Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back From the Dead, 1 Mar 2008
In this novel from horror maestro, Guy N. Smith, a very old man manages to keep a whole community terrorised just by existing. Well, it makes a change from the obnoxious brats that terrorise many neighbourhoods these days. Edward Kroll, it has to be said, is not a pleasant fellow. He is reclusive, bad-mannered, lacking in personal hygiene and his house is in such disrepair that it's a wonder that it's still standing. A prime target for the village's up-and-coming hoodlums. Or at least he is until anyone tries to cross him, because those that do seem to wind up dead.
It's great to have Guy N. Smith back with a horror novel and in outstanding form, too. Gone are the graphic sex scenes that decorated much of his prolific output in the 1970s and 1980s with such classics as `The Sucking Pit' and `Son of the Werewolf'. Along with James Herbert, Guy N. Smith kept me gleefully entertained in my youth with their tales of gruesome horror and liberal sprinklings of sex. I regret to say that I find Herbert's later work to be insipid and formulaic. It was a relief, therefore, to find that Smith has lost none of his prowess. Certainly, we're not talking Booker Prize material here. But what Smith delivers is a short, creepy, satisfying read.
If I have one criticism, it's that the lack of exposition holds the story back a little. For me, the supernatural element is underplayed to such an extent that I kept doubting that any may be in play. However, where the story does score highly is in Smith's alacrity with descriptive detail. Kroll's only appearances outside his house are for his twice weekly visits to the local eatery. His nauseating eating habits had me feeling quite queasy as did the passages describing Kroll's stench-filled hovel.
For all Kroll's unpleasantness, I did enjoy his reign of terror over the local feral youths. Their former nocturnal mayhem has given way to cowering in their bedrooms playing computer games for fear of running into the nasty old man. For more old people dishing out the nastiness on the young, take a look at Shaun Hutson's entertaining `Compulsion'.
So, a welcome return for Guy N. Smith. Let's hope that it's not too long before he regales us again with more of his nasty imaginings.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Guy playing to his strengths again..., 1 Jul 2008
Guy N Smith is a prolific author, mostly in the Horror genre, and whilst I have the utmost affection for his work the quality has at times been variable. 'Cadaver' sees him returning to something like his best, illustrating perfectly what an imaginative writer he can be. In this one a nasty old man terrorises the small Anglo-Welsh border town of Knighton - apparently without actually doing anything too objectional himself. He eats like a pig in the local restaurant and isn't too friendly (especially to the town's kids), but bad things do happen to people who upset him. In true Smith style most of the victims go some way to earning their fate by not behaving too well themselves, and seasoned fans of this author know what happens when characters infringe the moral code....There's a nice atmosphere to this one, a little old-fashioned perhaps, but then there's nothing wrong with that. The ending actually leaves the reader with something to think about, and all-in-all this is a very decent little chiller. I'd like to see more in a similar vein, and look forward to Mr.Smith's next release with something of the anticipation that I felt as a young horror-hound in the seventies and eighties. I wonder what Gordon Hall's up to these days ?
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Return Of An Old Favourite Author, 29 Aug 2009
Hello all : As I own nearly all the Guy N Smith novels bar one and having read most of them from my teenage years it seems ages since I went into a second-hand shop to look for books by this author. What I remember is books about man-eating crabs and the other stand-out novels such as Deathbell, Doomflight, The Fiend, The Master and Satan's Snowdrop before various changes of publishers steered the author into the hard to obtain catergories. While all his books are a good read with horror, suspense and death a pre-requiste I felt that The Black Fedora, The Plague Chronicles and The Knighton Vampires of the early 1990's to be so-so and a little lacking and so life moved on into other area's with Stephen King and Dean Koontz taking up my interests with the likes of John Halkin, Richard Lewis, Graham Masterton, and G.M.Hague being close behind in the reading stakes. However, into the internet age came the discovery of more Guy N Smith books to collect and having started with the pleasant but short The Busker I wondered if Guy N Smith could still produce the quality I remember. The story revolves around the despicable Edward Knoll who effectively strikes terror into a whole community that rejoices at his death and despairs at his re-appearence. Death has not changed him except for the worse and queries about the man dead and buried for a week or so are still-born when the death certificite goes missing with Mr Knoll very much alive and well. If the townsfolk were upset at Mr Knoll when he was alive then it is nothing compared to Mr Knoll being upset when he is alive and basic situations that don't end in the Mr Knoll way end unpleasantly. This I feel is one of his best efforts of his writing career being intense, scary and containing the satisfaction that characters get what they deserve with the ending very satisfying and I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to any Guy N Smith fan that can obtain a copy.
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