The Witching Hour
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

``We watch and we are always here'' is the motto of the Talamasca, a saintly group with extrasensory powers which has for centuries chronicled the lives of the Mayfairs--a dynasty of witches that brought down a shower of flames in 17th-century Scotland, fled to the plantations of Haiti and on to the New World, where they settled in the haunted city of New Orleans. Rice ( The Queen of the Damned ) plumbs a rich vein of witchcraft lore, conjuring in her overheated, florid prose the decayed antebellum mansion where incest rules, dolls are made of human bone and hair, and violent storms sweep the skies each time a witch dies and the power passes on. Newly annointed is Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon kept in ignorance of her heritage by her adoptive parents. She returns to the fold after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead; he, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and, like Rowan and the 12 Mayfairs before her, has beheld Lasher: devil, seducer, spirit. Now Lasher wants to come through to this world forever and Rowan is the Mayfair who can open the door. This massive tome repeatedly slows, then speeds when Rice casts off the Talamasca's pretentious, scholarly tones and goes for the jugular with morbid delights, sexually charged passages and wicked, wild tragedy. 300,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

YA-- Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon who was taken from her mother at birth and raised by an aunt in California, does not know that there has been a powerful witch in her family in each generation for the past five centuries. She returns to the family's antebellum mansion in New Orleans after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead. He, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and is integrally tied to the Mayfair witches, having grown up in New Orleans. As Rowan and Michael's fates become intertwined, they seek to understand and destroy the terrible force that holds its power over the family. The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel. While this 900+ page thriller tends to drag when Rice tells the story through the scholarly documents of the Talamasca, a group of scholars who have for centuries studied and chronicled happenings of the occult, her powerful imagery and detailed witchcraft history keep readers going. When she returns to the present, the novel surges to the end with morbid delights, sexually charged passages, and wicked tragedy. Several characters who are central to the story are not completely developed, and there is no genealogical chart to help sort out family members. These minor criticisms aside, this is a fascinating story with depth and detail. Rice's many fans will keep it circulating.--Barbara A. Lynn, Topeka, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Well known for her vampire trilogy, Rice now turns to witches. Here she tells the story of the prominent and wealthy Mayfair family who, for five centuries, has cavorted with a supernatural entity that has brought them both great bounty as well as abject misery. Neurosurgeon Rowan Mayfair inherits the family fortune, along with the sinister attentions of this entity. When Rowan saves the life of Michael Curry their fates become entwined, and together they seek to understand and destroy the terrible force that holds her family in its power. Helping them in this dangerous task is occult investigator Aaron Lightner, introduced to readers in Rice's The Queen of the Damned ( LJ 10/1/88). Although a bit long-winded at times, this is still a compelling novel. The author's powerful writing and strong imagery keep the reader enthralled. Expect demand. BOMC main selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/90.--Ed. An interview with Rice appears in this issue in ``Contributing Factors,'' p. 104.--Ed.-- Patricia Altner, Dept. of Defense Lib., Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

First behemoth installment (800+ pp.) in a new occult romance by Rice--now moving back into the bougainvillea and the New Orleans Garden District for her steamy new world of southern witchcraft. It's a couple of hundred pages (or more) before Rice hooks the reader and gets her major characters together; the story circles about the Mayfair family (bulking out the book are a few dozen family vignettes) and the generations of Mayfair witches who have accumulated one of the world's great fortunes while awaiting ""the thirteenth""--the thirteenth witch in their succession, who will be the doorway by which a supernormal entity enters the human world and takes flesh. Dr. Rowan Mayfair--a San Francisco brain surgeon gifted with second sight, the power to heal (she foretells which cases will live before she lifts her knife), and the power to kill with her mind--was taken at birth from her Mayfair witch mother and raised by an aunt in San Francisco, and never knows until her mother dies that she is to inherit $7.5 billion. Meanwhile, alone and stormbound in her yacht, Rowan rescues a floating body from the sea, a wealthy local architect dead for an hour and being instructed by Mayfair figures in the beyond, and brings him back to life. Michael Curry now finds himself ""cursed"" with the power of psychometry (extrasensory fingertips) and has to wear gloves to stop the inflow of images. These two are being watched by--and then taken into the confidence of--Aaron Lightnet, a member of the Talamasca, a secret organization that for six centuries has investigated the paranormal. He warns Rowan and Michael against the Mayfair witches. An entity that has yet to achieve flesh has been passing itself through the eldest Mayfair women since the first Mayfair witch was burned at the stake in Holland. Now Rowan is pregnant by Michael, and the entity wants to become her fetus and flesh at last. The entity is by far the liveliest invention in the novel and the reader is left cliffhanging as this rather benign energy-being--fully (and erotically) empowered--is seen running off to Switzerland with Rowan. A writing mishmash, but a strong story stamps itself onto the brain. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Well known for her vampire trilogy, Rice now turns to witches. Here she tells the story of the prominent and wealthy Mayfair family who, for five centuries, has cavorted with a supernatural entity that has brought them both great bounty as well as abject misery. Neurosurgeon Rowan Mayfair inherits the family fortune, along with the sinister attentions of this entity. When Rowan saves the life of Michael Curry their fates become entwined, and together they seek to understand and destroy the terrible force that holds her family in its power. Helping them in this dangerous task is occult investigator Aaron Lightner, introduced to readers in Rice's The Queen of the Damned ( LJ 10/1/88). Although a bit long-winded at times, this is still a compelling novel. The author's powerful writing and strong imagery keep the reader enthralled. Expect demand. BOMC main selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/90.--Ed. An interview with Rice appears in this issue in ``Contributing Factors,'' p. 104.--Ed.-- Patricia Altner, Dept. of Defense Lib., Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.

Pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans is preserved beautifully in Anne Rice's The Witching Hour (Ballantine. 1993. ISBN 978-0-345-38446-1. pap. $7.99) as two San Franciscans are drawn back to their Louisiana birthplace and its world of -primeval secrets. Michael Curry, a renowned building renovator, and Rowan Mayfair, a beautiful and talented neurosurgeon, brought together through unusual circumstances, feel connected by a deep, inexplicable bond. With her usual slowly simmering style, Rice reveals the ancient, horrific mystery surrounding the women of the Mayfair family. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

``We watch and we are always here'' is the motto of the Talamasca, a saintly group with extrasensory powers which has for centuries chronicled the lives of the Mayfairs--a dynasty of witches that brought down a shower of flames in 17th-century Scotland, fled to the plantations of Haiti and on to the New World, where they settled in the haunted city of New Orleans. Rice ( The Queen of the Damned ) plumbs a rich vein of witchcraft lore, conjuring in her overheated, florid prose the decayed antebellum mansion where incest rules, dolls are made of human bone and hair, and violent storms sweep the skies each time a witch dies and the power passes on. Newly annointed is Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon kept in ignorance of her heritage by her adoptive parents. She returns to the fold after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead; he, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and, like Rowan and the 12 Mayfairs before her, has beheld Lasher: devil, seducer, spirit. Now Lasher wants to come through to this world forever and Rowan is the Mayfair who can open the door. This massive tome repeatedly slows, then speeds when Rice casts off the Talamasca's pretentious, scholarly tones and goes for the jugular with morbid delights, sexually charged passages and wicked, wild tragedy. 300,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. (Nov.) Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.

YA-- Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon who was taken from her mother at birth and raised by an aunt in California, does not know that there has been a powerful witch in her family in each generation for the past five centuries. She returns to the family's antebellum mansion in New Orleans after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead. He, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and is integrally tied to the Mayfair witches, having grown up in New Orleans. As Rowan and Michael's fates become intertwined, they seek to understand and destroy the terrible force that holds its power over the family. The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel. While this 900+ page thriller tends to drag when Rice tells the story through the scholarly documents of the Talamasca, a group of scholars who have for centuries studied and chronicled happenings of the occult, her powerful imagery and detailed witchcraft history keep readers going. When she returns to the present, the novel surges to the end with morbid delights, sexually charged passages, and wicked tragedy. Several characters who are central to the story are not completely developed, and there is no genealogical chart to help sort out family members. These minor criticisms aside, this is a fascinating story with depth and detail. Rice's many fans will keep it circulating.--Barbara A. Lynn, Topeka, KS Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information.