- Hardcover: 624 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (6 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002558645
- ISBN-13: 978-0002558648
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 5.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 744,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In Coldheart Canyon acclaimed horror writer Clive Barker takes us to the dirty secret of ageless sexual power and half-understood contracts with evil that lies at the heart of Hollywood.
In the 1920s, magnate Zeffer buys his mistress Katya a room decorated with Boschian mosaics of sex and violence and in the 1990s, Todd Pickett decides he needs a face-lift to save his career; both do not know that they have made a decision which risks their lives and their souls. And somehow, sooner or later, everyone from Tammy, the overweight, obsessive, good president of Todd's fan club, to Micky, a dying former child star with a life full of secrets, ends up in the rich cloying jungle that the gardens of Coldheart Canyon have become, finding out things they never wanted to know about sex, madness, courage and generosity.
Barker has always been brilliant at showing us just how bad things can get--the games of sexual power, the corrupting metamorphoses; here he adds something: a genuine conviction of the possibility of human goodness and kindness that saves people. --Roz Kaveney
Review
Praise for Clive Barker:
‘An invocation of both magic and the imagination… A majestic maze of mythmaking’
WASHINGTON TIMES
‘Passionate and ingenious… A ride with remarkable views’
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
‘A fabulous, engrossing war of the worlds’
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
‘Barker dislocates your mind’
MAIL ON SUNDAY
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I remember reading Weaveworld for the first time over a decade ago. I was stunned, I was hooked and I became one of Barker's legion of fans. The next few novels were great. Then, sometime after Imagica - around the time he moved to the States and became some kind of producer for mostly straight to video movies - his writing fell apart. Sacrament, Galilee and now Coldheart Canyon.
Actually, this latest is a little better than some of his other recent output, but its self-indulgent, repetitive and tedious, there isn't a single believable character - indeed the central character is possibly the most annoying creation on the page in some years - the plot lacks drive and Barker seems obsessed with detailed descriptions of sex (for no real reason, they do little to tell us anything about character, situation or plot - they just seem to be there to prove that he can 'do' straight sex in novels). The images he conjures fail to convince - despite the fact that he's raided them from his own back-catalogue (mostly the Books of Blood and Weaveworld).
Perhaps worst of all Barker can't seem to make up his own mind whether or not he likes his characters, and his sympathies roam around haphazardly.
I was really hoping that there would be some return to form with this novel, but I was disappointed. Galilee II is next on the list - which isn't likely to be any more interesting than the first part of that story - along with Abarat (trust me, it's not very good). And then in a few months we finally get the last installment of the Art trilogy - I can only hope that by returning to his earlier mythology he rediscovers something of his strength as a writer.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
if this book had been written by anyone else, i might have been more impressed. but clive barker is one of my all time favourite writers and i thought this was a little barker-by-numbers. if i was writing a school report, i would say "must try harder". come on mr b, write the sequel to galilee! please! this is not a bad book, but neither does it really challenge the imagination, as clive does so well. usually. sorry!
Format:Paperback
I bought this on the strength of Clive Barker's earlier work but I was sorely disappointed. The premise of the story was good and could have been really interesting if it wasn't for the endless sex scenes. They went on and on and on and on...and to be honest, I haven't even finished the book as I couldn't be bothered with it. Now, I expect Clive Barker's books to contain graphic sex scenes, that's one of the reasons his books always have such a dark edge but it was the sheer quantity of the ones in this book that made me give up in the end. It seemed as if he'd constructed the whole story as a vehicle for the various S&M/urophlia/bestiality/bongdage/etc, etc, etc scenes he really wanted to write about and if this book had been written 30 years ago it would probably have been shocking but not any more I'm afraid. Yes, Mr Barker, we can all find various niche sexual fetishes on the internet but please concentrate on the story next time. Lazy, lazy, dull, lazy, not sexy, boring, hard work...did I mention lazy...
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A dark & imaginative glimpse at the depraved underbelly of hollywood
First published back in 2001, `Coldheart Canyon' came three years after the publication of Barker's epic love story `Galilee'. Read more
Published on 2 May 2009 by Chris Hall
Barker's books need a better editor
Okay, I'm only halfway through this book, and I've enjoyed the content quite alot. But a problem with Barker's books is the lackadaisical editing. Read more
Published on 15 April 2008 by M. Brown
Worst book I have ever read!
Whilst Barker's imagination is fertile, wierd and capable of both gruesome and beautiful narrative his stories just don't seem to have any power over me. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2007 by S. Finley
Sex, Dogs, and Roc and Role
Firstly, let me say that I am a big fan of Clive Barker's work. I have read pretty much every book that he's ever published, from the 'Books of Blood' right up to his first novel... Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2003 by Trelloskilos
Classic Barker depth and genius.
First of all, this is a really good story, with original characters, (geniously so in the case of Todd Pickett, due to the mix of public perception and his underlying real... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2002 by the great amphibian
Clive is fabulous......
Coldheart Cannon was my first Clive Barker novel....
Bullied into reading it by my flatmates I reluctantly picked it up. Read more
Bullied into reading it by my flatmates I reluctantly picked it up. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2002 by Tequilatoes@hotmail.co.uk
My name is Clive and my dog is dead!
This is really not up to much. Since Clive Barkers move to the good ole'USA he has slowly produced poorer and poorer fiction. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2002 by "jonny1050"
Based on a great idea, but disappointingly executed.
Although I am a big fan of horror writing this is the first time that I have tried a Clive Barker novel, and I found it quite disappointing. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2002
IT COMES CLOSE TO FULFILLING MY EXPECTATIONS!!!
Except for the BOOKS OF BLOOD & THE DAMNATION GAME, I've had an extremely difficult time finishing anything by this author who, in all honesty, is talented enough to knock... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2002
So fantastic it could be true.
Ok, so we all know Hollywood is a strange place. Now we know why. Clive Barker has created a plausible explanation for the Hollywierd excesses that we have read about in the... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2002
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