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Omnibus: Purity / Deadhead
- GenresHorror
688 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Shaun Hutson
116 books539 followersBritish horror novelist, including horror and urban thriller novels.
His novella Slugs was made into a movie, although Hutson didn't like the movie. He also appeared in two horror movies himself.
Hutson is a Liverpool F.C. fan.
His novella Slugs was made into a movie, although Hutson didn't like the movie. He also appeared in two horror movies himself.
Hutson is a Liverpool F.C. fan.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 27, 2018
I adore horror. In films and books and will read anything as long as it scares me. This was not scary. Hutson has some wonderful ideas to write about. I mean the blurb sounded terrifying but his writing is like a ageing hippo. It plods along sometimes stopping and having a nap in between. There is not tension and even in the scary parts I felt nothing because I couldn't get over how unpassionate he was.
May 27, 2024
When I read through a lot of Peter James early novels, I found he moved from a bad horror writer to being a rather good crime novelist over a period of ten novels. Shaun Hutson hasn’t made quite the same transition, as he had written both good and dreadful horror novels in his early days and not all of his later crime novels were particularly notable. However, he does have it within him to write a decent novel and, unusually, the published of this particular Omnibus have focussed as much as Hutson has to put a good one together here.
“Purity” is one of his better novels in either of the genres he wrote in, at least for the most part, although it does also expose some of Hutson’s weaknesses. It is the story of Amy Watson, a former model turned late-night radio phone-in show host. One of her callers, Roy, claims to be the person behind a series of killings in London, in which the victims have all been strangled and who all seem to have been suffering from a terminal illness which would have killed them before much longer.
Whilst Roy’s calls point suspicions in his direction, Amy is more concerned about the new resident in her block of flats, who seems to keep unusual hours and who veers between friendly and hostile without apparent reason or warning. Amy’s co-worker Jo, on the other hand, is concerned about her brother, who is using her flat as a crash space, but who has a questionable source of income and who is also keeping irregular hours.
“Deadhead” starts with Private Detective Nick Ryan being only vaguely aware of a series of murders involving homeless people in London, but too busy to pay much attention to them. He’s also too busy to spend much time with his daughter, which was what ended his marriage some years before and doesn’t have time to pause and see the doctor about the sharp pains he’s recently started getting in his chest. But when his daughter goes missing and her step-father approaches him for help, bringing a video showing she is being sexually abused, Ryan has time for nothing else.
“Deadhead” has a very dark plot, involving kidnap, murder and hard-porn videos. There are lost girls and boys, some of who struggle with life on the streets and turn to drugs, prostitution and worse just to survive. But where there are vulnerable people, there will be those who will take advantage of them in all sorts of horrible ways, whether for money or for power and they won’t stop. Sometimes, they will use these same methods to show power over those they have business with and they are not beyond using rape and murder as tools.
“Purity” has many things in common with some of Hutson’s other work, in that it has a strong central idea, which can occasionally get buried between all the sub-plots and padding that Hutson uses to fill space and avoid working too hard to maintain a single story. There was a detailed sub-plot around David Albury, a Government Minister who has championed a new law banning violent and sexual content in both writing and film, but who may have a secret of two of his own and many characters have a history but none of these really go anywhere. This means that when the ending of the novel arrives, suspicions have been pointed in entirely the wrong direction and the revelations which end the novel come out of left field.
Quite by contrast, “Deadhead” shows what can happen when Hutson is properly and fully focussed, as here, there are several plot strands, but they are all linked and they all come together towards the end in a way that makes sense. There is no dropping of sub-plots for no reason and everything and everyone are linked somehow, bringing everything together into what is an ending that may not be entirely realistic, but which makes far more sense than is usual for Hutson.
“Purity” is a good idea, but has been spoiled by being written by a novelist who has a poor sense of how to develop a good idea into a great story. “Deadhead” is a very dark thriller, which may appeal more to horror fans than those of crime thrillers, as Hutson has often leaned into that genre and this has some unpleasant aspects.
That said, both that novel and this Omnibus are misleading in many ways, as whilst Hutson has written quite a few crime thrillers alongside horror novels, this is in no way indicative of his work, as it’s far better than his usual. This is a very good dark crime thriller by anyone’s standards, but given Hutson’s frequently repetitive language use and his usual lack of focus, it’s remarkably good by his.
“Purity” is one of his better novels in either of the genres he wrote in, at least for the most part, although it does also expose some of Hutson’s weaknesses. It is the story of Amy Watson, a former model turned late-night radio phone-in show host. One of her callers, Roy, claims to be the person behind a series of killings in London, in which the victims have all been strangled and who all seem to have been suffering from a terminal illness which would have killed them before much longer.
Whilst Roy’s calls point suspicions in his direction, Amy is more concerned about the new resident in her block of flats, who seems to keep unusual hours and who veers between friendly and hostile without apparent reason or warning. Amy’s co-worker Jo, on the other hand, is concerned about her brother, who is using her flat as a crash space, but who has a questionable source of income and who is also keeping irregular hours.
“Deadhead” starts with Private Detective Nick Ryan being only vaguely aware of a series of murders involving homeless people in London, but too busy to pay much attention to them. He’s also too busy to spend much time with his daughter, which was what ended his marriage some years before and doesn’t have time to pause and see the doctor about the sharp pains he’s recently started getting in his chest. But when his daughter goes missing and her step-father approaches him for help, bringing a video showing she is being sexually abused, Ryan has time for nothing else.
“Deadhead” has a very dark plot, involving kidnap, murder and hard-porn videos. There are lost girls and boys, some of who struggle with life on the streets and turn to drugs, prostitution and worse just to survive. But where there are vulnerable people, there will be those who will take advantage of them in all sorts of horrible ways, whether for money or for power and they won’t stop. Sometimes, they will use these same methods to show power over those they have business with and they are not beyond using rape and murder as tools.
“Purity” has many things in common with some of Hutson’s other work, in that it has a strong central idea, which can occasionally get buried between all the sub-plots and padding that Hutson uses to fill space and avoid working too hard to maintain a single story. There was a detailed sub-plot around David Albury, a Government Minister who has championed a new law banning violent and sexual content in both writing and film, but who may have a secret of two of his own and many characters have a history but none of these really go anywhere. This means that when the ending of the novel arrives, suspicions have been pointed in entirely the wrong direction and the revelations which end the novel come out of left field.
Quite by contrast, “Deadhead” shows what can happen when Hutson is properly and fully focussed, as here, there are several plot strands, but they are all linked and they all come together towards the end in a way that makes sense. There is no dropping of sub-plots for no reason and everything and everyone are linked somehow, bringing everything together into what is an ending that may not be entirely realistic, but which makes far more sense than is usual for Hutson.
“Purity” is a good idea, but has been spoiled by being written by a novelist who has a poor sense of how to develop a good idea into a great story. “Deadhead” is a very dark thriller, which may appeal more to horror fans than those of crime thrillers, as Hutson has often leaned into that genre and this has some unpleasant aspects.
That said, both that novel and this Omnibus are misleading in many ways, as whilst Hutson has written quite a few crime thrillers alongside horror novels, this is in no way indicative of his work, as it’s far better than his usual. This is a very good dark crime thriller by anyone’s standards, but given Hutson’s frequently repetitive language use and his usual lack of focus, it’s remarkably good by his.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews