'The Watchers', Jon Steele

The Watchers, Jon Steele (3.5)

I picked this book for two reasons: it was recommended based on my appreciation for Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’; and it is set in Switzerland, our up-coming vacation destination.  While it is long (574 pages), it was a fast-paced read.  It was not as broad in scope as ‘The Stand’, but it had a similar good vs. evil component at its center.  I liked that the story starts realistically and establishes credibility with the characters before it inches towards the fantastic.  Oddly that made it more believable for me.  I don’t want to say more about the plot, as I feel the reveals are more powerful if you do not expect them.  I will say that the story benefits from the complexity of the characters.  You are not entirely sure who is bad or good, though you guess some may live in the supernatural realm. I particularly liked one of the main characters, Marc Rochat, the Quasimodo-like caretaker of the Lausanne Cathedral’s bell tower.  He is a sweet, magical man with a refreshing innocence.  The rigidity of the Swiss was possibly over emphasized, though I imagine that is based on the author’s experiences as he is now living in Switzerland. His descriptions of the details of the Cathedral are amazing - not surprising as the acknowledgment section mentions that he wrote the first draft in the belfry loge of the Lausanne Cathedral.