The Bottom Line: Ox Devere’s second Ridley Samaras novel delivers a truckload of tasty thrills. Highly recommended.
The Devil’s Eye opens in 1582 London, where a terrifying celestial event causes widespread panic. After witnessing a sky that quite literally appeared to be afire, John Dee – Mathematician, alchemist, conjurer, and the personal astrologist of Queen Elizabeth I – expects to be called to the royal court. He’s soon visited by Edward Kelly, a young man who claims to have the unique ability to see and communicate with angels.
Kelly is in possession of the Devil’s Eye, a smooth, transparent crystal nearly the size of a fig. Unearthed after a perilous journey through Europe and the Ottoman lands, this enigmatic talisman is steeped in prophecy and power, its true purpose yet to be revealed. Both John Dee and his scryer Edward Kelly, masters of the occult, are left shaken by its terrifying visions, realizing it was never meant for them—but for someone, or something, yet to come.
Ox Devere’s novel then brings us to the present, which is no less interesting. In London, occult-obsessed financier Marc Pearson has snapped up John Dee’s notebook at a London auction, believing it contains the location of the Devil’s Eye, which he hopes will unlock extraordinary power. Enter CIA operatives Ridley Samaras and Booker Douglas, who race across Europe to find the artifact before Pearson can.
As she did in her debut novel, Rage of the Jinn, Devere masterfully conjures up a winning formula by blending myth, history and religious lore into a uniquely suspenseful package. Ridley, who Devere fans will remember from her last book, has a far stronger point of view here. While alluding to the “strange” things Ridley witnessed in Paris and elsewhere, Devere adds playfulness to her character with a smattering of personal, character-enhancing strokes (such as admitting that Ridley’s views on the supernatural have been influenced by TV show the X-Files).
When others question the validity of their mission, Ridley is clear on one thing – it doesn’t matter what she believes. All that matters is what Pearson believes: “You wouldn’t believe the amount of damage a true believer can cause.” To date, Devere proves herself to be an excellent creator of such “true believers,” and that makes for great fiction.
