I've just finished "Scarlet Dream" and I honestly think it is the best Outlanders book I've read yet. Picking up on some hints given in "Oblivion Stone" it brings us a voodoo zombie army and an illusionary brothel manned by some very unusual women, so it's not short of outrageous ideas and action sequences.

Chief villain Ezili Coeur Noir is a terrific scary creation, a tall skeletal woman with the power to raise the dead. It's just a shame that the cover artist obviously didn't read the author's description very carefully! Don't know who that swimsuit model is supposed to be. Meanwhile The whole revelation of Ellie's Deep South brothel is a deeply creepy concept, and I like the way it ties in with the bigger story and established ideas about Annunnaki tech. There's also an amusing pastiche supernatural bodice ripper fitted into this section.

Papa Hurbon was an entertaining ambiguous character. Axler has done his voodoo research and put it to good use. For a relative newcomer as myself, the flashbacks about the destruction of the original Annunnaki mothership were an entertaining bonus. There are some excellent jokes from the regular heroes, such as Kane's wry observation that they battle gods on a very regular basis.

The story rattles along and their solution to the world threatening Red Weed threat is clever and makes sense. As usual Axler is excellent at writing combat scenes. The threads that have been laid for the last three books are definitely paying off now, yet this novel also feels like a complete adventure in itself. Well worth a read.