The Casebook of Carnaki: The Ghost Finder. W.H. Hodson. Wordsworth Editions Limited ( 2006)

A wonderful set of ghost hunting stories, some of which reveal ghosts some of which expose other forces at work. The framework for all the stories is the same, Carnaki invites a number of friends to dinner and tells them about some investigation he had carried out. Carnaki is an investigator of the possibly and actually supernatural, curious, skeptical and very competent. He is always aware of the possibility that human agency is at the foot of the problem while being prepared for other explanations. His scientific approach to the investigations and his credible fear in the face of considerable threat makes the stories gripping and enjoyable. He manages to bring the supernatural within the bounds of credibility by a scientific approach without ever stripping it of its essential mystery.
"The Thing Invisible" is the first story in the book and concerns a haunting in a chapel attached to a castle which always had the reputation of being haunted, with a near fatal attack on the butler, it was becoming dangerous. Carnaki's investigation is smart and thoughtful, the explanation is effective.
"The Gateway of the Monster" has Carnaki called in to investigate a haunted room, he does so by staying the night and the account of what passes is gripping and sharp. The menace is superbly built up and the precautions that Carnaki takes to protect himself and how they are used are very effective details. The monster is serious and dangerous, the whole story is pleasure.
"The House among the Laurels" is a very smart piece of storytelling, the set up is great and the unfolding of the events economical and forceful. A clever and intrepid piece of investigation.
"The Whistling Room" is the stand out story in a great collection. The tone of the story moves very naturally from the apparently foolish to the darkly dangerous without ever loosing its footing. The  problem as it becomes revealed is nasty and very creepy, the source and cause of the trouble is suitably bleak. The whole story is a masterpiece of effective compression, a great deal happens in a very short space without any confusion or loss of focus in the story.
"The Searcher of the End House"  is the closest to a standard ghost story in the collection.
"The Horse of the Invisible" highlights the force of Carnaki's scientific thoughtful process of investigation and that there can be more than one process at work behind a supernatural event.
"The Haunted Jarvee" is a haunting at sea and gives the room for W. H. Hodson to describe trouble at sea and the sheer helplessness of sailors in the face of a storm.
"The Find" is a smart little puzzle that uses clear thinking to solve a problem.
"The Hog" is the weakest story in the collection, the story tries to hard and is overwhelmed by the details, the tension and foreboding essential to the story get swamped by the process that Carnaki is using. There is just too much going on that has the be explained for the story to maintain its moment.
W.H.Hodson is a master of the ghost story, even the lest story in this collection has force and tension galore, the best are simply astonishing. The mix of scientific inquiry and supernatural is creatively used to bring the reader further into the atmosphere, the threats have weight and force and Carnaki is a great guide, willing to take a risk and never too stupid not to be afraid. 

The Reviver. Seth Patrick.Pan Books (2013)

An enjoyable story that takes too long to fully engage the plot mechanics.Jonah Miller has a talent for reviving the newly dead, a talent used to allow murder victims testify about their deaths. When Jonah has a disturbing encounter with a murder victim, he believes it to be a hallucination. When a revival involving Daniel Harker, the man who revealed the existence of revivers has very unexpected consequences, Jonah finds himself pulled into a secret war. The story unfolds effectively, the reveals are well staged and the plot, once engaged, works well.
The story idea is excellent and the possibilities are properly explored, just in the wrong key. Seth Patrick devotes a lot of time to establishing how revivers moved from the fringes of society into the mundane middle, working for law enforcement and insurance companies. This is very nicely done, the process is accepted at large and opposition is a fringe activity.
When it becomes clear that revivers may be opening a door to more than just the dead, the tone and momentum of the story do not shift sufficiently. The story has moved definitively out of the established context and it needs more momentum to deliver it, the stakes in the conflict are raised without raising the temperature as well. It is not the ordinary that is important, it is the extra ordinary that should explode from the story that is important. How the surface tension of the revivers hides a nasty web of ambition and mistaken confidence about forces that would like to emerge from the shadows does not catch fire the way it needs to.The low key approach does work really well for the human aspect to the struggle, including a very well set up haunting, the cosmic scale of the threat never really comes into view.
The cast are very well set up, Jonah is complex and competent and mercifully rarely stupid, the supporting cast are given the space to emerge in their own right and engage the reader enough to make then care. The motives are clear and credible, Seth Patrick can deliver a nasty edge when required. Overall an enjoyable book, it is a pistol shot when it needs to be a cannon blast.

Hellboy. Oddest Jobs. Christopher Golden.(Editor). Dark Horse Books. (2008)

This is a collection of short stories by a wide variety of authors featuring Hellboy, the stories are uniformly excellent with a couple that stand out. Setting the scene and the standard for the remainder is "Jiving with Shadows and Dragons and Long, Black Trains" by Joe R. Lansdale. Towns in Arizona are being visited by a long black train and all the inhabitants are swept up by black dragons. Hellboy and the Reverend Jim Jeff investigate and find that frustration and obsession are powerful forces. The action is clever and forceful, the sliding viewpoints give the story depth and flavour, it packs a mighty punch.
"In Cupboards and Bookshelves" by Gary A. Braunbeck, Hellboy is asked to take on a job which involve harsh choices. It is very far from the usual Hellboy stories while capturing something essential about who Hellboy is. It is written with care and skill and leaves sad echos with the reader. "Second Honeymoon" by John Skipp & Cody Goodfellow is the closest in spirit and action to the Hellboy stories in the comics. A eco terrorist group decide to save Earth from humanity by releasing some of the Titans from Greek mythology. The action is both absurd and with a genuine emotional depth.
The two stories that stood out, even from such an excellent selection are "Repossession" by Barbara Hambly and "A Room of One's Own" by China Mieville. "Repossession" develops in a most unexpected fashion from a classic Hellboy opening. As the Aswan dam in Egypt is being built, lots of spirits are being disturbed and Hellboy is on the trail of a man who trades in such things. The story moves seamlessly to become about oppression and possession, how they intersect and how they infect the living. "A Room of One's Own" is a wonderfully playful story about the entirely unexpected dangers of interior decorating. From the title onward it plays with references to other stories that are cunning woven into a very clever knot as well as carrying off a more serious intent. Overall a great collection, a pleasure to read.

Hellboy. Odd Jobs. Christopher Golden (Editor), Mike Mignola (Illustrations) Titan Books (2003)

This is an anthology of short prose stories featuring Hellboy and other cast members from the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics. While it is unlikely that anyone who is unfamiliar with Hellboy would pick it up there is no specific need for any previous knowledge to enjoy these excellent stories. The emphasis in the stories is on the activities of Hellboy as a paranormal investigator, so Hellboy is usually presented as an established fact and the action is allowed to unfold. Within the tight constraints imposed by the subject matter and the form the writers have presented a very enjoyable variety of content and narrative choices. The standard is uniformly high, there is no stand out story due to the overall excellence, none of the stories is a dud, they all sharp and flavourful.
Jigsaw by Stephen R. Bissette is a beautifully structured story that packs an impressive amount of story into a short space. The human cast caught in the coils of the paranormal plot are sympathetically drawn and the terrible price they pay is deeply felt. Folie a Deux by Nancy Holder set in Vietnam during the Vietnam War is spiky and seething with rage at the multifaceted destruction caused by war. The sharp writing and bleak context frame the dark aspects to the Hellboy story very well.
On the other hand, Delivered by Greg Rucka plays a smart and humorous game with the readers expectations while perhaps finally revealing the story behind one of Sherlock Holmes' most famous unrecorded cases. Medusa's Revenge by Yvonne Navarro is the story most reminiscent of the comics, the story is clever and the action fast and loud. The other stories in the collection are equally thoughtful and varied. The illustrations by Mike Mignola are as beautiful and evocative as could be expected. This is a great collection of stories by very talented writers, a pleasure to read.