The Spirit Trap

"I can hear the voices of the dead."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: June 2010

Series: Jago & Litefoot 1.03

Featuring: Jago, Litefoot

Synopsis

Ellie Higson believes that spiritualist Mrs Vanguard can hear the voices of the dead, but Henry Gordon Jago thinks it's all superstition and theatrical trickery. But if Vanguard is a harmless fake, then why have some of those who have attended her seances disappeared so mysteriously? Jago and Litefoot investigate... and find themselves facing a deadly foe from the afterlife.

Verdict

The Spirit Trap was an outstanding story to continue the first series of Jago & Litefoot! This really was right up my alley and this was exactly the continuity I hoped for following on from the emotional events of The Bloodless Soldier. Ellie had more of a starring role and focus here which was absolutely warranted given her recent ordeal, and it was clear she was still suffering from that emotionally as she had gone to a spiritualist in the hope of being reconnected with her dead brother Jim. I thought it was fun for Jago to be very dismissive of the whole spiritualist thing and see it as nothing more than a theatre act. Given his background and profession, that was the perfect approach so it was nice for Litefoot to be a bit more sympathetic towards the barmaid, especially with the information they were concealing about the circumstances of Jim's death. Jago and Litefoot were keen to remain that stayed secret so their reaction when Ellie recalled what Mrs Vanguard told her about Jim's death at King's Cross Station with a bullet was tremendous. They had to start believing that maybe she was in contact with the dead! I adored the atmosphere of this story and the characters of Jago and Litefoot really were perfect for it. It always feels like stories are taking place at night and when dealing with the spirits of the dead I think that's important. I really was impressed with the feel and having Toby alongside Litefoot concerned about the whereabouts of his Beryl was really good. The connection that she had also visited Vanguard recently was excellent and I loved how that sparked into immediate worry for Ellie. She was obviously vulnerable given recent events with losing her brother, and finding Beryl as a burned out corpse was pretty gruesome. All signs pointed towards Beryl actually going up in flames herself to cause a fire which was just horrifying. The very idea of spontaneous human combustion is frightening so to hear it in full swing here was quite something! The threat of it having to Jago too with him actually emitting steam became a very real threat. Vanguard orchestrating a passage from what she believed to be the dead back into the mortal sphere was intriguing, and the truth was fascinating too! The idea of those Vanguard was in contact with not actually being the spirits of the dead but consciousnesses from the future was tremendous and something I didn't see coming! I thought it was brilliant for them to just use their position in the future to look back on historical records as the means to delivering the information from beyond, and it was fun to hear Litefoot piece everything together despite his initial misunderstanding when the Future revealed they were from the forty-ninth century. Hearing Jago and Ellie in the tunnel as spirits like they were floating in a dream was good and the desperation in their voices to return to their bodies was tantamount. The sacrifice of Toby to break the link with Vanguard and combust himself was spectacular and it was nice that Vanguard had no memory of events once that link was broken, with her admitting for £5 that she just told people what they wanted to hear. Overall, a sublime audio adventure! 

Rating: 10/10