Our Lady of Darkness

This is a fine example of the modern horror novel. Having lived in San Francisco in the 1970s (as did Leiber), I responded very positively to the authentic setting and even took out a map to check the sites. The main characters (Westen, Cal and Donaldus) were believable and I cared about them. The connections with occult scholarship and earlier weird fiction added other dimensions. The writing seemed a bit careless at times, so perhaps this book was written in a hurry. But I recommend it to Stephen King or Dean Koontz fans who wish to sample other recent dark fantasy.