Leisure Book Reviews and Random Thoughts

Summer has come and gone, and fall is looming close in the rearview mirror (Objects are closer than they seem!). For us horror types, it means we're counting the days until our favorite holiday, and driving friends and relatives crazy with our talk of what we'll be doing this Halloween. Writer types, already thinking ahead, are preparing to send out stories with Christmas themes.

And Leisure is prepping us with two books designed to provide chills amidst the late summer heat.

Flesh by Richard Laymon

Flesh is the latest of the Laymon books to be reprinted by Leisure. As always with Laymon, you know what to expect. Gore, sex, violence, and scares. And he delivers, with a book that back in 1988 won 'Best Horror Novel of the Year' from the Science Fiction Journal.

Flesh begins with a series of strange, unexplained events, and a cop, Jake, who is trying to figure out why the people in his town seem to have gone insane. The other main character, Allison, is attempting to find out who is brutally killing and cannibalizing her friends.

The true source of all they mayhem will surprise you, as much for its gruesome presence as for Laymon's use of a very unnatural cause. Instead of a deranged killer, or a supernatural being like a werewolf or zombie, Laymon gives us a fresh look at that favorite trope of the 80s horror movies, the slimy creature that attaches to people or burrows inside, and turns them into monsters. This plot device is frequently used more for laughs than for true scares, but in Laymon's capable hands it becomes truly nightmarish.

The downside to the book is that it feels more like an expanded novella than a true novel - the characters aren't as well-developed as they could be, and nothing about the monster itself, such as where it came from. But on the whole, it's a fast-paced, fun-as-hell read.

It's books like this one that remind me of how fun horror could be in the 80s. Much like big hair, Don Johnson outfits, and listening to Van Halen, this book had me riding a wave of nostalgia even as it splattered me with gore.

In honor of the eighties, I give Flesh four out of five MTV Moon Men.

***

Wolf's Gambit by W.D. Gagliani

Wolf's Gambit is the second book in a series of werewolf tales by W.D. Gagliani. It picks up where the first book, Wolf's Trap, leaves off.

Right from the beginning, let me say that I haven't read the first book in this series, so coming in cold for the second book could be a bit of a problem. However, Gagliani did a creditable job of providing back story through the first few chapters, so I never really felt lost or confused.

That being said, I didn't really get what all the hoopla was about. According to the blurbs on the back of the book, he's being credited with reinventing the werewolf genre and delivering one of the best werewolf novels of the past decade. I have to say, I wouldn't have applied either of those superlatives to this book.

Not that it was bad, mind you, but I didn't find it particularly groundbreaking in any sense. I think perhaps if I hadn't seen and heard all the praise for it ahead of time, I might have enjoyed it more. Kind of like seeing an over-hyped movie; you almost feel let down when it's good but not special.

On the surface, Wolf's Gambit is a police procedural, only with a werewolf as the cop. This isn't the first time this idea has been used; Lee Killough and Tanya Huff have both done well with this theme. In this case, the werewolf and his human associates (including his love interest, of course) are on the trail of a serial killer and the werewolf hitmen he's hired to prevent an Indian casino from being built.

This book has everything a werewolf novel should - the violence and gore, the problems associated with lycanthropy, the sex - but, at least to me, nothing new or genre-bending, as the back cover would have you believe.

All in all, Gagliani has produced a fun read, but I don't see him yet challenging Killough as the leader in the sub-genre of werewolf police procedurals.

My vote is a two and a half full moons out of five.

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JG Faherty is a writer of dark fiction. His credits include Cemetery Dance, www.wrongworld.com, Shroud Magazine, Doorways Magazine, and numerous anthologies. He writes regular columns, book reviews, and interviews for the Horror Writers Association newsletter, FearZone, Cemetery Dance, and several other online and print venues. You can visit him at JGFaherty.com