Author: Greg Vilk ISBN: 0977218902 When I picked up Greg Vilk's debut novel Golem, I immediately had a vivid recollection of my first encounter with the phenomenon of a Golem while as a child attending a Hebrew parochial school. It was here where I first learned of how an animated being was crafted from inanimate material such as clay. Its life was derived from some divine intervention or Cabbalistic magic. The legend narrated was about Rabbi Loew from Prague, Czechoslovakia, who created a Golem from clay in order help the Jews in their daily tasks and also to protect them from persecution. In order to activate the Golem, it was necessary to place a piece of paper in its mouth that would dictate to the Golem his daily chores. Unfortunately, what eventually resulted was a creature that went out of control and fled the city never to be seen again. Later on in my life I came across another variation of this same theme that was authored by Nobel Prize winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, where a certain Rabbi Leib once again had created a Golem in order to protect the Jews. However, in the Bashevis tale greed takes over, in that the Golem's creator attempts to use it for a less than noble cause. As a result, the Rabbi looses control over the beast causing a great deal of havoc. Now along comes Greg Vilk's Golem take of the same theme. His narrative is set in 1942, when a Yale professor is kidnapped by the Germans. According to Section Chief Ramsay from the American War Department, Enemy Weapons Research, the professors brilliant mind will be employed by the Germans in helping them create a weapon of mass destruction. Consequently, a team of US Rangers, as well as the professor's daughter May, are dispatched to Greenland to capture a Nazi base and free the professor, where supposedly he is being held captive. As May is a linguist, her task is to decipher an ancient script that controls the Golem. Vilks version of Golem is cleverly conceived with his nifty balancing of the elements of the supernatural and legend. As the author has worked in the past as director of visual effects on such movies as Lord Of The Rings, Shrek, Day After Tomorrow, and Aeon Flux, his vivid, graphic and sinister scenes powerfully reflect his brilliant talents. Harrowing scenes of what the Rangers discover will indeed keep you awake at night, as they encounter a violent and brainless beast that massacres every human being that dares to enter into its path, including several of the Germans and the American Rangers. Apocalyptic visions will without doubt be evoked when you read how an SS squad was glued to the ceiling with frozen blood, or that their bodies were twisted, their limbs bent at strange angles, like figurines in a medieval Dance of the Dead." As an added bonus, it should be mentioned, that each chapter of the novel begins with a short passage supposedly written in the ancient script. According to the publisher, the decipherment of the message hidden in the passages is left as a challenge to the curious reader, and the author on his web site even offers a prize of one hundred dollars to the first person who is successful in cracking the hidden message. This is a pretty good action-packed thriller with a great deal of magical imaginative spark as it recycles the age old fable of the golem. |
