The Gargoyle Book

Gargoyles are carved stones with diabolical figures, mostly used on Catholic churches. Gargoyle statues were believed by feudal lords that they protect man from bad phenomena of nature. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson is a bestseller about a man who believes that nothing could break his rise. A nameless character, that the author created, receives high admiration from women, being a porn-star. As a young man, he is traveling by car to an unspecified destination. At some point, he pours a bottle of bourbon on his legs and as he leans to pick it up, the car turns upside down and he finds himself in a state that 'hurts like hell'. The flame turns into a great fire and he burns alive. The author describes the sensation as if he had lived it. Suddenly, the reader is introduced to hell: 'the flesh began to carbonize like I was thrown on a barbecue and I heard sizzling skin, kissed by the flames'. Descriptions are gruesome and macabre. Even from its early pages, the book keeps the reader plugged. Evidently, our nameless character gets to a hospital. Here the action is little and only by the 80th page the reader is clear that his organ was consumed by the fire. Obviously, the porn-star is not able to resume his career. The next pages are filled with medical detailed conditions, a sign of assiduous documentation. In the hospital he meets Marianne Enghel, a patient in the psychiatric section that falls in love with him and the woman turns to sponsor his hospitalization. He eventually gets released from the hospital but obligated to wear a protection suit. He arrives at Marianne’s home and enjoys her full attention. He finds out she is a gargoyle creator and that their love had lasted for almost 700 years when the two had met at a monastery in Germany where he, as an ex-mercenary, caught fire and arrived for help. If the present is related in first person by our nameless character, the past is related by the woman still in first person. The reader is carried with skill in the two planes that intersect and among the memories to be reached.

The book is a historical fantasy story in Scheherazade-style. Many have compared it with 'The Name of the Rose', but with not so heavy symbolism.