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Rating: The series of adventures of Ulysse Bonamy by the Genoese writer Ivo Torello continues with Ecstasy and Torment in Montmartre. This is the fourth short novel (or long story) in this cycle set in the '30s in Paris (the so-called Roaring Twenties) which takes its cue from the acclaimed The House of Shells which took place at the end of the 19th century. However, the general atmosphere of these books is similar to that successful novel (in which we find some characters such as Madame Sabatière), even though in my opinion, they cannot reach its intensity except at times. These little volumes are in any case a pleasant read (I personally particularly appreciated the second and third chapters) and are well-presented from a graphic point of view (the covers by Elena Nives Furlan are truly refined) and I believe they will appeal greatly to those who love to follow the serial adventures of characters like the infamous occult detectives created by the pen of William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, and Sax Rohmer. However, I believe Torello gives his best over long distances and that, in the end, while the level (also of this Ecstasy and Torment in Montmartre) remains good, the risk is to repeat himself and become "mannered." But perhaps Torello himself must have realized this since the next chapters will be actual novels. Nonetheless, the book has, at certain times, a dreamlike atmosphere that succeeds, even within the framework of a story similar to a mystery, in elevating its level with delirious flashes of pure fantasy.
We find Ulysse Bonamy here confronting a threat with dark contours that risks unsettling Paris. Everything seems to initially revolve around the rivalry between the two painters Michel de Gaignères and Giovanni Malfanti (and the reference to art brings to mind “The House of Shells where the protagonists were impressionist painters) and between different opposing esoteric orders fighting among themselves. Madame Sabatière summons Ulysse Bonamy to the "Maison des Coquillages" to try to understand something about the strange events, but some of the characters summoned there are victims of what seem to be true demonic possessions. Bonamy then seeks help in his sixth sense, the Inner Hound, an entity that seems to evolve here, compared to the previous volumes, in an increasingly profound and interesting way, assuming disturbing material manifestations. In the end, everything seems to lead to the sculptor Ian Anton Morleu, a character certainly not unknown to those who have followed the previous episodes. With the help of the bibliophile Rossard, Bonamy manages to find volumes containing exorcism formulas that manage to restore the unfortunate victims of the possessions, but the matter is actually much more complex and also involves two particular objects: the Gorget of Countess Erszbet Bathory (stolen from Morleu) and a stone with magical powers (the Tanit Ogive). However, I must tell potential readers that Ecstasy and Torment in Montmartre requires reading the previous books and also (in my opinion) the novel itself The House of Shells, or you risk not being able to grasp all the nuances, thus losing much of the enjoyment of reading. At this point, there's nothing left but to wait for the finale of this series which is becoming very intriguing. Available on the Edizioni Hypnos website: http://www.edizionihypnos.com/.
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