Oliver Clarke's Blog: Little Slices of Nasty, page 5

Summerside Lake Massacre by LRJ Allen #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: An entertaining mix of slasher and mystery, with a nostalgic 80s vibe. 4/5

ReviewsText Review

Summerside Lake Massacre is one of those books that makes up in entertainment value what it lacks in originality. As you’d expect from the title and cover, it draws on slasher movies for a lot of its inspiration, but also mixes in classic mystery vibes and some more realistic serial killer content.

The plot follows a brutal killer who, following a lengthy imprisonment, has been moved to a minimum-security facility. Naturally he escapes and makes his way to a summer camp, where a bunch of counsellors are preparing for the vacation season. What enriches it all is the back story that LRJ Allen includes in his book. Although the bulk of the action takes place (appropriately for a slasher) in the 1980s, we also get parts dedicated to the opening of the camp in the 1950s and the previous crimes of the killer.

The young cast of characters is what you’d expect for this kind of thing, but they’re fun to read and the stalk and slash elements are well handled. The local sheriff also plays an active role (unusually for a slasher) and adds a bit of variety to the tale. The plot is fairly straightforward, but Allen works in a mystery element relating to the camp’s origins that gives the book the feel of a giallo at times. There’s a gradual build-up of tension before the final scenes of slaughter. Most memorable of all are the flash backs to the killer’s original crimes. These sections are very well handled, with a deeply creepy feel to them and some fairly shocking violence.

The final quarter of the book wraps everything up very neatly, with all the strands coming together in a satisfying conclusion. Slasher novels are one of those things I wouldn’t expect to work well, but I’ve read a few recently that I’ve enjoyed a lot. Summerside Lake Massacre was no exception.

Video ReviewBook Details

Title: Summerside Lake Massacre | Author: LRJ Allen | Publisher: Self-published | Pages: 266 | Publication date: 14th June 2022 | ASIN: B09TPY83XY | Source: Kindle Unlimited

Synopsis

Camp Summerside 1984.

A staple of summers in the town of Summerside Lake for the last twenty-five years, where kids and camp counselors get together for weeks of rural, fun activities.

But Summerside Lake is not as perfect as it seems. For its rolling hills and crystal clear waters hold a deadly secret, one thought long buried and forgotten by all.

But not by everyone.

There are some who remember, some whose anger never dies.

And for those at Camp Summerside, the lake will run red with blood.

Warnings

Content Warning: Sexual assault

Notice by Heather Lewis #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: The most disturbing book I have ever read. Devastating in its utterly convincing portrayal of everyday evil. 5/5

ReviewsText Review

Three elements combine to make Notice an incredibly bleak, difficult and disturbing book. In fact, I can’t think of a more disturbing one, and I’ve read a fair few.

Most obviously, the subject matter is horrible. The protagonist/narrator is Nina, a young woman who supplements the income from a nine to five job by selling herself to men she picks up at the local train station. One such customer takes her home to his wife and she stays with the couple for an extended period during which she takes part in increasingly degrading sexual acts. Nina forms a bond with the wife, who is complicit in these acts whilst also seeming to be a victim of her husband’s sexual aggression, and discovers that the couple had a daughter, whose clothes she is forced to wear. Once she escapes the house things, if anything, get worse.

Secondly, the book has a realistic feel that is rare in fiction of this kind. There are no flourishes, no moments that lift the reader out of the story. Instead, it’s told through a very simple first-person narration that is horribly compelling and completely convincing. The reader experiences everything that happens to Nina, with no filters or distractions. The events are often brutal but never excessive to the point that they feel unconvincing. I was left with the overwhelming sense that these things, as appalling as they are, are things that happen to real people every day. Nina’s voice is that of someone broken by the events they have endured and the impact of those events on their psyche.

Finally, and most chillingly of all, author Heather Lewis was herself a victim of abuse during her time as a teenage equestrian. Her first novel House Rules touches on this and her second novel, the mystery The Second Suspect involves an investigation into a crime very similar to that detailed in Notice.

Heather Lewis died of suicide in 2002. Notice was published posthumously.

Video ReviewBook Details

Title: Notice | Author: Heather Lewis | Publisher: Serpent’s Tail | Pages: 198 | Publication date: 19th August 2004 | ISBN: 9781852424565 | Source: Self-purchased

Synopsis

As a young adult, she started to turn tricks in the parking lot of the local bar. Not because she needed the money, but because the money made explicit what sex had always been for her, a loveless transaction.

A sadist takes her home to replay family dramas with his beautiful wife, and she becomes hopelessly drawn into their dangerous web, and eventually, ends up in more trouble than she ever bargained for. Arrested and confined to a psych ward, a therapist is assigned to help her. But instead of treatment, they develop a sexual relationship, bringing her both confusion and revelation.

Warnings

Content Warning: Rape, torture, psychological abuse, drug addiction

Carry on Screaming: The Irish Witch by Dennis Wheatley

CriminOlly thinks: Entertaining blend of cheesy, sleazy horror and historical adventure. 3/5

Title: The Irish Witch | Author: Dennis Wheatley | Series: Roger Brook #11 | Publisher: Arrow | Pages: 446 | Publication date: 1973 | Source: Self-purchased

Review

You might think, reading the synopsis above and looking at the cover pic, that ‘The Irish Witch’ is a full-blooded horror novel packed to the gunnels with debauchery and satanic horror. In fact it’s a 50 page full-blooded horror novella packed to the gunnels with debauchery and satanic horror, surrounded by a 400 page historical adventure novel. It definitely wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but the good news is both books were fun to read. 

Being the 11th book that Wheatley wrote about hero Roger Brook, there’s a lot of back story, but essentially he’s an English adventurer in the early 19th century who fights for King and country against the French (this being the Napoleonic period) and anyone else who looks at him funny. His daughter, Susan is smitten with a roguish young man called Charles who is trying to join the New Hell Fire club, an exclusive establishment where men and women of a certain social class can satisfy their baser instincts. These were a real thing in 18th and 19th century England and Ireland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellfire_Club), although whether they had the same satanic wrappings as Wheatley’s representation I’m not sure.

The one Charles wants to join is run by an Irish witch, aided by a hideous (but apparently very well endowed) priest who lusts after Susan. Everything is set up then, as per the book jacket blurb, and then the story takes a massive detour as Brook goes adventuring around warring Europe and America on various missions. A lot of the adventure stuff was actually kind of fun, although Wheatley has a nasty habit of writing pages and pages of exposition that read like they came from a history book. We get lengthy explanations of Napoleon’s strategies and the backgrounds to various battles which were quite painful to read through and add little to the story. Some of the action is entertaining though, including a particularly brutal fight scene in rural Germany. There’s also a supernatural element throughout, with one of Brook’s old flames using a crystal ball to forewarn him of impending events.

Right at the end the books turns into a horror novel again and the ending is enjoyably horrific, if a bit ludicrous and undoubtedly dated. 

Wheatley wrote dozens of these potboilers over the years and this was one of his last. I read a couple of the others years ago, but my memory of them is sketchy so I have no idea how representative it was of his work. His prose is pretty unspectacular, but he keeps the plot moving (even if it wasn’t the plot the cover promised) and I found myself whizzing through the second half. As noted above though, there is a lot that dates this book horribly. It’s frequently racist (the one black character is there purely as exotic muscle for the witch), and whilst Susan is quite plucky, the salacious depiction of sexual violence in the book is pretty abhorrent.    

In the 60s and early 70s there seems to have been little else of note going on in the British horror fiction scene (certainly there no-one else as prolific as Wheatley was) and so this seems a fair benchmark for the state of the genre ahead of the publication of James Herbert’s ‘The Rats’ in 1974. That book will be the subject of next month’s instalment of Carry on Screaming, which I promise will contain MUCH MORE HORROR.

Synopsis

The Hell Fire Club is being revived – by a sensuous wanton who calls herself the Irish Witch. Once more the titled of the land are being sucked into its vortex of vice and degradation. And among them is Susan, Roger Brook’s young and lovely daughter.

Soon it will be Walpurgis Night. Soon a ruined castle will echo to the baying of initiates as Susan is led towards an altar – there to be ritually violated by the Priest of Satan.

Warnings

Content warning: Rape, sexual abuse, satanism

Video ReviewWhat else happened in 1973?

(Note that this article was originally published in 2018)

1973 was, ironically given the current dominance of Brexit in the British news, the year that the UK joined the European Economic Community, which later became the EU. IRA bombings continued to be a regular occurence in mainland Britain and the inquest opened into the Bloody Sunday massacre of unarmed protestors by British troops in Northern Ireland the previous year. One of the things that I found interesting about ‘The Irish Witch’ was the fact that the villainous witch is an Irish Republican and the Irish problem ends up being central to the plot. That a book set in 1812 and written in the 1970s touches on an issue which has ended up being the fundamental stick point of the Brexit debate shows how important UK-Ireland relations are. (For anyone outside the UK, the main point of contention around Brexit at the moment is how the relationship between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK will be handled). 

1973 was a great year for British horror cinema, with classics ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘Don’t Look Now’ both released (in fact the two films often played as a double bill). 

The horror-ish Bond film ‘Live and Let Die’ was also released, with the suave Roger Moore playing 007 for the first time. Of course, it was also the year ‘The Exorcist’ came out. Whilst not a British film, it is worth mentioning here because its chequered history in the U.K. is quite typical of how horror was treated here during the 70s and 80s. There were multiple calls for the film to be banned on its first release and it was illegal to own a copy on video for 11 years between 1988 and 1999. If you’re interested you can read more about it here: https://www.bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/exorcist. ‘The Exorcist’ never made it onto the infamous ‘Video Nasty’ list, but I’ll definitely be reflecting on some of the films that did in the coming months. 

Without Fail by Lee Child #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Reacher might be an unrealistically perfect combination of superman and genius, but he’s entertaining as hell to read. 4/5

Title: Without Fail | Author: Lee Child | Series: Jack Reacher #6 | Publisher: Bantam | Pages: 398 | Publication date: 2002 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: No

Review

It’s hard to think of a modern thriller series more successful than the Jack Reacher books. Over 25 have been published in as many years and they’ve become a staple in book stores and holiday suitcases. The premise of the series is dead simple but endlessly satisfying. Jack Reacher is a towering, determined, ex-military policeman of no fixed abode who travels round the US writing all manner of wrongs. It’s not unlike any number of 1980s American TV shows, and the episodic nature of the books plays into that. Each is pretty much standalone without a consistent plot running between them.

‘Without Fail’ is the sixth in the series and sees Reacher tracked down by the lead Secret Service agent in the incoming US Vice President’s protection detail. She’s Reacher’s dead brother’s ex, and now wants to hire the big man to conduct an audit of the VP’s security. Reacher calls in a female ex-colleague to help, someone who is arguably tougher than he is. Naturally, things escalate quickly from there and the book has all the twists and explosive violence you’d expect from Jack Reacher.

What makes these books as much fun as they are is the blend of investigation and action. They aren’t detective stories exactly, but they often feel like police procedurals, with Reacher interviewing suspects and witnesses and chasing down leads. Child does a great job of keeping the reader guessing and of slowly ratcheting up the tension. This entry is more personal than some, with the ghost of Reacher’s brother never far away and Jack’s relationship with the ex getting increasingly complicated. By the end, reader engagement is at the point where the pages fly by.

The thing that’s fascinating about Reacher as a character is that he works despite being a somewhat two dimensional superman. He’s as tough as any action hero and has the deductive mind of the most brilliant detective. He shouldn’t be even vaguely believable, but somehow he is. And despite his apparent infallibility and invulnerability, the tension never lets up. There’s no question that Reacher will win, but the how and the level of collateral damage are left hanging right to the end.

Synopsis

Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course. A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast – because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They’ve planned well. There’s just one thing they didn’t plan on: Reacher.

Warnings

Content Warning: Rape, Bereavement

Tolerance Warning: All good

New York Dead by Stuart Woods #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Deeply silly, but definitely entertaining, NY cop thriller. 3/5

Title: New York Dead | Author: Stuart Woods | Series: Stone Barrington #1 | Publisher: HarperCollins | Pages: 404 | Publication date: 1991 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

I’m not sure I’ve read Stuart Woods before, which is kind of surprising given that he’s written over 70 crime novels since the early 80s. ‘New York Dead’ is the first of his long running Stone Barrington series which now runs to over 60 entries. Barrington is a New York cop turned attorney who does the kind of things that you’d expect – rights wrongs, beds beautiful women and so on.

This debut novel feels very much like an origin story, starting with Barrington as an NYPD detective and following his exit from the force and the establishment of his private practice. This character building is done against the backdrop of his investigation of a mysterious crime that he happens upon in the first chapter – a beautiful female newsreader falling to her apparent death from her apartment window and then disappearing.

This is very much second tier crime writing, but it’s a lot of fun for all that. The plot is wildly implausible but never less than entertaining. Barrington has a habit of stumbling into crimes that defies the laws of statistics, but does at least mean that he’s usually where the action is. He’s also, naturally, cat nip to every woman he meets, including a judge who keeps coming onto him.The characters, whilst not exactly subtle or original, are memorable. There’s a creepy undertaker, a fierce news anchor and Barrington’s Italian American partner at the NYPD.

What lets it all down somewhat is the fact that while the action is pretty snappy, the dialogue is anything but. Something that can lift an average mystery up a level ends up dragging this one down. Conversations feel stilted and lack any wit or sparkle, the characters just saying things to move the story on. There’s also a really nasty vein of homophobia running through the book. Not something that the protagonist actively gets involved in, but also not something he ever challenges.

So, a fun page turner if you fancy something easy to read, but by no means a classic of the genre.

Synopsis

Everyone is always telling Stone Barrington that he’s too smart to be a cop, but it’s pure luck that places him on the streets in the dead of night, just in time to witness the horrifying incident that turns his life inside out.

Suddenly he’s on the front page of every New York newspaper, and his life is hopelessly entwined in the increasingly shocking life (and perhaps death) of Sasha Nijinsky, the country’s hottest and most beautiful television anchorwoman.

No matter where he turns, the case is waiting for him, haunting his nights and turning his days into a living hell. Stone finds himself caught in a perilous web of unspeakable crimes, dangerous friends, and sexual depravity that has throughout it one common thread: Sasha

Warnings

Content Warning: Homophobia, Rape, Necrophilia

Tolerance Warning: Homophobia

Submariner Sinclair by John Wingate #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Reissue of a 1959 WW2 naval thriller that lacks any thrills. 2/5

Title: Submariner Sinclair | Author: John Wingate | Series: Submariner Sinclair #1 | Publisher: New English Library | Pages: 245 | Publication date: 23rd February 2021 (originally published 1959) | Source: Publisher | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

I’m a big fan of older thrillers and crime novels, and there’s certainly something kind of neat about reading a WW2 adventure written just 14 years after the end of the conflict. I haven’t been able to find out much about the author John Wingate, but given that the title page puts this letters DSC after his name (short for Distinguished Service Cross, a medal awarded to British military officers), I’m assuming he fought in the war, presumably in the Royal Navy.

‘Submariner Sinclair’ is certainly not short on convincing detail when it comes to life aboard a fighting ship. Unfortunately, what it is short on is thrills. Despite being packed with incident it’s a devastatingly dull book. Wingate throws his hero, plucky officer Peter Sinclair, into all sorts of scrapes – sea battles above and below the waves, a daring commando mission to rescue POWs – but he does so with prose that lacks any real spark. I failed to connect with Sinclair or the other characters. That’s something that doesn’t have to be a problem in a thriller, but it is a problem when there’s nothing else to grab your attention.

The book very much reminded me of a novel version of one of the ‘Commando’ comics. For the uninitiated, which is probably anyone who wasn’t a boy in the UK in the 60s or 70s, these were a seemingly endless series of one off WW2 comic adventures. I read many of them, but even as a kid I generally found them dull, despite their two-fisted action.

Like those comics, Wingate’s book lacks any nuance or depth. Brits and colonials (Australians and Canadians) are good,Germans and Italians are bad. There’s no grey area on either side, and the Axis troops are constantly dehumanised with racial slurs. They’re referred to by both the Allied characters and narrator as ‘Huns’ or ‘Wops’ almost exclusively. That’s probably not surprising in a low brow war novel from the 1950s, but it is disappointing that nothing was done to correct or at least contextualise the language in this 2021 reissue.

Combining that lazy nationalism with the leaden writing results in a book that fails to be entertaining in any way.

Synopsis

Mediterranean, 1942

Britain is at war with Germany.

Responsible for protecting British convoys in the Channel in a small Chaser, young Peter Sinclair, R.N., is thrown head-first into the horrors of war.

Sent to serve in H.M. Submarine Rugged, defending convoys delivering food and supplies to the besieged island of Malta, Sub-Lieutenant Sinclair finds himself 120 feet beneath the sea, surrounded by deadly mines and just three miles from the enemy’s doorstep.

In a bold night raid on a small harbour on the north African coast, the famous ‘Fighting Tenth’ Submarine Flotilla comes under attack by enemy E-boats, whose relentless depth-charging threaten to sink Rugged to the bottom of the ocean.

When the Captain of a British submarine is captured, Sinclair, Able Seaman Bill Hawkins and a crack team of Commandos undertake a deadly mission to rescue the officer from a German-controlled prison on an Italian island.

But can they outwit a lethal enemy? Or will Sinclair’s first taste of submarine warfare be his last?

Warnings

Content Warning: Racial slurs

Tolerance Warning: Nationalism

Black Run by DL Marshall #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: As thrilling a thriller as you could wish for – tense, claustrophobic and action-packed. 4/5

Title: Black Run | Author: DL Marshall | Series: John Tyler #2 | Publisher: Canelo | Publication date: 2nd December 2021 | Source: Publisher | Content warnings: No | Tolerance warning: No

Review

Black Run is author DL Marshall’s follow up to his 2020 debut Anthrax Island. Itmight not have the attention grabbing title of his first book, but it does firmly cement John Tyler as a hero who can carry a series and Marshall as more than just a flash in the pan.

Like the first book, Black Run mixes full throttled action, mystery and claustrophobic tension into a very satisfying thriller that harks back to the glory days of the 50s, 60s and 70s when British authors like Alistair Maclean and Desmond Bagley were global bestsellers. Marshall infuses that classic page turner vibe with modern sensibilities. Tyler is a very 21st century hero – cynical but principled and far more concerned about doing the right thing by individuals than protecting governments.

This time around, he’s bringing back right wing extremist to face justice in the UK. The action switching between the mission to capture the terrorist, and Tyler’s passage back to England with his captive on board a dilapidated freighter. The seaborne setting for that second strand works brilliantly, stranding Tyler in an environment where he’s reliant on the ship’s crew but not totally sure he can trust them. There are twists galore, as well as a mounting body count and a palpable level of suspense as the elements conspire against Tyler as much as his human enemies. The other strand is just as fun, more action-packed and filled with tactical detail as Tyler works to outsmart his target’s body guards at an Alpine ski resort.  

What makes these books is Tyler himself. As narrator as well as protagonist he does a brilliant job of keeping things entertaining as well as resolutely British. Tyler’s gruff humour is consistently amusing and provides a good balance for the sometimes brutal action. It all comes together into a very enjoyable read which moves at the pace of Tyler’s turbo-charged Audi. It’s exciting, packed with every kind of action scene you could thing of and written with the kind of energy and humour that tells you the author is having as much fun as you are.

Synopsis

John Tyler has a new mission: capture a heavily protected target from the Alps and smuggle him back into the UK in time for Christmas.

La Rochelle in the dead of night: Tyler boards the Tiburon, a rusting freighter crewed by smugglers and mercenaries, for the last leg of his journey. But he is short on time. His mark’s security team has pursued him across France, determined to retrieve their boss, and they won’t be deterred by an ocean. The race is on.

Tyler heads into the Bay of Biscay in a storm, with a pursuing boat snapping at his heels. But when his prisoner is found murdered inside a sealed hold on the ship, everyone on board becomes a suspect. In the flickering light of the Tiburon’s passageways there’s nowhere to run, but everywhere to hide.

Some might think the situation is spiralling out of control, but they don’t know John Tyler…

Warnings

Content Warning: None

Tolerance Warning: All good

Later by Stephen King #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Derivative story about a boy who sees dead people feels like a rush job from the grand old man of modern horror. 2/5

Title: Later | Author: Stephen King | Publisher: Hard Case Crime | Pages: 264 | Publication date: 2nd March 2021 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: No

Review

I love the fact that Stephen King publishes books through Hard Case Crime. Compared to the houses that carry his other work, it’s a somewhat niche publisher and one (no surprise) that I really like. I also thought his last Hard Case book, ‘The Colorado Kid’ was really pretty great. A gentler, subtler more mysterious tale than a lot of his work and therefore a great fit for a smaller press. That brings me to ‘Later’, which is much more like the kind of book King is famous for with one exception. It isn’t very good.

The book is about a young boy, Jamie. He is the son of a single mom who’s a New York literary agent and he can see dead people. What’s more he can talk to them and they are compelled to tell him their secrets. This is a talent which, understandably, Jamie tries to keep to himself but which adults, namely his mother and her cop girlfriend, seek to exploit. So kind of a mash up of ‘Firestarter’ and ‘The Sixth Sense’, although to be fair to King he did at least write one of the things he’s borrowing from.

Like a lot of his books the actual plot ends up meandering quite wildly, with lots of events included that don’t really add a great deal. Mercifully this isn’t a 1000 page monster, but even at a fairly slim 250 pages it feels longer than it needs to be.

On the plus side, Jamie makes a very engaging narrator and King’s prose is always a pleasure to read. The story might not be up to much, but the telling of it is entertaining enough. It does pretty much all come together again for the finale, and the last 15% or so is genuinely gripping. Unfortunately, there’s a weird twist tacked on at the end which is unnecessary and frankly a bit icky. If someone other than King had written this I’d be giving it 2.5 stars and rounding up to 3. Given his proven talent this just feels lazy book, so I’m rounding down to 2.

Synopsis

The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.

Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King’s classic novel IT, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears

Warnings

Content Warning: Alcoholism, drug abuse, incest

Tolerance Warning: All good

Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: 1980s doorstop bonkbuster is fun when it comes to sex and showbiz but falls flat when it tries to be a crime novel 3/5

Title: Hollywood Wives | Author: Jackie Collins | Series: Hollywood #1 | Publisher: Simon & Schuster | Pages: 705 | Publication date: 1983 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

Hollywood Wives might seem like a strange book to feature on a blog that focuses on crime and pulp fiction, but it is a mystery at heart. What’s more it’s a novel that is more than happy to the kind of mix of kinky sex and violence that any pulp hack would be proud to feature in one of their books.

Published in 1983 it remains author Jackie Collins’ most successful book, having spawned sequels and TV spin offs. As the title suggests it focuses a number of women in Los Angeles either in or connected to the movie industry – the wife of a male star, an ageing sex kitten who wants to take on more serious roles, a screenwriter married to a successful director, and a ruthless agent. There are a pretty much equal number of male characters, most notably an ex-hustler trying to make it as an actor, as well as the various husbands.

A lot of the Hollywood related action revolves around the production of a movie, Street People, which most of the characters end up having some connection to. The crime element is present right from the start, the book opens with the brutal machete murders of three people and chapters involving both the murderer and the detective pursuing him are interspersed and ultimately entwined with the Street People story.  

The plot isn’t what draws readers to this book though. It’s all about the sex really and there’s a lot of it. Most of the characters end up sleeping with at least one other of the cast at some point (often more) and the variety of the erotic activity described is impressive. Most memorably perhaps an amorous medical emergency which results in the participants literally locked together like dogs.   

Aside from that creativity around all things sexual, the writing is fairly perfunctory. The characters are broad stereotypes, the dialogue is serviceable and there’s no lack of incident, even if Collins doesn’t often squeeze as much tension out of the events as a better writer might have. Crucially, for this review, the crime elements are much less well handled than the sex and showbiz. The investigation into the initial murder feels like a tacked on afterthought rather than an integral part of the novel. The storylines do converge towards the end, but in a fairly unconvincing way.

There are also some strange attempts at humour which fall very flat – things like a British character with a very strange mockney accent and a PI called Little Schitz. For all that it’s very readable, sleazy and schlocky and fun in the same way trashy TV is. At 700 pages it’s way longer than it needs to be, but clearly lots of readers have managed to and in a way the length is part of the fun.

Synopsis

They lunch at Ma Maison and the Bistro on salads and hot gossip. They cruise Rodeo Drive in their Mercedes and Rolls, turning shopping at Giorgio and Gucci into an art form. They pursue the body beautiful at the Workout and Body Asylum.

Dressed by St. Laurent and Galanos, they dine at the latest restaurants on the rise and fall of one another’s fortunes. They are the Hollywood Wives , a privileged breed of women whose ticket to ride is a famous husband.

Hollywood. At its most flamboyant.

Warnings

Content Warning: Racism, homophobia, rape, incest, child abuse, underage sex, drug addiction, alcoholism

Tolerance Warning: Homophobia, racism

The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: A fascinating examination of faith and a superbly subtle horror story. 5/5

Title: The Case Against Satan | Author: Ray Russell | Publisher: Penguin Classics | Pages: 140 | Publication date: 1962 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: No

Review

As a horror fan of some 35 years, I’m amazed that I’d never heard of Ray Russell’s 1962 exorcism novel The Case Against Satan until it was mentioned by the excellent YouTube horror reviewer ‘Plagued by Visions’. It’s a beautifully written book that combines many of my favourite themes and which clicked with me immediately.

The premise is simple and familiar from later works (most notably of course William Peter Batty’s The Exorcist). Two catholic priests work to save the soul of a 16-year old girl who has been possessed by the Devil. Or perhaps it’s about two middle aged men who imprison and torture a mentally ill teenager. That balanced subtlety of telling is what makes the book work so well. It treads the tightrope between supernatural and psychological explanations fantastically well. What makes it even better is that whichever side you chose to believe it’s a chilling tale.

At only 140 pages it’s a book with no fat at all, the writing has the kind of stripped down style which I love with a very grounded feel and great dialogue. The contemporary 1960s suburban setting proves perfect and the words flow from the page into the reader’s brain effortlessly. That skilful writing allows Russell to explore a wide range of themes without ever distracting from the story. The nature of faith, the power of guilt, mental illness, abuse within the Catholic Church. All are covered with an even handed style that encourages the reader to think rather than just accept.

And of course it’s a great story too. It’s packed with incident, tension and variety, with the priests battling gossip and prejudice as much as they are the forces of darkness. It’s a horror story, a mystery, a psychological thriller and a theological discussion all wrapped up into one creepy little package. Highly recommended.

Synopsis

Teenager Susan Garth was “a clean-talking sweet little girl” of high school age before she started having “fits”—a sudden aversion to churches and a newfound fondness for vulgarity. Then one night, she strips in front of the parish priest and sinks her nails into his throat. If not madness, then the answer must be demonic possession. To vanquish the Devil, Bishop Crimmings recruits Father Gregory Sargent, a younger priest with a taste for modern ideas and brandy. As the two men fight not just the darkness tormenting Susan but also one another, a soul-chilling revelation lurks in the shadows—one that knows that the darkest evil goes by many names.

Warnings

Content Warning: Religion, rape, child abuse

Tolerance Warning: All good