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Helmet Head
Helmet Head. He was just a rumor to the rough and dangerous “one-percenters”—a monstrous motorcyclist dressed all in black who rode the back roads of Little Egypt cutting off the heads of other bikers with a samurai sword. But on one terrible stormy night, Deputy Pete Fagan discovers that Helmet Head is all too real—and consumed with a fury that won't be satisfied until his demonic sword drinks its fill.
- GenresHorror
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2012
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47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 5, 2018
Not bad...a bit implausible, even for science fiction with an element of magic thrown in.
The author made one glaring editing error when he left a character’s old name unchanged. “Macy” apparently was “Janet”, and he left her as that one time without correcting it.
The author made one glaring editing error when he left a character’s old name unchanged. “Macy” apparently was “Janet”, and he left her as that one time without correcting it.
June 17, 2015
Mike Baron is a comic book writer who’s done some of my favorite comics (Nexus, Badger, The port-Crisis Flash, the first run on the Punisher regular series), and he’s moved over to writing novels now. He states that “Helmet Head” is a reworking of a horror movie idea, and as a horror novel, it is a fun read that has some issues.
The story starts simply, with a biker being chased by a cop through central Illinois until the biker is killed by a mythic biker known as Helmet Head, who then tries to chase down the cop. The cop ends up at a biker bar as a storm is starting to rage. To tell much more about the plot would spoil things, and there are plenty of twists that keep the story interesting, some of the twists are solid and make sense, but the last third of the book veers off course and makes the novel feel like two ideas mashed together that don’t quite fit.
Baron is excellent at that action sequences and the motorcycle related scenes. It’s hard to make a car chase work in prose, but any of those sequences are written in such a way that you will speed up your reading to match the pace of the action. He’s also good at the scenes of people interacting and reacting to the actions of the antagonist Helmet Head.
Where the book is lacking is when the story stops dead in its tracks for character backstory. It feels like padding to get the book up to novel length, and adds nothing to the narrative. It also seems to try to give characters depth that they don’t need, as this is essentially a slasher story, albeit more literary and competently written.
The revelation of Helmet Head and why he is doing what he does simply doesn’t work for me. Baron created a very realistic world and then delivers a SF twist that lands on the page with no setup, making it feel out of place and brought my enjoyment of the novel down to 3 stars from 4. It’s a good summer afternoon read, but part of me thinks that if he would have stuck with the story he was building, it could have been a bit more.
The story starts simply, with a biker being chased by a cop through central Illinois until the biker is killed by a mythic biker known as Helmet Head, who then tries to chase down the cop. The cop ends up at a biker bar as a storm is starting to rage. To tell much more about the plot would spoil things, and there are plenty of twists that keep the story interesting, some of the twists are solid and make sense, but the last third of the book veers off course and makes the novel feel like two ideas mashed together that don’t quite fit.
Baron is excellent at that action sequences and the motorcycle related scenes. It’s hard to make a car chase work in prose, but any of those sequences are written in such a way that you will speed up your reading to match the pace of the action. He’s also good at the scenes of people interacting and reacting to the actions of the antagonist Helmet Head.
Where the book is lacking is when the story stops dead in its tracks for character backstory. It feels like padding to get the book up to novel length, and adds nothing to the narrative. It also seems to try to give characters depth that they don’t need, as this is essentially a slasher story, albeit more literary and competently written.
The revelation of Helmet Head and why he is doing what he does simply doesn’t work for me. Baron created a very realistic world and then delivers a SF twist that lands on the page with no setup, making it feel out of place and brought my enjoyment of the novel down to 3 stars from 4. It’s a good summer afternoon read, but part of me thinks that if he would have stuck with the story he was building, it could have been a bit more.
September 1, 2019
Mike Baron’s slasher tale Helmet Head is a solidly decent entry into the genre. This story is a bit like reading a text version of a comic book or graphic novel, and to decent effect. The main difference is the extended side-jaunts into various characters’ formative years. Occasionally those come at odd times and interfere a little bit, but most of them are fine.
The genre classification gets a little strange. Nazi experiments come into play in what originally seems like a standard, run-of-the-mill backwoods serial killer. The line between magic and tech gets a little fuzzy. This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it’s a kind of story you enjoy reading.
There are a couple of “Men Writing Women” moments–Macy’s a little fixated on “daddy issues”, and for some reason male authors seem to have a fixation on women being able to magically intuit the gender of their fetuses, which is a bizarre thing to keep seeing in books.
My favorite thing about this book is probably Pete Fagan as a character. Often the law enforcement hero in these books is pure as gold, or his only vice is alcoholism and/or smoking. Instead he has a really interesting background, and is something of a more ambivalent character–at least in his history.
As a fairly standard backwoods serial killer story crossed with Nazi occultism, this is a good book. There’s plenty of action and bloody deaths.
Content note for: drugs, sexual assault and rape, animal death, slurs.
Consider my rating to be a 3.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/08/r...
The genre classification gets a little strange. Nazi experiments come into play in what originally seems like a standard, run-of-the-mill backwoods serial killer. The line between magic and tech gets a little fuzzy. This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it’s a kind of story you enjoy reading.
There are a couple of “Men Writing Women” moments–Macy’s a little fixated on “daddy issues”, and for some reason male authors seem to have a fixation on women being able to magically intuit the gender of their fetuses, which is a bizarre thing to keep seeing in books.
My favorite thing about this book is probably Pete Fagan as a character. Often the law enforcement hero in these books is pure as gold, or his only vice is alcoholism and/or smoking. Instead he has a really interesting background, and is something of a more ambivalent character–at least in his history.
As a fairly standard backwoods serial killer story crossed with Nazi occultism, this is a good book. There’s plenty of action and bloody deaths.
Content note for: drugs, sexual assault and rape, animal death, slurs.
Consider my rating to be a 3.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/08/r...
January 13, 2023
Comic book icon turned novelist, Mike Baron actually squeaks out an imaginative, compelling, fun read with Helmut Head. What starts out as a seemingly predictable slasher story turns into anything but. The characters are nicely developed, although the way we learn about them is often disjointed from the storyline.
The imagery and twists at the end make this book well worth the read.
Think of Frankenstein meets Easy Rider, meets Twister.
The imagery and twists at the end make this book well worth the read.
Think of Frankenstein meets Easy Rider, meets Twister.
May 15, 2017
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
This was an interesting book involving police, bikers, nazis, zombie nazis, and a evil scientist. This was written sort of like those black and white programs that were the rave during the 60's andb70's. It also has the feel of a graphic novel, full of over the top action and suspense.
This was an interesting book involving police, bikers, nazis, zombie nazis, and a evil scientist. This was written sort of like those black and white programs that were the rave during the 60's andb70's. It also has the feel of a graphic novel, full of over the top action and suspense.
moved-on
September 5, 2019Just not working for me. Moving on
May 12, 2016
I found this book surprisingly well written.
There were a few errors in the edition I had, but they were small. Hopefully this was just part of converting the book into an e-reader compatible format and not an error on the author or editor. Hopefully. They did draw me out of the experience a few times but honestly I've seen far worse.
The thing about this book that surprised me the most was the attention to backgrounds and history that led to the moments that are this novel's present. I was, honestly, expecting a b-movie horror show with blood, gore, exploitative nonsense and, in a lot of ways, I wasn't disappointed. I would say certain parts of Baron's prose are chilling, but at the same time this rang more like a rental creature feature or a slasher film than anything that really was unnerving. The horror happened, and it's horrific, but it has that old horror movie feel: the blood is bright orange, the science behind certain parts are laughable, etc.
That aside, there are a lot of very interesting details in this book. What this has over those rental creature features is we can know how those characters made it to the way they are without waiting for a sequel or a spin off. There are some very real and very shocking moments in the background of this horrific event, the character's minds desperately clinging to the past that established them as real even as they're cut down in the present. Every chapter or so we get to know Fagan and Macy and the Road Dogs more as people, what led to them being who they are.
I came into this book expecting to be satisfied. It would fill an afternoon or two and I would have something new to talk about, I would get a bit of an ironic or nostalgic thrill. I am pleasantly surprised to say I've come away from it wanting more, I legitimately enjoyed this work very much. While Baron hasn't written the next bestseller, he's done something different, something I would like to see more of.
Of couse, this book doesn't get a perfect rating explicitly because the ending made me want more. Most of the plot threads and characters were wrapped up, but that I found the character histories just as interesting as the blood splattered, grindhouse-esque murder spree almost made me want to follow them (what of them were left) a little further. Maybe this could have done with an epilogue?
Point is, I cared about these characters. I felt equal parts horror thrills (in capital letters with exclamation points on a movie poster) and equal parts attached to the relatable backgrounds of everyone involved, how life stories meshed in history to make the present. I actually wanted to hear more from each of the characters, read more chapters about how they came to be as people and what defined them. I wanted to see how they would do surprising things and how their past might lead to that sort of decision.
Call me a Baron fan, I can't wait to see more like this.
There were a few errors in the edition I had, but they were small. Hopefully this was just part of converting the book into an e-reader compatible format and not an error on the author or editor. Hopefully. They did draw me out of the experience a few times but honestly I've seen far worse.
The thing about this book that surprised me the most was the attention to backgrounds and history that led to the moments that are this novel's present. I was, honestly, expecting a b-movie horror show with blood, gore, exploitative nonsense and, in a lot of ways, I wasn't disappointed. I would say certain parts of Baron's prose are chilling, but at the same time this rang more like a rental creature feature or a slasher film than anything that really was unnerving. The horror happened, and it's horrific, but it has that old horror movie feel: the blood is bright orange, the science behind certain parts are laughable, etc.
That aside, there are a lot of very interesting details in this book. What this has over those rental creature features is we can know how those characters made it to the way they are without waiting for a sequel or a spin off. There are some very real and very shocking moments in the background of this horrific event, the character's minds desperately clinging to the past that established them as real even as they're cut down in the present. Every chapter or so we get to know Fagan and Macy and the Road Dogs more as people, what led to them being who they are.
I came into this book expecting to be satisfied. It would fill an afternoon or two and I would have something new to talk about, I would get a bit of an ironic or nostalgic thrill. I am pleasantly surprised to say I've come away from it wanting more, I legitimately enjoyed this work very much. While Baron hasn't written the next bestseller, he's done something different, something I would like to see more of.
Of couse, this book doesn't get a perfect rating explicitly because the ending made me want more. Most of the plot threads and characters were wrapped up, but that I found the character histories just as interesting as the blood splattered, grindhouse-esque murder spree almost made me want to follow them (what of them were left) a little further. Maybe this could have done with an epilogue?
Point is, I cared about these characters. I felt equal parts horror thrills (in capital letters with exclamation points on a movie poster) and equal parts attached to the relatable backgrounds of everyone involved, how life stories meshed in history to make the present. I actually wanted to hear more from each of the characters, read more chapters about how they came to be as people and what defined them. I wanted to see how they would do surprising things and how their past might lead to that sort of decision.
Call me a Baron fan, I can't wait to see more like this.
September 14, 2013
A really enjoyable story, though it tends to meander a bit (too many flashbacks and too much backstory - not a set of phrases I often say). Its biggest downpoint, and the reason it got a 3 instead of a 4 - Nazis? Really? Sorry, that is just so incredibly tired and dated I had to penalise the book for it.
On the plus side - creepy electronic biker zombies, living decapitated heads (prototype of the Heads from Nexus perhaps), the hero dies, the killer's fate is in question, and all of the evidence supporting the survivors story is wiped out in a tornado.
It would make a kick-ass comic (that is Mr. Barons idiom after all), maybe as a backup story in a horror comic. It would also make a fabulous 1 hour episode of "Tales from the Darkside"
On the plus side - creepy electronic biker zombies, living decapitated heads (prototype of the Heads from Nexus perhaps), the hero dies, the killer's fate is in question, and all of the evidence supporting the survivors story is wiped out in a tornado.
It would make a kick-ass comic (that is Mr. Barons idiom after all), maybe as a backup story in a horror comic. It would also make a fabulous 1 hour episode of "Tales from the Darkside"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2016
What a fun little book. I could totally see this being made into an epic B-Movie slasher film. It has all the makings of a classic: bikers, monster, death, random sex, betrayal, and sacrifice.
I'd watch the hell out of it.
The book on the other hand seemed to start a little slow, and I almost gave up on it because it was too cliche for its own good.
I stuck with it though and things perked up around the end, as everything tidied itself up in a blaze of glory.
The origin and subsequent revealing of the monster and who he was had me rolling my eyes a little, but I stuck to the "B-Movie" thought, since anything can happen there (see Sharknado for evidence of outlandish scientific feats) and carried on.
I'd watch the hell out of it.
The book on the other hand seemed to start a little slow, and I almost gave up on it because it was too cliche for its own good.
I stuck with it though and things perked up around the end, as everything tidied itself up in a blaze of glory.
The origin and subsequent revealing of the monster and who he was had me rolling my eyes a little, but I stuck to the "B-Movie" thought, since anything can happen there (see Sharknado for evidence of outlandish scientific feats) and carried on.
March 13, 2013
Mike Baron's Helmet Head is a very entertaining read. The story kept me going throughout, and just when I thought it was about wrapped up, he threw in something I never expected! The characters are interesting and engaging. Maybe I don't read enough zombie stories, but I thought this was pretty creative. Worth the read!
Find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Helmet-Head-ebo...
Find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Helmet-Head-ebo...
July 24, 2014
As much as I've enjoyed Mike Barons writing for comics, this was rather underwhelming and at times, dull. The characters are cardboard and the ending falls flat. It starts out well, but there isn't much tension in it. It needs a little less flash backs and a little more fleshing out. Plus helmet head needed a better back story.
May 11, 2014
The writer gets a 13 patch mixed up with a 69 patch, and it would be better if the main character was a proper biker rather than some bastard copper, but other than that it's worth a read. It could do with a proofread though.
February 26, 2013
very unusual book......liked it.......liked authors style of writing
April 13, 2013
Interesting, well written, engaging, and unusual. I don't usually read these types of books, but I really enjoyed it. Which is a testament to just how good it is.
September 30, 2013
Decent story but the ebook had some of the worst editing I've ever seen.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews