canvas from hell. The research is incredible, and gut-wrenching with some startling twists that will shock.

It is also very timely considering the recent Holocaust Memorials that have been taking place all over the world, and is a book filled with characters that linger in the mind long after the lamp is switched off. A tough book, but one that will make Carla Banks a name to watch for in the future, even if her stories show that the horrors of the past are never really far away.

Ali Karim - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM