What do you think?
Rate this book
Jim Rook
Rook & Tooth and Claw
Two books in one.
College teacher Jim Rook has a special talent: a near-death experience in childhood gave him the facility to see ghosts and spirits that nobody else can see.
Into his remedial English class at West Grove Community College comes Susan White Bird, the daughter of a Navajo Indian. Susan is beautiful and shy, but all her life she has been closely protected by her two older brothers, Sam and George. And when college senior Brad Dolman takes a fancy to Susan, there are frightening consequences. Brad's body is found one morning in his automobile, his face and body terribly mutilated - almost as if he has been attacked by a wild animal - and it is Susan's brothers who are immediately arrested.
Only when two more students are attacked do the police realise that the brothers are innocent, and that there is something terrible lurking around the college campus ... something that threatens to transform Susan into the most horrific creature known to Navajo myth. And there is only one man who can save her, a man who can see the oncoming danger - Jim Rook.
It is now left to Jim and his engaging class of slow-lane students to face a shattering confrontation between the cultures of new and ancient America.
College teacher Jim Rook has a special talent: a near-death experience in childhood gave him the facility to see ghosts and spirits that nobody else can see.
Into his remedial English class at West Grove Community College comes Susan White Bird, the daughter of a Navajo Indian. Susan is beautiful and shy, but all her life she has been closely protected by her two older brothers, Sam and George. And when college senior Brad Dolman takes a fancy to Susan, there are frightening consequences. Brad's body is found one morning in his automobile, his face and body terribly mutilated - almost as if he has been attacked by a wild animal - and it is Susan's brothers who are immediately arrested.
Only when two more students are attacked do the police realise that the brothers are innocent, and that there is something terrible lurking around the college campus ... something that threatens to transform Susan into the most horrific creature known to Navajo myth. And there is only one man who can save her, a man who can see the oncoming danger - Jim Rook.
It is now left to Jim and his engaging class of slow-lane students to face a shattering confrontation between the cultures of new and ancient America.
- GenresHorror
234 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 2, 2013
14 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Graham Masterton
418 books1,935 followersGraham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 18, 2020
Graham Masterton does it again
Exciting form start to finish. Great characters with Rook as a teacher with the power to see spirits which leads him on two dangerous journeys.
Exciting form start to finish. Great characters with Rook as a teacher with the power to see spirits which leads him on two dangerous journeys.
March 24, 2025
Fantastic read!
May 25, 2024
Overall a pair of solid stories with entertaining concepts. A teacher discovers that he can see spirits and other supernatural phenomena and find himself caught in various escapades. The main interesting twist for me was how the lead character balances his teaching job and genuine passion for teaching what is called a 'special class'.
Much of the stories driving force hinge upon him trying to keep his students separate and safe from the dangerous supernatural elements. This doesn't always go to plan and hence, the plot happens.
its reads a lot like a cross between a mystery novel and high school narrative. The main twist being the protagonist rather than a student. It also very dark and quite gory in places.
The reason for the middling score is there are several moments, for the character and the plot, where the story abruptly shifts. Creating characters that are occasionally very unpleasant and plots that can lurch in tone quite jarringly. It almost reads as if it was written as a relatively pleasant supernatural mystery novel but the author occasionally remembered they were aiming for horror and added random moments of intense gore or unsavouriness.
They're fine enough stories and quick easy reads. I'd give them a spin if you're into this kind of mystery with a smattering of gore.
Much of the stories driving force hinge upon him trying to keep his students separate and safe from the dangerous supernatural elements. This doesn't always go to plan and hence, the plot happens.
its reads a lot like a cross between a mystery novel and high school narrative. The main twist being the protagonist rather than a student. It also very dark and quite gory in places.
The reason for the middling score is there are several moments, for the character and the plot, where the story abruptly shifts. Creating characters that are occasionally very unpleasant and plots that can lurch in tone quite jarringly. It almost reads as if it was written as a relatively pleasant supernatural mystery novel but the author occasionally remembered they were aiming for horror and added random moments of intense gore or unsavouriness.
They're fine enough stories and quick easy reads. I'd give them a spin if you're into this kind of mystery with a smattering of gore.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews