Graham Taylor used to have a problem when he read so-called thrillers written for teenage readers. At the end of the book he always felt a twinge of disappointment because he simply hadn't been scared enough by the villain. Fictional villains worth their salt should reach out from beyond the book's pages and creep into your night-time thoughts and stop you sleeping.
But with most bogeymen in teenage fiction, this simply did not happen for Taylor. Are writers of teenage thrillers a soft lot, too wary of giving their precious readers a good fright and a few sleepless nights? There was only one thing that Taylor could do. He had to write his own novel exposing these non-scary villains for the wimps that they are by creating his own super-bad villain.
Meet the Reverend Obadiah Demurral and be afraid, very afraid. Demurral is evil through and through without the slightest redeeming feature in his personality. He is the central character in Shadowmancer, Taylor's would-be chilling tale.
Taylor has thrown a lot into the melting pot to come up with this much-hyped debut novel. His plot treads the familiar old path of magic, witchcraft, superstition and folklore, and he throws in a smuggling sub-plot just for good measure. This book is determined not to short-change the reader and, at times, Taylor comes very close to over-egging the pudding. There are parts of the story where he only just stops going way over the top into parody. Taylor certainly does not hold back as he piles on the evil creatures.
Shadowmancer is yet another book about the age old battle between good and evil. In the evil corner we have Demurral, an 18th century vicar living in a desolate seaside town in the north of England. Demurral is all god-fearing and pious on the surface, but underneath he is a despicable, power-hungry sorcerer. He has a plan to seize the greatest power possible. He wants to replace God and control the universe.
And in the good corner, we have three good guys who pit themselves against Demurral's evil deeds. Our heroes are Thomas, a homeless teenager who has suffered at Demurral's hands; his friend, tomboy Kate; and Raphah, a mysterious African who has his own reasons for wanting Demurral to be destroyed.