Stephen Mark Rainey, The Lebo Coven

The Lebo Coven

Stephen Mark Rainey

Five Star, July 2004, $25.95, 289 pp.

ISBN 1594142270

When Matt tried to kill Barry with his car, the two brothers went their separate ways. Barry moved to Atlanta and Matt stayed in the family home in Aiken Mill, Virginia. One day Barry is notified that Matt disappeared. Since he lost his job and his girl, he returns home and is shocked by the damage someone did to his house. Even more perplexing is the word Lebo painted in Matt's room in cow's blood.

The first night he is in the house strange things happen like a glass moving of its own volition; Barry hears strange inhuman noises and the word Lebo starts to glow. Jennifer Brand joins Barry in seeking answers. Since she is a gray mage, she senses the dark forces gathering around Barry and his house. They learn that Matt rented a room to Ren, a practitioner of the dark arts, who intends to invoke a spell that will require a blood sacrifice, preferably Matt's but Barry will do in a pinch. The two Riggs brothers and Jennifer try to stop him though each one knows they will pay a high price to end Ren's evil reign.

The LEBO COVEN is a classic good vs. evil horror novel that fans of Bentley Little and Tonya Huff will want to read. The protagonist learns to adjust his worldview rather quickly but once he starts believing that supernatural forces exist, it is easier to make a stand against them. Stephen Mark Rainey coaxes readers to believe that dark and white magic actually exist; not an easy task, but an accomplishment that shows he is one of the new stars in the horror galaxy.

Harriet Klausner