Sweetman Curve

by Graham Masterton

Investigations into brutal random murders on the California freeways dramatically touch the lives of a presidential aspirant, an aging movie star, and a brilliant scientist with a deadly secret.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Graham 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.

Reviews

[Paperback Papa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graham Masterton is known primarily as a horror novelist. Since horror novels don't interest me, I've always avoided his work. Then I found "The Sweetman Curve" in a used bookstore. From 1979, it's a non-horror thriller with a political bent. I decided to check it out.

It's about an ambitious politician who is determined to become the next POTUS. He's been made aware of a way he can tilt the election in his favor. It's more than a little immoral, but he doesn't care and presses full steam ahead. He is truly a despicable character, someone readers will love to hate.

Masterton is a fine wordsmith and writes many compelling scenes that had me burning through the pages. Unfortunately, two things diminished my enjoyment. One, I felt the method of tilting the election was too far-fetched. I just had trouble buying it. And two, the sexual content was several clicks beyond edgy. I would even call it smutty. Some readers will be fine with this, but others, like myself, will be put off by it, I'm sure.

I have another Masterton non-horror thriller that I will check out someday. "The Sweetman Curve" was at least good enough to make me think I should give the author another chance.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sweetman Curve is one of Graham Masterton's earliest novels - a thriller about a deadly scientific graph that a corrupt politician uses to his advantage. I chose to read this book not only because I'm a die-hard Masterton fan, but also because it contains the word "sweet" in its title, which meets the criteria for the February keyword reading challenge here at Bookmark to Blog.

In The Sweetman Curve, a sniper kills random people in their cars as they drive on California freeways. As John Cullen drives his father home from the airport, a sniper kills John's father right before his eyes. Unwilling to believe that his father was a random target, John becomes obsessed with finding a reason for his father's death - a "purpose" that compensates for the murder. When the same sniper tails John on the freeway once more in an attempt to kill him, John's suspicion about the murders not being random is confirmed.

With no help from the Los Angeles police department (lousy cops!), John goes rogue and begins to investigate the deaths of the sniper's other victims to find patterns based on their interests and personalities. He quickly learns that all victims are part of a graph known as The Sweetman Curve, a graph that predicts which individuals will become socially influential in years to come. John must find the remaining surviving members of The Sweetman Curve before they become murdered in an effort to fulfill a nasty politician's coveted destiny.

Masterton is the king of all things gritty and gross - even his thriller novels are terrifying, disturbing, and violent beyond imagination. The evil characters in this book are compelling and interesting in the sickest way possible, but easy to hate, especially given their graphic and offensive sexual preferences.

I can't praise Masterton enough for the genius and creativity he displays in all his work. The concept of The Sweetman Curve is pleasingly unique, and is likely not far from the truth where politicians and government corruption is concerned.

The Sweetman Curve is definitely not timeless or classic given its numerous dated pop-culture references. Nevertheless, the suspense and ick-factor of the story will keep readers entertained, especially devoted fans of Masterton. The dated pop-culture references throughout this novel are hit-or-miss for readers who weren't born yet at the time of this book's publication.

Actually, even those well-versed in pop-culture during the late 1970s may find some of this book's dialogue goofy. But what do I know? I was months away from being born myself, so I truly can't know if people really spoke like that during 1979. For example, there were a few lines courtesy of the hooker Lollie I couldn't get over: "I've fallen ass over curls in love with you," (WHAT?!) and "I want to take your big stiff dork in my lips again." (Hello, was DICK unknown terminology back then?!)

The conclusion of The Sweetman Curve is classic Masterton: abrupt, but appropriate. I felt the ending was inconclusive in some ways, and I would have liked to see an uglier demise for the bad-guy characters. Not one of Masterton's most memorable novels, but overall just plain good.

For more book reviews, please visit http://dreamworldbooks.com.

[Fred Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third "thriller" I've read by Graham Masterton, which means that it involves some conspiracy, with violence and sex along the way, but nothing supernatural like his horror novels. It's over the top, a bit dated, but still fun.

******* SPOILER ALERT *********

There's some kind of conspiracy afoot that is leading people to be murdered, seemingly at random, but a few characters -- with incredible (yes, incredible) intuition -- see some kind of connection. In "Famine", it was the nation's food that was the target; in "Chaos Theory", it was world peace. Here, it's the nation's political process -- specifically, the 1980 presidential election.

Halfway through the book, you know that there's something called the "Sweetman Curve" that connects the victims, but it's not made clear what it is. Even when it is finally revealed what it is, it's not clear how such a thing could be possible, and why a politician would rely on it so fully so as to have apolitical people murdered all over the country just because statisically they influence the votes of people who know them. But that's the premise. And, to borrow a term from Hitchcock, it's kind of a "McGuffin". It doesn't matter what the Sweetman Curve is; its purpose is to bring the characters together, cause some violence, and create the sexual scenarios.

Ah, yes. The sex. Not as graphic as it is in some Masterton novels, but somehow more dated and inappropriate here. There are three scenes that qualify as rape or sexual assault, and, in two of the three, the victim either invites the rapist to finish or starts to wonder if she's not into it. The latter is girl-on-girl, inviting the idea that, if you expose a heterosexual woman to sex with a woman, she's bound to like it even if it's forced on her, right? It's all very 1970s and dated, and made me think of a cartoon I saw in a book back then called "Coffee, Tea or Me?" in which an airline stewardess with torn clothes asks another something like: "Is it still rape if it was against my will but I enjoyed it?" That cartoon would likely not be printed with today's sensibilities, and I wonder if the sex scenes in this novel would get past the editor if this novel came out today.

Also dated: At one point, a car collision results in an explosion at a crucial moment. Why did the car actually explode? Maybe because it's the 1970s, and, in 1970s action movies, cars explode upon impact (making us think back then that cars always explode upon impact, which they don't!), and, since this novel is kind of a 1970s movie in print, the car has to explode.

Another point that is weak in this novel is how stubborn the characters are about going to the authorities with what they know.

I'm being critical, but, nonetheless, the novel is fun, and not boring in the least. It's not even close to being one of my favorite Masterton novels, but it's certainly not my least favorite.

[Ken M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well.... What a waste of time. Anyone tell me they want to be an author, this is the book I'll recommend. Everything a writer shouldn't do is in there.
1. There is a rape joke several pages in.
2. Two rapes.
3. The author has the audacity to tell the reader that the raped women achieved orgasm. Explained it in details like its the most normal thing.
4. A weird incest. Some guy divorces his wife after finding her giving a hand job / blow job to her half brother. Don't know which coz I skipped.
5. The hero is nothing but an intruder in the story. His scenes are far and wide and there's nothing memorable about the guy.
6. Some hitchhiking guy just happens to stop the right vehicle... Gets invited into the same house he has a mission in and even gets to sleep with the woman. A famous woman by the way. How did the author expect me to believe it was that easy.
7. The antagonist is a weird man with troubling sexual fantasies which the author keeps bring up every scene with the guy. He loves porn and young hookers.
8. The guy is called T. F. the first time I see those initials it's in a conversation and I kept reading them as 'the fuck' wondering who talks that way. Couldn't he find some cool nickname or just any name. The annonimity behind the initials do nothing to the story.
9. No mystery. You know what you are getting early on in the book.
10. There are two or three misspellings.
Overall terrible.

[Virginy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un polar qui commence sur les chapeaux de roues avec une course poursuite sur une autoroute, et peu à peu, l’auteur dresse le tableau de ce vaste complot. A sa tête, un politicien prêt à tout pour prendre la tête des États-Unis.

L’intrigue est originale, la construction du roman est un puzzle que le lecteur reconstruit, croisant des anciennes starlettes de cinéma s’épanouissant dans un univers bling-bling où l’argent dicte sa loi et impose sa puissance sur les autres. Et si les femmes ont parfois un rôle qui se résume à un objet sexuel, il est aussi question de féminisme.

« Nous devons œuvrer pour la prise de conscience des deux sexes si nous voulons libérer les femmes. Cela ne sert à rien de dire à une prisonnière que la liberté est merveilleuse, à moins de convaincre également le gardien de la prison de la laisser sortir. »



Pourtant, j’ai trouvé que le rythme s’essoufflait, et le récit a perdu peu à peu de l’intérêt à mes yeux. De plus, bien que ce ne soit qu’un détail, quelque chose m’a agacée à mesure que j’avançais dans ma lecture: l’expression « au jour d’aujourd’hui ». Ce pléonasme figure une bonne douzaine de fois dans cette traduction. Je n’en veux pas à François Truchaud, cette expression étant très souvent utilisée, mais je la trouve plutôt désagréable.

Un bon roman cependant, malgré les quelques défauts que j’ai pu lui trouver.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turned out to be one of Grandmaster masterton younger bugs and I did enjoy it I like the way that he spread the characters out towards the beginning of the book and brought them all together at the end of the book this was a murder mystery story about a young man who moved to California and met a girl that she fell in love with his father was coming out for him to introduce them together and on the way home from picking him up from the airport crazed shooter shoots and kills his father from there the guy and his next door neighbor along with his girlfriend start trying to piece together why this stranger would shoot his father while he investigated he also becomes a target along with his group because unbeknownst to them this stranger is part of a bigger plan who is working in a small network of people under the assumption that they will be able to change the outcome of the presidential elections I've said to much and their is one one piece of the pie that brings it all together that I've left out good read.

[Todd Charlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He felt as if he'd stepped through the looking glass (with respect to Lewis Carroll), out of the world of fussing old women like Mrs Benduzzi and their pampered pet dogs, out of the world of sprinkled lawns and over-polished cars, into a strange existence where there was real fear, and real death, and all the stories you read about in the newspapers happened not to other people, but to you."
- Graham Masterton.
This sentence encapsulates every novel that features an ordinary character in extraordinary circumstances. In other words it speaks for every novel ever written.

[Siobhan Leahy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Of its time, but still worth a read. Wouldn't say its horror (which was how it was sold to me) but more political thriller hit man combo. Some of the multiple elements do not fit as well as others, and the detective work is a bit too easy but again it's of its time. And in 1979 things were very different.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: random murders on California freeways touch the lives of a presidential aspirant, a movie star, and a scientist with a deadly secret.

[AJRXII · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never a Masterton book I haven't liked.

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is totally different to the books I usually read by this author. I am so used to his horror books. This was a brilliantly chilling novel and the pages kept turning - a good read.

Back Cover Blurb:
One by one, a sniper is killing innocent people driving on the freeway. People who have no apparent connection. Or do they? That's what John Cullen means to find out when his father and girlfriend are horribly murdered. And his investigations lead him to some very interesting people and even more bizarre conclusions. All the victims' names appeared on Professor Sweetman's curve. But what does it represent? And how does Senator Carl X. Chapman, a man who will stop at nothing to be the next US President, fit into the increasingly deadly jigsaw puzzle that turns strangers into deadly enemies on the Sweetman Curve....

[Victor Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

El primer thriller "puro" (es decir, sin elementos de terror ni cifi) de Masterton que he leído me ha dejado un buen poso. Empieza de una manera algo lenta y sosa pero antes de la mitad pilla bien el acelerador y no te suelta hasta el final. En una trama coral en Los Ángeles en la que tenemos políticos, directores de cine, antiguas estrellas y empresarios, Masterton va hilando una loca conspiración urdida por un político de ultraderechas que está usando un gráfico de previsión demográfica para asesinar a todas las personas clave que podrían entorpecer su campaña contra Jimmy Carter en 1980. Obviamente, muchas cosas de la trama han envejecido terriblemente mal, pero tiene un innegable encanto gamberro apoyado por unos personajes despreciables y sin escrúpulos a los que les encanta malmeter y los consabidos momentos de violencia (poca, comparada con otras obras suyas) y sexo explícito (poco, pero bastante memorable en el mal sentido, ya que muchas veces es la antesala de la muerte de alguien) de rigor.

[Scapa Sylvain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thriller original... Un tueur sévit sur des autoroutes aux USA. Victimes aléatoires ? Pas tant que ça. C'est un moyen d'influencer les élections présidentielles.. Toute ressemblance, etc. serait fortuite.