Great mix of fantasy and Sherlock Holmes vibes from this book!
A lot of detail throughout the book which can get a bit lost in but I loved the characters.

This one is a alternate history adventure story in which Nikola Tesla and Aleister Crowley team up to subvert a mystical plot to use Edison's famous Spirit Phone to bring truly evil beings into the world in an attempt to bring about something of a new world order. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, supernatural mysteries, chapter tales like The Rocketeer, and dry wit along those lines you'll be likely to enjoy this one. For my own tastes this was a bit dry and impersonal and I was chagrined to find very few female characters (and that those who were there came in the form of uncouth harpies and demons at the beck and call of male sorcerers). However, I did still enjoy finding out where things would go next and the interplay between Crowley and Tesla despite their not quite feeling as complex of characters as two such figures would have been in my mind.

I absolutely loved this book! The setting in 1899 was in my opinion spot on with all of it's detail. Then having two of the most enigmatic men of the times team up to save the world.... Brilliant! The action is perfectly paced and the writing made this world seem magical. I feel this setting is ideal for such a tale. I would recommend this book to any one who like me adores a good historical read that transports you to that time and place entirely.

I love when authors provide historical facts in fiction books. These types of things keep me coming back for more. The Spirit Phone was a fantastic read!

The Spirit Phone is such an interesting and original mystery, science fiction, occult story concept. However, this one was a dnf for me at 30%. O'Keefe relies heavily on the reader's knowledge of famous historical figures (i.e.; Nikolai Tesla, Alistair Crowley, and Thomas Edison) and there is not much background on any of the characters, if the reader is not familiar with them, it can get confusing. O'Keefe used a lot of detail in explaining the theories and concepts of the occult practices mentioned in the book; a good amount of it was spent on time travel, which took away from the main storyline. I really liked the concept, I just could not focus enough to follow the story. It can be a great read to the right audience, as it is very informative and detailed alternative history novel.

To start out, the cover is not as eye-catching as you would expect for something for something as cool as a historical occult novel featuring such prolific characters as Tesla, Crowley, and Edison. That being said, I (thanks to NetGalley) read the e-book version, so if they made a special version of this with gold or silver plated pages, and a super nice leather hard cover, that would change my opinion! This book ran a little long for me, but I like that most chapters were on the short side. The plot made sense, and was action-packed. I liked that there were other historical figures sprinkled throughout, such as Edgar Cayce and John Dee. There was some humorous banter between Tesla and Crowley, which made the book pretty enjoyable as you could really picture those two conversing. I wish Edison had been featured a little more, as his story about the reasons why he invented the Spirit Phone were important to the book, and it would have been cool to have him join Tesla and Crowley. If you didn't know who any of these men were, you will certainly be researching to find out if they ever did cross paths! I think anyone that enjoys Steampunk, the Victorian Age, the Occult, and mysteries would enjoy this book. Thanks to the Publisher for the ARC!

This was a fun read, though I feel the author didn't fully take advantage of the many complex and wild layers of characterization possible with Crowley and Tesla.

An engrossing read featuring factual and fictional characters and science. I love it when an author does a good job in using real people in make-believe situations.

Tesla and Crowley are an unlikely duo that works and this is an excellent book that mixes historical fiction with fantasy isn a sort of steampunk way.
Loved the storytelling, the world building and the highly entertaining plot.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

The Spirit Phone by Arthur Shattuck O'Keefe is a solid dark fantasy steampunk novel. It has just a bit of everything for everyone. There's a lot going on and some cool historical figures and details to take in. I really liked the tone of the story and the world-building especially. I like that it feels very much like a classic Sherlock Holmes story plus a dash of the supernatural. I really wish though that I had gotten a better sense of the characters though. Another issue is that sometimes could be easy to get a bit bogged down in all of those details.

While in the Himalayas mountain climbing, Aleister Crowley is psychically attacked. Trying to escape, he teleports himself to his home. However, he ends up in the home of the inventor, Nikola Tesla. Crowley realizes that the ambush was due to new technology, he convinces Tesla to help him investigate. Why? It is Thomas Edison’s newest invention , The Spitit Phone. The device allows people to speak to the dead. It has become the center of much mystery and mayhem. People have bought this phone who often become crazy. What is causing that? Crowley and Tesla are in a race against time to stop the evil on the other side of those phones. The exciting investigative duo are the perfect pair to involve in this who-done-it horror. Will they succeed?

The author has written a novel about the historical time that includes inventions thou this is Edison ‘s invention. Filled with twists and turns, this story finds itself at the intersection of the scientific and the arcane. The author has included other characters and records to resolve the problem of the spirit phone. I enjoyed the novel but at times felt some of the time that the author was a bit too “wordy” when explaining certain things. It is a fascinating horror novel, with magic and mystery included.

This is a fun story, even with the often dark subject matter. An interesting and unexpected pairing of real life historical figures in a bonkers fantastical narrative. The core story is really good and original.
I did find Tesla and Crowley to be mainly defined by their familiar names, though. They didn't have the dark charisma on the page that I associate with them, and their interactions lacked the friction you would expect.
I found the narrative a lot harder to follow in the final third to quarter of the book, too. There's a lot of information coming in thick and fast as the action also picks up.
Overall it's a good read, but could have done with some tweaking.

The Spirit phone by by Arthur Shattuck O'Keefe book review

When Aleister Crowley and Nikola Telsa discover that Thomas Edison has a new invention, a phone to communicate with the dead, they find themselves on a joint mission to stop the phone falling into the wrong hands.

Crowley, a mage and a powerful one at that, arrives at Tesla's home by teleportation just as Edison announces his big invention, that has both men combining their knowledge of magic and technology to discover the origins of the phone and why a dark group hell bent on anarchy, wants to get their hands on it.

With the help of demons and a high speed airship, the two men must work together to stop all hell breaking loose on earth.
This book was so cool! To bring Crowley and Tesla together? Genius! I like the new depths that the author gave Crowley instead of the usual devil worship label Crowley earned himself.
Loved the settings for the book too! Such an innovative concept for historical fiction to be merged with sci-fi!, I don’t think I have ever read anything like it. Truly original. Completely enjoyed the mix of magic and technology that happened here and how the two were on equal footing. I don’t usually dabble in the sci-fi genre but I am starting to think I am making a mistake by not reading more in it, especially if they are half as good as this one.
I couldn’t put it down so if you are into sci-fi and horror and enjoy the historical setting for books then this is a true winner.
Sometimes the language was a little monotone but honestly I found it kind of charming! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

5 stars! Thank you #netgalley and #BHCpress for my review copy!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Arthur Shattuck O'Keefe for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Spirit Phone coming out November 15, 2022. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

What if there was a way for the living to communicate with the dead? It’s August 1899. The telephone has been around for a few years. Aleister Crowley and Nikola Tesla confront Thomas Edison and his new invention. It’s the Spirit Phone Model SP-1 that allows people to communicate with the dead. Soon after Aleister teleports into the home of Edison’s archrival, renowned inventor Nikola Tesla.

There’s a steep cost to using the telephone. People start to go insane or commit suicide when they use the phone. Crowley and Tesla embark on an adventure in a high speed airship, combining their knowledge in “magick” and technology to find out the device’s origin and purpose. Will they be able to stop the the demonic powers by an unknown adversary before it’s too late?

I loved this book! It was such an interesting concept and plot. I really enjoy stories about 1800s inventors and I loved the supernatural aspect of it. The time travel was also fun. There were a few scientific terms I wasn’t familiar with, but overall, I enjoyed this book.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys supernatural inventions stories!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Science meets the occult meets Sherlock Holmes in this dark fantasy.

Thomas Edison has invented a way to commune with the dead via The Spirit Phone. With demons, the ‘ferox phasma’ and ghosts, you’d think this was going to be a creepy read, which it is to a certain extent but the lighthearted and humorous tone flips the dark undertone on its side.

The world building is woven into the plot, revealing new entities and characters without disrupting the flow. I did find it challenging to keep up at times but that was more down to the heavy technical descriptions than the world building. I did try to set aside my hang ups on the technology and focussed on the plot and characters which were strong points, but, there were a lot of technical descriptions...

If you don’t want to get bogged down on the technology, the plot and characters are developed and complex enough to pay closer attention to. Overall, I’d recommend this if you’re in the mood for something a bit different and quirky.

I'd rate this 3.5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley and BHC press for this ARC. This review will appear on www.instagram.com/gothicshelf on 15th Nov.

Personally, I am not a big fan of fantasy books that use real historical figures. Nikola Tesla is one of the protagonists in this book. This book is well-written and has a fun and well-paced plot. The plot is a little shallow in places and the magic system feels incomplete. The characters fit the story, but are one-dimensional. It’s an enjoyable read, but not one that I would read again.

Charming alternative history in the vein of Sherlock Holmes, but stuffed to the brim with arcane magick (with a K) and electrical engineering -- of course, being that the novel stars Aleister Crowley and Nikola Tesla (grudge with Edison prominent featured). I was surprised by how quickly the plot takes off. Crowley appears in Tesla's apartment and within pages the adventure is afoot. O'Keefe writes very confidently in both character's voices and drives the plot forward at breakneck pace.

You absolutely must set aside any kind of historical reality to enjoy a book like this, but even with that acknowledgment, I did feel like the plot bent credulity from time to time. O'Keefe's characters and prose are also very educated and erudite which really cemented the Holmes and Watson feel (although in this case, both Crowley and Tesla kind of switch back and forth on being the Holmes and Watson). Overall, if you're looking for a fast-paced, 19th century alternative history magical detective novel... I don't know a lot of examples, but this must be one of the better ones.

The Spirit Phone is a tough one for me to review, because I didn’t finish it. I got 25% through. The writing was good, the scenes were nice and short. But this tale just wasn’t for me.

It started off as a murder mystery, then quickly went into an explanation about the science of time travel. Nothing wrong with that. But I just felt knocked off course. The murder mystery was pushed to the side and the story started following the time travel aspect and seemed to have nothing to do with the initial mystery. Which may have been OK to the right audience.

I went mostly blind into this story, thinking it was a horror dealing with a phone where people talked to the dead. Instead, it felt like a detective noir with the science of time travel discussed. And maybe it turns into a horror about a scary phone. But I just wasn’t interested and am trying not to force myself to continue books, movies, and TV shows that just don’t interest me in particular.

But with that said, this may be an excellent read for the right reader.

Sadly, I just don’t have much to say on this one. I found it very boring. The writing style was empty and the characters seemed forced. Maybe if they were original characters they would’ve had more time to shine, but being based on real people? They just didn’t work for me.

This may be a poor review, but even after reading I didn’t find it very memorable, good or bad.

The writing style gives me a sort of Mock-Sherlock Holmes fanfic vibe, but like I said, it’s just a bit mediocre and nothing really stood out to me. The novelty seemed to be in using historical figures are the main characters, but I truly believed I would’ve liked this a lot better if they had been original characters who weren’t restricted by the history of their real life counterparts.

Une série de meurtres, un mage tibétain qui vient donner son savoir à Nikola Tesla qui se sert de son "ghost phone" dans une histoire complexe et fantastique. Un livre passionnant et génial.