Review of John Gray’s *Black Mass*

There’s lots of piling on in this one.  Fifteen years ago I predicted to Jim Buchanan that Gray would end up a Catholic; I stand by that claim, as he doesn’t have anywhere else to go.  The final step is when you challenge whether man is any better than nature at all, and that’s what happened in his previous book Straw Dogs.  I’ve long enjoyed Gray’s anti-utopianism, his ability to challenge conventional views, and his willingness to change his mind, but this review does score some telling points.