Hit Me With Your Book Review

Friday, December 29, 2023

Killer Flies By Mark Kendall

Killer Flies
By Mark Kendall
1983 Signet
Paperback, 159 pages

Mutated insects, paper-thin characters, sex at inappropriate times, oozing gore, wildly unbelievable situations, a huge concert they won’t call off despite the risk… this book is a blue-print for bad, pulpy 80s Nature-Strikes-Back books. In other words, it’s fucking great.

A truck carrying a government experiment overturns, releasing a swarm of genetically mutated flies loose in New Mexico. They eat everything in sight, including the main character’s daughter. With the help of her hunky ranch hand, she gets over that little bump in the road pretty quickly, but vengeance is on her mind. With the help of the scientist who unwittingly created the insect horde, they try to find the answers and the way to end this assault. Will they find the answer, or will the love triangle get in the way? You’ll wonder all the way to the risible ending.

Featuring some of the worst “men writing women” instances of all time, it is with great pleasure that I learned that Mark Kendall, his colorful biography and all, is a pseudonym for Melinda M. Snodgrass, a serious science fiction writer (most notably for Star Trek: the Next Generation TV show a few years later) and, quite definitely, a woman. She took the gig to pay bills and turned in one of the better examples of animals-amok horror filled with titillation, gore, and silliness. It seems very possible that she wrote this as a satire on the genre. Whatever the case, I read the book quickly and with a smile on my face the whole time.

The book has recently been reprinted and recorded as an audiobook by Encyclopocalypse Publications, thus bringing Snodgrass’s skeleton-in-the-closet to a whole new generation of thrill-seekers. Even though Snodgrass doesn’t mention her work as Mark Kendall (this is the only one) in her bibliography, it is a book that does exactly what it says on the tin. It delivers the gruesome goods.

Wolfcurse By Guy N. Smith

Wolfcurse
By Guy N. Smith
New English Library, 1981
Paperback, 176 pages

This is one of my favorite non-Crab books by Guy N. Smith. Everything works. It’s a fresh idea and Smith barrels into it and doesn’t let up until the last sentence. The entire book follows the main character’s actions as his life falls into chaos.

Ray Tyler is a milquetoast; a henpecked banker who is suddenly going through some changes. After beating up a trio of young thugs, he starts standing up to his wife, his neighbors, and his boss. In fact, he starts turning into a really violent asshole. A murderous asshole. He thinks he might be turning into a werewolf, thanks to a book on Folklore that he had recently purchased. Surely that would explain his sudden, violent bloodlust and overcharged sex-drive.

GNS never really tips his hand as to whether Tyler really is a werewolf or if it is all in his head and that is part of what makes this book so readable. Stone cold crazy or bloodthirsty werewolf? He doesn’t skimp on the gore or sexual violence. In fact, the rape scenes are very vivid and made me squirm quite a lot. Not pleasant in the least. That is to say, very real and scary.

This is GNS at his very best. The cover painting of the New English Library paperback is of a werewolf who is a dead ringer for Paul Naschy’s Waldemar Daninsky, too! This book gets my highest recommendation.

Saturday, December 9, 2023

The Jersey Devil By Hunter Shea

The Jersey Devil
By Hunter Shea
Pinnacle Books, 2016
Paperback, 378 pages

If I’m going to tackle a book that is 378 pages long, it has to be written by Hunter Shea. Only he can tell a story that long that will hold my intertest. No fluff, no filler; every word is essential and moves the tale along. And what a tale it is. Shea’s cryptozoological monster books are a treasure. He takes every known fact/ rumor about the mythical beasts and makes it an integral part of the story. I was prompted to research the Jersey Devil after finishing this book and yes… he nailed it. And improved on the legend.

The Willet Family are a close-knit crew, and they have a history with the Devil. Ol’ Boompa, the gran’pa, had encountered it years ago and has had revenge burning in his veins ever since. With a spate of new Devil sightings, the family gets together with a shit-ton of firepower, and they head out to hunt. Naturally, they get a lot more than they bargained for.

Rarely do I root for humans in a book like this, but Shea makes the Willet Family so damn likeable that you have to. The Devils, plural, yes- there are many, are formidable creatures but they aren’t infallible. But there are just so many. Throw in captive humans kept for breeding reasons, a rock concert, and innocent people stuck in a very bad place, and you have a page turner that moves very quickly and delivers the gory goods.

I’ve said it before; Hunter Shea gets it. His name should always be mentioned when speaking of the greats of the genre that I love the most… nature-strikes-back. Guy N. Smith, James Herbert, Hunter Shea… he is among the elite.

The Witchcraft of Salem Village By Shirley Jackson

The Witchcraft of Salem Village
By Shirley Jackson
1976, Popular Library
Paperback, 125 pages.

Take one of the most messed-up and horrific times in American history and hand the story to one of the all-time great horror authors and you’ve got quite a book. Of course, Shirley Jackson needs no introduction; The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery alone will have her ensconced in the Horror Hall of Fame forever.

We all know the story… or do we? I live about 25 miles from Salem, Massachusetts and these days, Witch City is crawling with all things Hallowe’eny and witchy, witches are celebrated all year ‘round. (A piece of advice… avoid Salem like the plague in October. It is a fetid tourist stew.) But while there is a Bewitched statue in the middle of downtown, what really happened there (nearby, really… about 5 miles away) is no cause for joyous frivolity. The truth makes the merriment seem like a load of bad taste.

Jackson retells the story of the Puritans of Salem Village in the 1690s and their hysteria which led to the execution of 19 people, with many more accused “witches” dying in jail. Started by a group of bored teenage girls, they whipped up a frenzy of fear among the ignorant townsfolk, accusing anyone they wanted of witchcraft. The flames were fanned, and a real epidemic of mistrust, paranoia and lawlessness ensued.

It is a fascinating slice of American history, but it has the unfortunate ending of “Oops… we made a mistake” when all was said and done. No justice was ever had for the accused. In fact, as I write this (September 2021), the very last “witch” to not yet be exonerated, Elizabeth Johnson, Jr., has recently had papers filed to clear her name. Over 300 years after the fact!! What a sickening, incomprehensible mess those religious nutsacks caused!

There are many editions of Jackson’s book out there. I particularly like the cover of the Popular Library edition. If anyone knows the artist, please let me know.

The Roo By Alan Baxter

The Roo
By Alan Baxter
2020 Self-published
Paperback, 123 pages

Remember that story and photo floating around the interwebz about the jacked-up Red Kangaroo that was terrorizing Australia? Well, that is where this book started. As explained in the foreword, a Twitter conversation about that animal got to “(it’s) like something Zebra Books would have published back in the day”, and it took off from there. Kaelan Patrick Burke did a mock-up cover and Baxter, being Australian, was coaxed into writing it. And there it is! The cover of the actual book is a cleaned-up version of Burke’s original idea, complete with a Zebra tag along the edge.

The book does exactly what you would want it to. A small town on the edge of the Outback is missing a few citizens. And then more. The story doesn’t take long to cut to the chase; it is a massive, 7-foot muscle-bound Red Kangaroo laying waste to the townsfolk. Many of the victims are total dirtbags who deserve their fate, so their gory demises are satisfying. Really, what can you say? You want gory death-by-Roo and you get it. Set ‘em up and knock ‘em down.

The book isn’t completely satisfying, though. It does come off as a bit empty, largely due to it being a quickly written story to satisfy the above-mentioned Twitter exchange. A brisk pace, however, is maintained through it’s very short running time and the red flows heavily. And that is what we want. Some of the more detestable characters serve a bigger purpose than just being Roo fodder, too. An undercurrent of male toxicity runs throughout, making some character’s come-uppance a savory delight. On a serious note, Baxter added an afterword, which is just a paragraph about the need to recognize and attempt to eradicate domestic violence. Bravo!

A handy 3-page glossary is included at the end to help out those of us not familiar with Aussie slang. Keep your finger on those pages while reading. You’ll need it! Strewth!

The Uncanny By William Lauder

The Uncanny
By William Lauder
1977 Arrow Books
Paperback, 140 pages

This is a novelization of the 1977 Amicus anthology film of the same name. If you like the movie, you’ll like the book. I, as a crazy cat person and a horror freak, love the film. The book is a hoot, too, though I have to recommend it with reservations.

The writing is just terrible, but comically and endearingly so. Lauder repeats himself frequently, especially with phrases that he seems to like. “The silence was total.” is a good line… once, but he uses it at least three times in the first story alone. Poor Donald Pleasance: when describing a character played by him in the prose, Lauder uses the term “thyroid eyes” countless times. Not much is added to the screenplay, though he does delve into some back story here and there, but at 140 pages, you pretty much get the film in words. By the way, Lauder is Allen Harbinson, who wrote (under his own name) some sci-fi and some Elvis books. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that he ever combined those two topics.

Being a tie-in for a somewhat obscure film, this title can get fairly pricey on the secondhand market. I paid more than I usually do for a paperback (over $20) but it’s worth it to add it to my collection. Moreover, reading about evil cats while my own two felines lay upon me, purring, lazy as sacks of shit, is priceless.

Friday, December 8, 2023

The Return By Bentley Little

The Return
By Bentley Little
2002 Signet
Paperback, 354 pages

In horror circles, Bentley Little is a name that pops up a lot. Lots of people like his stuff. I’d never read him. While browsing at Savers, I found this one and, while it’s way longer than I usually tuck into, I threw caution to the wind and laid out my 3 bucks. What could possibly go wrong?

Strange things are found at an archeological dig in Arizona, including a large, humanoid skull. Could it be the fabled Mogollon Monster or was that just a story to scare kids? And what really wiped out the Anasazi Indian tribe? Weird shit starts going down in the area, in fact all around the state things are getting spooky. Museum artifacts move by themselves, the main characters see themselves in ancient pottery, faces get ripped of… lots of weirdness ensues. In fact, too much weirdness ensues. It all becomes a bit of a mishmash.

Little is a very good writer, and the characters are relatable, but there’s just so much supernatural phenomenon going on that it gets very dense and confusing. Is it about inanimate objects coming to life, a monster tearing off faces, the townsfolk’s possession, or what? It’s about all of that and more but getting to the point where it all ties together was a chore. I almost gave up a third of the way through, but then a character found a dead 4-year-old kid and took him home and barbequed him and I decided to stick with it.

For the length of the novel and with how much weird shit was happening throughout, the end was kind of a fizzle. At 354 pages, you’d think it would have a slam-bang, solid ending, but I didn’t feel that it did. Still, I don’t regret reading it but when I was about halfway through, I kept glancing at my “to be read” pile and wishing I was done. Not a bad book, but I’m not keeping it. I’m open to trying other Bentley Little books in the future, though.

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Red By Jack Ketchum

Red
By Jack Ketchum
2002 Leisure Books
Paperback, 211 pages (plus)

I approach Jack Ketchum’s work very carefully. For instance, I do not want to read The Girl Next Door. My wife said that the boys torturing the girl would upset me, and I’m taking her word for it. I’m a pussy, yes, but why should I make myself upset on purpose? That said, I loved Off Season and all of its gratuitous nastiness. No question about it… the guy can write, and he knows how to push the right buttons.

I saw Red in the thrift store, and I knew it was about a man’s dog being ruthlessly killed by some shit-assed kids and the road the man has to go down seeking justice, and I wondered if I should bother. Ketcham’s penchant for drawing out discomfort might make me regret it, but I took a chance anyway. I’m glad I did. The dog-icide is fairly quick, if nasty, and I settled in for the ride.

Red isn’t really a horror story; it is more a tale of frustration and vengeance. The kids that killed Avery Ludlow’s dog were from good families, powerful families. Justice was going to be very hard to come by, but Avery is a tenacious old coot. Rarely have I ever rooted for a “hero” as much as I did for ol’ Ave’. He had me in his corner for the whole book. Fucking kids…

This Leisure paperback edition of Red (which was written in 1995) also includes a 93-page novelette called The Passenger and it is much more in the typical Ketchum vein, with rape, murder and psychological fuckery. Its short running time is packed with hopelessness, sleaze, violence and mind games, which is to say, it is pure Jack Ketchum, and it is quite good.

Red was first released in the UK in 1995. I believe that this Leisure edition is the first US paperback printing.

Saturday, December 2, 2023

The Pet By Charles Grant

The Pet
By Charles Grant
1986 Tor Books
Paperback, 343 pages

I have a bunch of Charles L. Grants books in my To-Be-Read pile. I’m a huge fan of his Shadows anthologies and have grabbed a few of his novels, hoping they would be as rewarding. The thing is, his novels are thicker books than I usually enjoy, so they’re often passed over in favor of quicker reads. Well, I finally bit the bullet and read one and I’m glad I did.

The Pet is two things: it’s a horror story and a high school drama. Don has a fucked-up home life and his only comfort in being in his room with his animal posters and figures of wild beasts. I can relate, though I had pets as a kid… he’s not allowed to. His school friends are few and, like all teenagers, he likes someone but isn’t sure if she likes him. Oh, and there’s a serial killer in the town.

Yeah, there’s a lot going on in this book, but Grant keeps it focused and moving along at a nice pace. I was really rooting for the romance to bloom amidst the mayhem, too. (Hey, I’m a sucker for that stuff.) I thought I had it all figured out about 100 pages in, but I was wrong. Oh, so wrong. The supernatural is very much at play in the second half of the story.

There’s some decent bloodshed, gripping suspense and urgent action but none of it will work for you if you don’t really suspend disbelief. Let yourself go and enjoy the ride. By the way, the book is good enough that I read it faster than many shorter ones. It kept me eager to see what happened next. Maybe I’ll pull another Grant book out of the ol’ TBR pile soon.

Thursday, November 23, 2023

The Night of the Toy Dragons By Barney Cohen

The Night of the Toy Dragons
By Barney Cohen
1977 Berkley Medallion
Paperback, 218 pages

You should know by now that I’m a sucker for alligator-in-the-sewer books. There have been good ones (like Croc by David James) and there have been shitty ones (like Death Tour by David J. Michael) and Barney’s book falls somewhere between the Davids; not quite as great as Croc but head and shoulders above the crap-tastic Death Tour.

The Night of the Toy Dragons really shouldn’t be as good as it is. The first half of the book concerns two groups, the scientists, and the sewer workers (teams led by intellectual son and blue-collar dad respectively) who are desperately trying to figure out what is responsible for a handful of gory deaths in the sewer. After they resolve that question, the second half is figuring out how to eliminate the problem. There are a shit-ton of meetings of the brain trust, walkie-talkie calls and endless research. But, oddly enough, the book never really bogs down because of that. (Hah! The first guy to go missing is a sewer worker named Boggs! I amuse me!)

What took them almost 90 pages to figure out is that there is a mutant strain of alligator that has set up housekeeping in the warm New York sewer system. They’ve been there for a long time and their numbers have been increasing so much that they’re not a secret anymore. The ‘gators are small (roughly a foot long) and white, with mouths that take up a good portion of the body. They hunt in packs (unlike most crocodilians) and are voracious feeders.

I haven’t read anything else by Cohen, whose other books don’t interest me (thriller, sci-fi, and a biography of the musician Sting), but he does OK with this one. I can almost taste the amphetamines in his writing as he fervently whips us through the details of the two teams’ research and their excitement of discovery. Stick with this one. The pay-off is totally worth it. You’ll dig it, I think.

Friday, November 17, 2023

Night Killers By Richard Lewis

Night Killers
By Richard Lewis
1983 Hamlyn
Paperback, 208 pages

I love Richard Lewis. He never lets me down. He jumped on the nature-strikes-back bandwagon in the late 1970s and knocked out a bunch of excellent horror novels. He wrote TV and movie tie-ins under his real name Alan Radnor, but his horror books as Richard Lewis vault him deep into my heart, right there alongside Guy N. Smith.

Night Killers is a gruesome novel about cockroaches that develop a taste for human flesh. The origin of their dietary change opens the book in very gruesome fashion, with a serial killer’s poor disposal of a victim’s body. This whole opening is a grueling, gory, and exciting scene and eventually leads us to another excellent horror set piece. It’s not until 30 pages in that we meet our main characters. Like most of the great eco-horror novels, Lewis sets ‘em up and knocks ‘em down… the deaths are gruesome and harrowing. Much to my delight, there is a scene with a toddler… no, he wouldn’t go there… Yes. Yes, he did. I am a big fan of “nothing is sacred” horror.

Taking place in a seedy section of London, Sally is in charge of Unity House, a hostel for alcoholics and vagrants; a place for them to stay and be safe. Her boyfriend David, a reporter (I know, an oft used trope) might have stumbled on a big story here in the East End. Main characters or not, Lewis puts them through the paces, and you never know if they’re going to make it to the end or not. The book never lets up with grisly roach killings and claustrophobic situations of hopelessness. Except for a gratuitous rape scene (really, hadn’t she been through enough already?), I have no complaints at all about the savagery Lewis ladles on.

While I enjoyed every moment of this book while reading it, perhaps it is telling that when I sat down to write this review a few weeks later, I didn’t remember it very well. I had to skim through and reread it a bit to remind myself what it was that I liked so much about it. Even though it evidently didn’t stick with me, I loved it as I read it and gleefully recommend it.

Saturday, November 11, 2023

Killstreme By Rayne Havok

Killstreme
By Rayne Havok
Self-published, 2020/21
Paperback, 80 pages

This book (and author) came to my attention when I heard that Amazon had banned a few extreme horror books, this one included. Naturally, I immediately wanted to support this book and author, so I put it on my wish-list and kept checking back to see if it was still “unavailable”. Eventually, sanity prevailed, and the book was again for sale on that billionaire’s website. I bought it.

A slender volume, it is. Just over 70 pages of story, double-spaced; it would be about a 30-page story in a normal anthology. But that doesn’t bother me. I like ‘em short. And sweet. And violent. I’ll admit that got a little nervous when I started the story; as with many self-published efforts, a good proof-reading was needed. The first chapter is a mess of punctuation and sentence structure errors, but as the story went on, I either stopped noticing or they weren’t present.

But that’s just the editor in me. Story-wise, this is loads of fun. A sick fuck gets a chance to make his own snuff film. He goes to a secluded film-site and begins his torture/ murder in the vilest ways imaginable. And then the tables turn…

Havok gleefully describes painful torture on the male anatomy and I fucking love it. After so much misogyny in the genre, it’s nice to see uncompromising male genital torture. Read ‘em and weep, fellas. The extremity and over-the-top violence were obviously a lot of fun to write and it sure is fun to read.

I will definitely look into her other work, but I will also hope that she hooks up with a worthwhile proofreader/ editor. Her great ideas deserve to be properly presented.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Man-Eater By Ted Willis

Man-Eater
By Ted Willis
1976 Bantam
Paperback, 200 pages

This is a good one. More thriller than flat out horror, it delivers the gory goods while maintaining an exciting and compelling story. A washed-up animal trainer releases a pair of tigers into the English countryside and even though they had been raised in captivity, their survival instincts take over. Terror and mayhem ensue.

Willis fills the book with believable characters and even though they might seem cookie-cutter on paper (the tired detective, the eccentric sharp-shooter, socialite, etc.) they are brought to vivid life, and I totally bought it all. Best of all, when the story takes on the tigers’ point of view, it adds another layer of adventure and pathos, rather than falling into silliness like it might in a lesser writer’s hands. The book chugs along quickly and you embrace all of the characters involved, both human and feline.

Willis (eventually Lord Willis) never ventured any closer to the horror genre than he did with Man-Eater. A successful playwright, screenwriter and, especially, TV writer, he even wound up in the Guinness Book of World Records as world's most prolific writer for television. Man-Eater was made into a TV movie for CBS in 1978 called Maneaters Are Loose starring Tom Skerrit. In the film, the action moved from England to California, naturally.

Friday, October 20, 2023

Swamp Monster Massacre By Hunter Shea

Swamp Monster Massacre
By Hunter Shea
2017 Severed Press
Paperback, 138 pages

After reading The Montauk Monster, I started looking up Hunter Shea books online to see what else I needed to read by him. A two-sentence review by “Nick” on Goodreads ("The fucking bigfoots were throwing alligators at them!" If that sentence makes you smile, then this book is for you.) had this in my Amazon basket before you could say Gator Bombs!

This book does exactly what is says on the tin; Swamp Apes in the Everglades attack a swamp-tour boat that was hijacked by an arms dealer and happens to run over a young Bigfoot in a crash. The airboat’s passengers are the characters, not much more than fodder, but we don’t ask for much; we just want the bloody massacre, and we get it.

Shea once again writes his own cryptozoological rules and gives a lot more Skunk Ape lore than was previously known. Their smell, their underwater prowess and hunting skills are given a great deal of detail and their hatred of the interlopers is well deserved. With the short page count, I could barely put the book down, especially with Shea’s propensity for ending chapters like “And what happened next would change everything...” I mean, you just have to go on and keep reading!

Hunter Shea gets it. Nature strikes back in a bloody tornado of body parts. I will keep reading his output. He writes for me.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

The Unholy By John Halkin

The Unholy

By John Halkin

1982 Hamlyn
Paperback, 158 pages

When I think of John Halkin, my mind goes immediately to his trio of Slither, Slime, and Squelch and, to a lesser extent, Bloodworm. All worthwhile reads, especially Slither which is a masterpiece of the genre. Little did I know that right after that book, he’d written another horror novel; not about slimy, killer worms, but about a mummified, severed arm that crawls to life, attaches itself to poor, unfortunate victims and possesses the fuck out of them.

It’s the ol’ religious artifact thing again, but the possession angle is new and modern-day Paris is fucked. The surprisingly spry, lifeless arm squeezes its victim at the elbow, hard enough to pop it off, then grafts itself on, taking over the mind and body of the new host. Pages and pages of bloody killing ensues. Set ‘em up and knock ‘em down. Just how I like my 80’s pulp horror.

At 158 pages, the book has no chance to get boring. The pace is rapid, the characters are good enough to hold your interest and the gore is plentiful. The ending is a kind of abrupt and there’s a bit more religion than I usually go for (being a religious relic, the arm needs to be explained a little bit, I guess) but I wholeheartedly recommend this one for fans of grisly horror paperbacks.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Killer Pack By Albert Herbert and Roger Myers

Killer Pack
By Albert Herbert and Roger Myers
1976 Manor Books
Paperback, 221 pages.

“This book is really poorly written,” thought Mike as he read Killer Pack.

It really is. It took two authors to write this one and they obviously didn’t have the heart to tell each other that neither one of them could actually write. One of the most jarring things for me was the endless quotation marks for inner thoughts. I was all like, who are they talking to? Oh… it’s a thought. Now, that’s not technically a writing error but it is endless and really could (should) have been done differently. Choppy sentences abound, as well. A sentence for every action… He got into the car. He started the car. He drove the car to the store. He got out of the car. He chose a shopping cart. He went into the store. He selected his groceries. He went to the checkout. The total for his groceries was $20. (That’s only a slight exaggeration.)

OK, this book came out the same year as David Fishers’ infinitely superior The Pack and shares the springboard of vacationers getting dogs for the summer, then abandoning them when vacation is over. That’s some sick shit, but it makes for some good killer dogs.

A vacation town in Long Island is having a problem with a pack of rogue dogs. People are getting killed. What is everybody going to do about it? That is the crux of this story; not the killer dogs but what the town officials are planning to do about it. Town Supervisor Diana Wentworth is tough as nails and won’t budge on her No Leash Law. An up-and-coming candidate for her job wants to enforce one. (He’d get my vote… leash your dogs in parks, asshole.) Obviously, as attacks happen, Ms. Wentworth’s platform goes to shit.

Yep, that’s pretty much what the book is about. The dogs become secondary. But despite the absolutely abysmal writing and lackluster action scenes, it’s really fairly enjoyable. It was good to see a strong, if fallible, woman in a position of power and thoughtfully constructed gay characters. Both of those things are rare in Seventies pulp horror novels.

I almost want to read this duo’s other book The Last Survivor just to see if it’s as badly written. I would also probably read Myers’ solo release from 2010, Werewolf: A Gay Romp. Just because.

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ By Mendal W. Johnson

Let’s Go Play at the Adams’
By Mendal W. Johnson
1974 Bantam
Paperback, 282 pages

This novel is inspired by the Sylvia Likens murder case, as was Jack Ketchum’s later work The Girl Next Door (1989). Thanks to Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks from Hell, this book has had a resurgence in interest, driving already high prices even higher. Vanguard has reprinted it under the PfH banner. Perhaps that is why I found an original at a good price. I took the plunge.

While the Adams are vacationing in Europe, they have their responsible baby-sitter Barbara minding their two children: 13-year-old Bobby and 10-year-old Cindy. All is rosy until Barbara wakes up to find herself tethered to her bed. She comes to learn that it is a “game” being played by the Freedom Five, the two Adams kids and their friends, 16-year-old John, Dianne, almost 18, and her brother Paul, also in his young teens. They consider her, at 20, to be an adult and, though they like her, she is one of them… a grown-up. Now the kids were in power.

Naturally, things ascend, though they happen at a slow pace. There were times that I was afraid I was going to give up on it (a la Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game, a book I found so desperately boring that I didn’t finish it and haven’t read a King book since), but the prose made me stick with it, for better or worse. As the story progresses, so do the children’s cruel ambitions, and Barbara is methodically stripped, raped, and tortured. Much of this made me angry. I’m like, come on! You’re bigger and smarter than they are… make it stop. But this was just all a part of Johnson’s mastery of storytelling.

Every character’s point of view is explored, from the 10-year-old right up through to the captive Barbara. In parts, I couldn’t tell if I thought it was wildly misogynistic or if that might just be how certain characters felt about the situation. At any rate, it made me very uneasy for much of the book’s length, but I had to keep going. Such is the strength of this narrative.

The book absolutely kicked my ass.

It took a few days (weeks?) to come up from the lows this book made me feel. It is said that Johnson’s wife blames this book, the author’s only published work, for killing him, driving him into deeper drink and depression. I can believe it. The attention to detail put into the psyche of each character makes everyone’s motives and beliefs crystal clear. And that makes it all even more horrifying.

My wife has read Ketcham’s book and said I should avoid it, that it would make me mad. I have also heard that Adams’ is a “lighter” take on the same subject. I shall definitely be avoiding Ketcham’s book. Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ absolutely kicked my ass.

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Mastodon By Steve Stred

Mastodon
By Steve Stred
2022 Black Void Publishing
Paperback, 254 pages including Afterword and Writing Playlist!

Seventeen years to the day of his mother’s disappearance, Tyler’s father’s plane goes down in the exact same spot of Canadian wilderness where Mom vanished. That leaves our 17-year-old hero to head out to search for his dad, although the area is restricted. Military owned. Off limits. Verboten. But thanks to years of hiking and survival lessons with his Pop, Tyler is ready to break the rules and go off to search for his parents. If the number of years sound similar to you, that’s right. Tyler has never seen his mother.

Once Tyler is past the perimeter of the restricted area, the book alternates between his survivalist skills, his stealth, and his fears. It turns out the area is not safe at all. There are strange beasties afoot in the woods. With the help of a Mountie who is on a similar mission to get to the facility deep within the woods, Tyler discovers a military/ scientific conspiracy that could end his life if he gets too close.

I came to this book as a creature-feature recommendation from the good ol’ Books of Horror Facebook page. It isn’t something I would ever have discovered on my own, and I enjoyed it, so… thank you. The tension stays high throughout the journey through the woods and gets notched up even higher as Tyler nears his goal. The creatures in this feature are many, with the scientists playing Dr. Moreau and creating hybrid, mutated monsters that now fill the woods.

Stred is a fine writer and keeps the pages turning at a rapid pace. My only gripe would be that it is very much a boy’s book… a son searching for his father. There isn’t much estrogen in the story. If I had had a stronger relationship with my own father, perhaps it would have resonated with me more. Shit, if my father went down, I’d just say, “oh well… bummer” and move on.

All in all, this is a fun book that hits a lot of the right notes. I’ll check out more of this author. I like his style.

Bonegrinder By John Lutz

Bonegrinder
By John Lutz
1980 Berkley
Paperback, 232 pages

No, perv, this isn’t a porno, it is an early novel from John Lutz, who went on to be a very successful mystery writer, author of Single White Female and an Edgar Award winner. Like so many animal-attack books, it came in the wake of Jaws, and it certainly wears it’s influence on its sleeve.

There seems to be a monster in the lake in a small resort town in the Ozarks. There have been a few gory deaths and sketchy descriptions and that is enough to cause a lot of excitement in this remote setting. Tourists, news people and gawkers crash the scene, hoping to get a glimpse of the newly coined “Bonegrinder” or, better yet, one of the monster’s bloody victims. That’s more than Sherriff Wintone can take, and he struggles to maintain the peace and his own life in the midst of this Crypto-Craze.

I don’t know. I guess this was a pretty good book; certainly, it is well-written, but most of the characters are somewhat annoying. The sheriff is pretty much likeable, though he’s written with such a laid-back delivery and colloquialisms that I struggled a few times. Of course, he is the Sherriff Brody of the story, but I kept picturing him as Richard Farnsworth in Misery (1990) due to the writing of the character. Of course, Farnsworth was far older than Wintone was supposed to be, so it made the love interest scenes a bit jarring. And, like the sheriff, I wanted to smack the town drunk in the face.

All in all, the book felt a little overlong for me and the holding off (and holding off and holding off) on the reveal of the monster made me impatient. I can see how Lutz became adept at mysteries. I figured out one side-plot quickly, so I was pleased with myself. It’s not a bad book and I don’t regret the time I spent with it, but it didn’t completely satisfy me.