Ghoul by Michael Slade

(pb; 1989: second book in the fourteen-book Special X series. Loosely linked sequel to Headhunter.)

From the back cover

“What you don’t know can hurt youl. Really really hurt you.

“The bodies were all the same. First, they had been stripped naked. Then the blood had been drained from them while they were still alive.

“Then their hearts been cut out.

“The police looked for a psycho killer.

“The press screamed that a vampire was loose.

“But they were wrong. It was worse.”

Review

Ghoul is an ambitious and twist-filled ode to horror, gothic literature, splatterpunk, psychopathy and rock ‘n’ roll. Slade─nom de plume for three men, two of them lawyers*─throws in a lot of technical details about psychology, history, police procedure and locations with its Grand Guignol, atmospheric-to-the-max execution. There’s even a blink-and-miss-it reference to Slade’s previous novel, Headhunter (which I have not read). If you’re a fan of over-the-top plot corkscrews, intestinal-splashed Reveals, slasher thrillers and classic/hard rock, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Ghoul, one of the best books I’ve read this year. 

Followed by Cutthroat.

[*From the “About the Author” section: “Michael Slade is the pen name of Jay Clarke, John Banks, and Lee Clarke. . . Jay Clarke and John Banks are Vancouver lawyers who specialize in the field of criminal insanity.”]