 David Frederick Bischoffborn: 12-15-1951 in: Washington, D.C. Homepage:
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The pattern is known from movies, the TV-series, comics and other novels: a dead person comes back with the help of the Crow to avenge his wrongful death. He gets a second chance, his death is atoned for and the bad guys get punished. In this case the good guy is William Blessing, an Edgar Allen Poe expert and author. After he's murdered out of greed he can get revenge and prevent his wife from making a terrible mistake. Nothing more needs to be said about the story because that is the heart of it.
"At our human limits, when we've gone as far as flesh and imagination can take us, we meet the Eternal One. The Crow. Immemorially old, and inconsolable, he is there only for those who seek both revenge and love, and are willing to go all the way - and beyond.
William Blessing is obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. Like Poe, he is a writer of dark fantasy. And like Poe, he has powerful enemies. One of them pretends to be a friend, even as he plots to murder William and steal his wife. Blessing's only hope is to learn the truth about his "friend" before -
But this is the realm of the Crow, where the grave is the doorway to truth. William must walk through it to discover Poe's final secret. Then, and only then, with the help of a dark-winged "Raven", can he return to feed on the human carrion who raped his wife and slaughtered his soul."
After Poppy Z. Brite's 'The Lazarus Heart' and Chet Williamson's 'Clash by Night' this is the third 'The Crow'-novelization I've read. Like the others it's based on the comic by James O'Barr but it shows the handwriting of it's author. David Bischoff knows his Edgar Allen Poe and this is what makes the book remarkable. Every chapter starts with a Poe-quote matching the content. And the quotes go all the way through the story.
Only the ending, or the first part of it, is so bad I just thought that the author couldn't be serious about it. But anyone who is willing to overlook this and knows a little bit of Poe will find the story very entertaining and worth reading.
[Dorothée Büttgen, December 00]
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