Fear Across the Mersey X: The Invocation | review by Rafe McGregor

Fear Across the Mersey by Ramsey Campbell

PS Publishing, hardback, £25.00, August 2024, ISBN 9781803943701

‘The Invocation’ is the weakest of the collection so far. Like ‘Through the Walls’, the ingredients for a potent plot are set out in quick succession – this time a film studies student with an irritating landlady, a cut glass decanter that distorts its contents (if, indeed, it has any), and shapes and noises in the night – but their chemistry also fails, making the narrative’s cause and effect unmemorable. In addition, the resolution is far too reminiscent of ‘Baby’ and, unlike that story, largely unsupported by a scaffold of internal logic. I wondered if it was either inspired by or an intentional reimagining of M.R. James’ ‘The Ash-Tree’. While ‘The Ash-Tree’ is famous for its dénouement, it is overrated as a ghost story and, in consequence, a challenge for contemporary authors to revisit. As a reimaging of ‘The Ash-Tree’, there is a flicker of Campbell’s genius in ‘The Invocation’, albeit a flicker that never flames.