I was seventeen and alone in the house. I don’t remember why. It was between three and four in the morning and the closing credits sequence of Alan Parker’s deliciously unsettling film Angel Heart was promising nightmares if I dared to sleep. It had truly scared me.
And here’s the thing, the thing, you know, the end? When that all happened? And you realized that, y’know? It took me completely by surprise. I went back and read the novel it was based on, Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg and had it happen all over again. (Of course the novel differs significantly from the film – they’re both worth checking out – and do it before trailers for the film’s remake, that’s due next year, hit the air and ruin some surprises for you.)
I’m not usually one for crossing that line into supernatural territory, in the middle of a mystery. I like a horror story fine, but I usually need to be prepared to accept those kinds of elements before I dive into the story. I usually like my borders well defined. Some people mix their peas and mashed potatoes, others like to enjoy them separately – all I’m saying.
However there is something, there’s that tingly sensation I get sometimes when an author has got me invested, I’m getting into it without having done the research, realizing I’m live without a net here and absolutely anything is possible. I read a bunch. I watch a lot of movies. This sensation doesn’t happen very often. So, I relish it when it comes.
Some folks I’ve learned not to trust – in a good way – Joe R. Landsdale, Diana Wagman or Allan Guthrie (particularly his short stories). Anything could happen. And I don’t mean, it’s going to be supernatural - though it might – but the exhilaration of the unknown? Worth it.
Some folks who regularly deal in the supernatural and I like it – Laura Benedict, Charlie Huston and how about the graphic novel The Damned by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt? That one is straight up gangsters and demons – think Humphrey Bogart up to his elbows in debt to the devil, literally.
Do you mix chocolate and peanut butter? Do you have any supernatural mystery suggestions?
John Connolly, in my humble -- and most times right 
-- opinion, owns the supernatural mystery genre. I'll talk myself blue in the face praising him. He truly is one of the best authors writing today.
