The Wood
by Guy N. Smith
1985 New English Library
Paperback, 171 pages
A little something different from the master. While he is
untouchable with nature-strikes-back novels, it is always interesting to read
Smith step outside his comfort zone and stretch his imagination. The Wood isn’t
perfect, but GNS always spins a powerful tale and this book goes by very
quickly.
Beware Droy Wood when the mist comes in from the sea…
Droy Wood stood between the town and the sea and everybody
avoided it. Lots of shit went down there through the years and the past never
really went away. The Wood is technically a ghost story… characters from
the past who met their demise in the woods hanging around to terrorize and kill
the living who are unlucky enough to venture into the woods on a misty night.
Sure, some of this sounds pretty familiar (can you say The
Fog?) and despite Smith’s descriptions of the horrors within the woods, the
specters really take a back seat to the modern day horror that sets the story
into motion, i.e. a rapist/ murderer’s abduction of a woman on a dark, lonely
road. It’s hard to take the Nazi ghost and old-timey apparitions in pantaloons
too seriously after that grueling scene.
But with the victims, the rapist, ghosts, mind control, dank bogs, befuddled police and small-town fears, there is a lot to keep you going in this book. It’s not as satisfying as a giant cancerous crab, but The Wood has a lot to offer when you’re in the mood for something different. Be sure to grab the New English Library edition with the nice Les Edwards cover!
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