Kiss of the Cobra
By Peter Tremayne
1984 Sphere Books
Paperback, 182 pages.
Ah, Peter Tremayne. I am of two minds about his work. His
books are impeccably researched, thus making the setting perfect for his
adventures, but at times it can be to the detriment of the narrative. His Snowbeast
(1983) put you right into the Scottish mountains and maintained a good pace with
a few chills, but Ants (1980) was a bit tepid because he spent so much
time showing his research of Brazil that it deflated the storytelling. Swamp!
(1985) is the best Tremayne book that I have read so far. Taking place in the
Everglades, he gives us more horror than history lesson and the book is better
for it.
There’s no doubt that Tremayne (real name Peter Berresford
Ellis) put a shit-ton of research into Kiss of the Cobra and the fruit
of his studies clog up nearly every page of this novel. Yes, he sets the table
nicely, putting you right into Indian culture and teaching you dozens of Hindi
words but when you get right down to it, there’s hardly any story. It’s the ol’
“open the tomb- suffer the curse” routine with a cobra goddess rather than a
mummy and it really doesn’t do much with what little potential it has. It is
horror-lite and it seems like Tremayne just wanted to show off how cultured and
intellectual he is rather than tell a scary, exciting story. Never has a 182-page
book felt so much like a 900-page book.
I’m not giving up on Tremayne; there are still a few horror titles of his out there that interest me, but I’m hoping for more like Swamp! and less like Kiss of the Cobra. One thing, though… the cover on that Sphere paperback is pretty sweet.
This review originally appeared in Midnight Magazine #8, July 2021.
Midnight MagazineBooks of Horror Facebook Page
No comments:
Post a Comment