Looking for a good Gothic Mystery/Fantasy story

[Convergence]

I'm looking for a good gothic style thriller book, similar to the style of the movie 'The Ninth Gate' from Roman Polansky. I like the mystery/noir style mixed with gothic elements of good/evil and the menacing sense of ever-present evil. I have never read a book along these lines, although i have enjoyed the following movies which are kind of what i am looking for in a book.

-'The Ninth Gate' (underrated movie with loads of atmosphere and a bad ending)
-'Rosemary's Baby' (horror classic)
-'The Devil's Advocate' (despite Keanu Reeves, this was a good film)
-'Angel Heart' (Mickey Rourke movie, pretty good for the times)
-'Carnivale' (HBO series, a surreal, atmospheric experience set in the great depression era, in a travelling carnivale/freakshow detailing a struggle between good and evil. This was fantastic for 2 seasons. best series ever)

I have heard about the 'Book of Joby', and i have ordered a copy with interest. So far, this is the only book i can find along these lines. Additionally, I have read much of Neil Gaiman and China Mieville, and while i love these 2 authors, they are not what i am looking for here.

Any reccomendations? Thanks for the help.

[ravenus]

I would recommend...Bram Stoker's Dracula (although the chances of you not having read it by now are minimal). Wilkie Collins' Woman in White is a great Gothic mystery novel, although no supernatural elements. George RR Martin's Fevre Dream is a terrific novel with vampires in the steamboat age. David Seltzer's The Omen may also interest you, if you liked Rosemary's Baby.

[Connavar]

Jim Butcher's Storm Front sounds like alittle what you want.

Its a modern urban fantasy but it has the mystery/noir thing you mentioned and a very ever present evil.

Stephen King's The Dead Zone i thought of also. Not very gothic but good supernatural elements and a theme of good/evil.

The Night watch by Sergie Lukyanenko is exactly what you looking for. Gothic mystery with very interesting take on good vs evil.

[iansales]

The Mark of 7, Mark Frost
The Eight, Katherine Neville
Flicker, Theodore Roszak
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova

[Ian Whates]

Jonathan Carrol''s Voice of Our Shadow is well worth a read, and almost anything by Sarah Singleton, particularly her 2006 novel Heretic. Also, have you tried any Freda Warrington? http://www.fredawarrington.com/ Some of this is pure fantasy but much of it isn't, and it's hard to get any more Gothic than Freda

If you enjoyed Carnivale, Ray Bradbury's classic Something Wicked this Way Comes would be well worth checking out.

If ever you do fancy dipping into something Mieville-like again, by the way, you could do a lot worse than read Alan Campbell's Scar Night.

[Convergence]

Thanks for the tips, im checking things out now.

To clarify, i guess what i am looking for is -

-mystery/noir style fantasy/thriller

-supernatural world co-existing with the natural world.

(similar to the movies mentioned, especially 'The Ninth Gate')

[pyan]

Maybe not exactly what you mean, but have you tried the Hawk and Fisher stories by Simon R. Green?

[D_Davis]

Originally Posted by Convergence

I'm looking for a good gothic style thriller book, similar to the style of the movie 'The Ninth Gate' from Roman Polansky. I like the mystery/noir style mixed with gothic elements of good/evil and the menacing sense of ever-present evil. I have never read a book along these lines, although i have enjoyed the following movies which are kind of what i am looking for in a book.

-'The Ninth Gate' (underrated movie with loads of atmosphere and a bad ending)

If you are a fan of this movie, you should read the book it is based on:

The Club Dumas - it is awesome. Loads better than the film.
A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice. . . .Think of "The Club Dumas" as a beach book for intellectuals." "--New York Daily News" Lucas Corso, middle-aged, tired, and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers, " Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment.The task seems straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Part mystery, part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, "The Club Dumas" is a wholly original intellectual thriller by the internationally bestselling author of "The Flanders Panel" and "The Seville Communion."

Or, some Tim Powers:

The Anubis Gates - A best-selling novel of time travel by a two-time winner of the Philip K. Dick Award combines action and adventure with the surreal and bizarre.

The Drawing in the Dark - An aging mercenary is the world's only hope to stave off evil forces, but first he must uncover the secret of Herzwesten beer, which is said to have saved the entire Western World from invading Turkish armies.

Or,

Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco

"As brilliant and quirky as THE NAME OF THE ROSE, as mischievous and wide-raning....A virtuoso performance."THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLEThree clever book editors, inspired by an extraordinary fable they heard years befoe, decide to have a little fun. Randomly feeding esoteric bits of knowledge into an incredible computer capable of inventing connections between all their entires, they think they are creating a long lazy game--until the game starts taking over....Here is an incredible journey of thought and history, memory and fantasy, a tour de force as enthralling as anything Umberto Eco--or indeed anyone--has ever devised.From the Paperback edition.

Or, The Illuminatus!Trilogy By Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea - should be exactly what you're looking for.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by D_Davis

If you are a fan of this movie, you should read the book it is based on:

The Club Dumas - it is awesome. Loads better than the film.
A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice. . . .Think of "The Club Dumas" as a beach book for intellectuals." "--New York Daily News" Lucas Corso, middle-aged, tired, and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers, " Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment.The task seems straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Part mystery, part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, "The Club Dumas" is a wholly original intellectual thriller by the internationally bestselling author of "The Flanders Panel" and "The Seville Communion."

Or, some Tim Powers:

The Anubis Gates - A best-selling novel of time travel by a two-time winner of the Philip K. Dick Award combines action and adventure with the surreal and bizarre.

The Drawing in the Dark - An aging mercenary is the world's only hope to stave off evil forces, but first he must uncover the secret of Herzwesten beer, which is said to have saved the entire Western World from invading Turkish armies.

Or,

Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco

"As brilliant and quirky as THE NAME OF THE ROSE, as mischievous and wide-raning....A virtuoso performance."THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLEThree clever book editors, inspired by an extraordinary fable they heard years befoe, decide to have a little fun. Randomly feeding esoteric bits of knowledge into an incredible computer capable of inventing connections between all their entires, they think they are creating a long lazy game--until the game starts taking over....Here is an incredible journey of thought and history, memory and fantasy, a tour de force as enthralling as anything Umberto Eco--or indeed anyone--has ever devised.From the Paperback edition.

Or, The Illuminatus!Trilogy By Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea - should be exactly what you're looking for.

You a fan of Tim Powers?

Have you read his wiki page? Apparently he was close friend of PKD.

[D_Davis]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

You a fan of Tim Powers?

Have you read his wiki page? Apparently he was close friend of PKD.

I am not actually.

I picked his stuff up because of his relationship with PKD, and because it is highly acclaimed. One of the characters in VALIS is actually based on Powers.

I tried to read The Anubis Gates, but I could not get into it at all. It's strange though, because it seems to be a very popular book, and I think it won a Hugo.

I have not read The Drawing in the Dark, but I have it and I will give it a shot soon.

I don't want to give up on Powers, and I will try another book or two.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by D_Davis

I am not actually.

I picked his stuff up because of his relationship with PKD, and because it is highly acclaimed. One of the characters in VALIS is actually based on Powers.

I tried to read The Anubis Gates, but I could not get into it at all. It's strange though, because it seems to be a very popular book, and I think it won a Hugo.

I have not read The Drawing in the Dark, but I have it and I will give it a shot soon.

I don't want to give up on Powers, and I will try another book or two.

Most of his books are Supernatural Historical Fantasy so i think you will see if he is for you after Drawing of The Dark.

Anubis Gates isnt what he usually writes even if its his biggest classic work being an highly rated award winning SF.


Drawing of The Dark i read less than a month ago and thought it was so good that i order two more of his books the second i finished it