What do you think?
Rate this book
Jack Eichord #2
Frenzy
If killing could be a profession, Frank Spain would be a master. He knows how to deal out death better than any specialist in the business, but when his daughter Tiff becomes a sex object in a nasty porno flick game, Frank is out to seek revenge like never before. Homicide Detective Jack Eichord has never been dealt such a grisly case, but as he traces evidence cross-country in pursuit of the killer, he learns how pleasurable murder has become for Frank Spain and how horrid it's becoming for his victims.
1 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1988
5 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Rex Miller
123 books46 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Rex Miller Spangberg was a DJ and horror novelist, best known for his "Detective Jack Eichord" books.
Rex Miller Spangberg was a DJ and horror novelist, best known for his "Detective Jack Eichord" books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 15, 2015
3 1/2 stars.
Torture. Grieving father/Hitman. Revenge. Mafia. Revenge. Cops. Detective Murder Mystery. Revenge. In 80's Splatterpunk fashion.
Very finely researched and written, however, the content and horrifically graphic tortures scenes in the first half of the book were just too heavy for my soft heart to give it a higher rating. No doubt, those who enjoy that sort of thing would probably rate this higher than I could.
I read this book in 2 fast and furious days, half the time reading so fast because I wanted to get through all the horror and terror of the first half, then compelled to read the second half with the same furious pedal to the medal as it became a full-on revenge tale interwoven with a detective murder mystery ~ continuing Rex Miller's intelligent, exciting, horror-filled, Jack Eichord detective murder series, involving serial killers and the like.
*Recommended for Splatterpunk fans and most of the horror-interested readers of Red Dragon/The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, the Lucas Davenport Prey series by John Sandford, and some who like The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson ~ though, this book is really nothing like any of those...it would just appeal to the same reading crowd.
August 10, 2023
Eh, not bad and I felt it was better than SLOB. The Eichord POV was pretty laughable, with so much unnecessary dialogue. The kills were good, but as graphic as I'd expected.
July 26, 2007
this is pulp crime writing at its dirtiest. Miller relishes in causing his characters pain. the plot is to insane to divulge here. but it's real dirty. if you want to read a crime/revenge type thriller that will make you feel dirty all over, this is for you.
June 6, 2014
After the experience I had with Rex Miller's SLOB, a dark and bloody story of a serial killer nearly as unstoppable as Death itself, I just had to snap up his follow-up. FRENZY definitely carries on Miller's signature unwavering, often lurid, and completely riveting form of horror, and as a bonus we see the return of his heroic (and very human) Midwestern cop Jack Eichord. Unfortunately for Jack, his luck takes a turn for a the bad once again as he follows the blood-drenched trail of another, truly unique killer!
Frank Spain is a peerless professional killer for organized crime, and accordingly a man to be feared and respected in the underworld we law-abiding citizens can't see. He has an estranged relationship with his beautiful daughter Tiff, and in an act of rebellion as much as desire she goes out with a young man in spite of Frank's overprotective vigilance. It proves to be the biggest mistake of the girl's life: her would-be paramour is a predator, and before she knows it Tiff is transformed into a sex slave bought, sold and traded by fetishists and freaks. It's a nightmarish fate she doesn't survive.
When Frank finds out his daughter is dead and that it was because of the same criminal forces that employ him, his sanity snaps. He proceeds to work his way through the underworld like a psychotic shark, hunting down each and every monster who victimized his daughter and destroying them with increasingly sadistic zeal. The body count is huge by the time detective Jack Eichord is called on to investigate the murders...but can he stop an unhinged madman who long ago made his business murder?
Years after reading FRENZY, the works of Andrew Vachss reminded me of this horror classic. Like Vachss, Rex Miller has a way of looking at the worst parts of humanity with a glaring light; watching Tiff's unspeakable one-way journey is as lurid as you can imagine, yet terribly, believably real...the unflinching detail of his description of the underground sex trade isn't for timid readers. Frank Spain himself makes a truly scary yet strangely sympathetic villain as he savagely visits retribution on anyone and everyone connected to his daughter's fate. Fortunately, it's all leavened by a moral center created by Jack Eichord...again, this dark thriller won't leave horror fans disappointed!
Frank Spain is a peerless professional killer for organized crime, and accordingly a man to be feared and respected in the underworld we law-abiding citizens can't see. He has an estranged relationship with his beautiful daughter Tiff, and in an act of rebellion as much as desire she goes out with a young man in spite of Frank's overprotective vigilance. It proves to be the biggest mistake of the girl's life: her would-be paramour is a predator, and before she knows it Tiff is transformed into a sex slave bought, sold and traded by fetishists and freaks. It's a nightmarish fate she doesn't survive.
When Frank finds out his daughter is dead and that it was because of the same criminal forces that employ him, his sanity snaps. He proceeds to work his way through the underworld like a psychotic shark, hunting down each and every monster who victimized his daughter and destroying them with increasingly sadistic zeal. The body count is huge by the time detective Jack Eichord is called on to investigate the murders...but can he stop an unhinged madman who long ago made his business murder?
Years after reading FRENZY, the works of Andrew Vachss reminded me of this horror classic. Like Vachss, Rex Miller has a way of looking at the worst parts of humanity with a glaring light; watching Tiff's unspeakable one-way journey is as lurid as you can imagine, yet terribly, believably real...the unflinching detail of his description of the underground sex trade isn't for timid readers. Frank Spain himself makes a truly scary yet strangely sympathetic villain as he savagely visits retribution on anyone and everyone connected to his daughter's fate. Fortunately, it's all leavened by a moral center created by Jack Eichord...again, this dark thriller won't leave horror fans disappointed!
December 20, 2010
Good.
In the end, I liked it quite a bit.
But it is not what I hoped it would be, namely one of the best hardboiled reads there is.
Often it is a lot of fun to read with crazy ideas, characters and killings.
But every now and again I got the feeling, that there was too much stuff going on at once.
Or that some characters where just a little over the top and therefor unconvincing.
In the end, I liked it quite a bit.
But it is not what I hoped it would be, namely one of the best hardboiled reads there is.
Often it is a lot of fun to read with crazy ideas, characters and killings.
But every now and again I got the feeling, that there was too much stuff going on at once.
Or that some characters where just a little over the top and therefor unconvincing.
February 19, 2023
I guess Rex Miller is associated with the splatterpunk writers of the 1980s, and there are endless amounts of human suffering, torture, and evisceration here. But, overall, I was reminded more of the crime thrillers of Frederic Brown. Miller has a similar slapdash style of writing that culls together punchy cop dialogue, allusions to Shakespeare, believable enough armchair psychology, and a playful narrator who interrupts from time to time with some great wordplay: “abstinence made the fond grow harder.” If Brown had leaned even more into the violence and sleaze–or he had, perhaps, come of age in a later era–I think his works would have come out close to the writing of Frenzy.
The book is told in three parts. The first follows a hitman’s young daughter as she far too easily descends into a life of drugs and prostitution. The second switches back to the hitman himself, Frank Spain, as the reality of his life comes into focus. His wife has left him for another man. His daughter has become fodder for snuff films. And the cold-blooded nature of his occupation mixed with his ongoing trauma lead him into a psychosis of killing. A good chunk of these first two parts of the book is compelling, making you angry and sympathetic at all the right times.
But the third part doesn’t work. Jack Eichord, the veteran detective, is the weakest link in the story. He spends far too long pining over a girl and not enough time with his coterie of cop buddies who have crass and colorful personalities in contrast to his bland persona. And when he begins impersonating Humphrey Bogart, he almost loses me completely. Aside from this, what had been an intimate and personal story of grief and revenge becomes a who’s who of mafia bosses and pedophiles. There are so many of them that they can only be seen at a distance, and the story is never able to recapture its earlier intensity.
The book is told in three parts. The first follows a hitman’s young daughter as she far too easily descends into a life of drugs and prostitution. The second switches back to the hitman himself, Frank Spain, as the reality of his life comes into focus. His wife has left him for another man. His daughter has become fodder for snuff films. And the cold-blooded nature of his occupation mixed with his ongoing trauma lead him into a psychosis of killing. A good chunk of these first two parts of the book is compelling, making you angry and sympathetic at all the right times.
But the third part doesn’t work. Jack Eichord, the veteran detective, is the weakest link in the story. He spends far too long pining over a girl and not enough time with his coterie of cop buddies who have crass and colorful personalities in contrast to his bland persona. And when he begins impersonating Humphrey Bogart, he almost loses me completely. Aside from this, what had been an intimate and personal story of grief and revenge becomes a who’s who of mafia bosses and pedophiles. There are so many of them that they can only be seen at a distance, and the story is never able to recapture its earlier intensity.
July 24, 2017
This book really pissed me off but kept me turning the pages even though there was a few scenes that had me cringing! Not even sure how I even came across this!! So we have - Loved the main character (Frank Spain - the psychotic. The cold-blooded, trained assassin who is killing in a blood lust of revenge.) he is the only reason why I stayed reading this frickin' filth! He is out for revenge and I love how he dishes it. Just wish his tortured scenes where longer. Didn't care about the detectives story. *yawn* I skipped those pages. Just seemed like this book was way to damn long and dragged out. Could have been cut in half. Ending was so rushed!
July 29, 2022
His work was good for the times since it wasn't a popular subject back then.
I do need help though tracking down a specific book from circa 82-86. I remember a light blue background with a barber's straight razor either shiny or with blood possibly dripping blood.
It was about an airline pilot who was choosing random victims during his downtime before his next flight or flights. The local police weren't able to catch him in the cities he landed at and I think he changed his MO slightly to stay under the radar.
I remember the title as Razor but can't find it under that and also looked under Razor's edge and still no luck. Could anybody direct to a site I can search for this by the above synopsis or even better, know the actual title. Thank you very much.
I do need help though tracking down a specific book from circa 82-86. I remember a light blue background with a barber's straight razor either shiny or with blood possibly dripping blood.
It was about an airline pilot who was choosing random victims during his downtime before his next flight or flights. The local police weren't able to catch him in the cities he landed at and I think he changed his MO slightly to stay under the radar.
I remember the title as Razor but can't find it under that and also looked under Razor's edge and still no luck. Could anybody direct to a site I can search for this by the above synopsis or even better, know the actual title. Thank you very much.
October 23, 2022
1. This book is not for the faint of heart. I almost couldn’t finish it. There’s some really disturbing scenes that caused loss of sleep and nightmares.
2. If you get past that point (first quarter of the book) it’s a story of the kind of satisfying revenge I’m sure most parents would want to have if in the same situation.
3. The last half of the book is set in ST Louis and deals with mobs which I always find interesting.
4. Ends abruptly but I was ready for it to end.
2. If you get past that point (first quarter of the book) it’s a story of the kind of satisfying revenge I’m sure most parents would want to have if in the same situation.
3. The last half of the book is set in ST Louis and deals with mobs which I always find interesting.
4. Ends abruptly but I was ready for it to end.
May 6, 2024
Confusing world building at some points, (the beginning)
September 6, 2021
Frank is out for revenge on some nasty, disgusting, and revolting human filth and scum. Gore a plenty. Putrid characters and at times so is the writing. You know what you are getting into with this author but his style can be a struggle at times. Chaingang series is way better.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews