By Peter Tremayne
1979 Sphere
Paperback, 230 pages
The horror novels of Peter
Tremayne (nee Peter Berresford Ellis) are really hit or miss with me. Some have
been a real chore to get through (Kiss of the Cobra, Zombie)
while some have been excellent and fun reads (Swamp, Snowbeast).
With The Curse of Loch Ness, I have finally found my (new) favorite, an
exciting tale of family curses, back-stabbing locals and a big lake monster
that is more than meets the eye.
Being the last remaining member
of her family, Jeannie Millbuie inherits the old family castle situated
overlooking Loch Ness. It’s not an entirely welcoming old pile of stones; there
are weird sounds, endless shadowy corridors and the weird caretaker Mrs. Murdo
obviously hates her. Most of the old-timey locals seem to have ulterior motives
when it comes to Jeannie’s presence, while others just tell her to leave. Just
what is going on in Balmacaan Castle?
The tale is told in two parts.
The first is Jeannie’s arrival, her exploration of the castle and the area and
then, her abduction. The second part involves her boyfriend Tim, who was
summoned to meet her in Inverness but now she has disappeared. Granted, things
slowed down a tad with the start of the second part. The first section has you
guessing and wondering what the curse is, the secret is, then it
backtracks while Tim catches up. But he does so quickly enough and the story
charges forward.
The monster? Yeah, he’s in there
but he’s unlike any theory of the Loch Ness Monster that you’ve ever heard of.
First off, in the chapters from the monster’s own point of view, he is referred
to as the intelligence. No dumb dinosaur here, though he is a leftover
from prehistoric bloodlines. He is the single most sympathetic character in the
book, though Jeannie, Tim, and a handful of other interesting humans are also
engaging.
Tremayne’s usual flaw of
over-explaining and too much exposition are kept in check this time by having
the history of the area and the curse told by a few different people at
different times. While one of the baddies is explaining it to Jeannie, the
narrative is broken up with her being bored and disinterested in the history
lesson. Kind of how I felt reading some of the above-mentioned novels. But this
one moves quickly and for the most part kept my interest throughout, making for
a very satisfying read. The cover art (some say by Terry Oakes, and I can’t see
anything to make me disagree) alone is worth the price of admission.
