Escape from the Living Dead by John Russo

 

(pb; 2013: sequel to the 1978 book version of John Russo’s Return of the Living Dead. Third book in Russo’s Living Dead series.)

 

From the back cover

“In an isolated roadside diner, a desperate group of strangers barricade themselves against a ravenous horde of undead customers who crave something more than the early bird special. They want flesh. Human flesh. With a side order of brains and stomach-turning terror.”

 

Review

Escape, set sixteen years after the events of Night of the Living Dead (1968) and ten years after Return of the Living Dead (published in 1978), has the same virtues and drawbacks (for some readers) as Russo’s two previous Living Dead books, with a few series-fresh and world-expansive ideas thrown into the mix (e.g., a scientist, Dr. Harold Melrose, who’s infected with zombifying virus but doesn’t “turn”).

If you like blunt action with little nuance, short-lived characters whose pasts are effectively sketched out (to keep the action going at rapid clip), and villains who are repulsive in their outlooks and violence, Escape might be your pulpy, putrescent and gory kick. If I have any criticisms of Russo’s writing, it’s usually this: he makes philosophical statements that take me out of the story unnecessarily—these truths and musings could easily be woven seamlessly into the story, within the characters’ dialogue, actions, and situations themselves; also, some of his characters’ dialogues are stilted, providing awkwardly stated story information and information about their pasts (while talking to people who’ve known them awhile and therefore should already know them).

These minor nits aside, Escape, like Russo’s other works, is a choppy-edit, gory, grim, violent and character-sketched tale, one worth reading if you can embrace the above-stated qualities of his writing, and don’t mind a bit of bleak-humored misanthropy.

The Girl with the Barbed Wire Hair by Carlton Mellick III

 

(pb; 2022)

 

From the back cover

“This is a ghost story.

“It is also a love story.

“It is a story about obsession, desperation, loneliness, and depravity.

“It is not a story that will make you happy.”

 

Review

Girl is an instantly addictive (in a good way) read, seamlessly incorporating integral facets of Japanese horror (aka J-horror) into a relatively straightforward, sometimes clever-twisty tale: a kind, quiet boy (Yusuke) is thrown into wild situations after helping a strange street girl (Akiko Mori) and, while doing so, attracting the weird-affection attention of his popular, pretty and casually cruel junior high classmate (Narumi Wada). Events spiral out of bloody, community-threatening control when Akiko’s true nature is revealed, playing out in a way that feels true to J-horror and its well-developed character while maintaining a fresh take on it. Girl, Mellick’s sixty-fourth book, is less bizarre in tone and execution, but still a wild, entertaining and standout work, one worth owning.

Chamber of Horrors by Robert Bloch

 

(pb; 1966: story anthology)

 

Overall review

Chamber is an excellent, twelve-story collection by an often-excellent author. All the tightly written and twisty tales shine, even if Bloch-familiar readers guess/sense the character- and fate-based turns within the works. Worth owning, this—a master class in effective, get-regularly-published writing.

 

Review, story by story

“The Living End”: Nobel Prize-winning scientist Herbert Zane is unpleasantly distracted from his groundbreaking work by his shrewish wife (Hilda), in a life-altering way. While some readers may guess how Herbert might be undone, it’s still—especially for the period it was originally published (1963)—effective, clever, and rings true.

 

“The Headhunter”: Otto Kranz, an axe-wielding executioner for the SS (and full of wonder at the mysteries of life and death) risks death to seek answers to nagging, core questions. Good story.

 

“Impractical Joker”: A heartbroken, disgruntled bartender (Teddy), working his final shift at the Fun House (a bar), goes for broke (im)practical joke-wise. For Bloch, this is a relatively gentle work shade-wise, but still moralistic (in a good way) with its twist(s).

 

“Pride Goes—”: Alice Aiken, an adulteress, plots her husband’s murder, and finds even the most no-fuss killing too easily becomes tangled. Masterfully foreshadowed finish, one of my favorite stories in this anthology—and one of my all-time favorite Bloch stories.

 

“The Screaming People”: A post-car accident amnesiac (Steve Edmundson), dream-led by “The Voice,” suspects he might’ve committed a murder. Thankfully, there’s his loving wife (Roxie) and Dr. Carl Wagram (a neuropsychiatrist) to guide him back to complete sanity. . . maybe.

Bloch, again, masterfully mines noir tropes and converts them into pulpy, twisty gold with his deftly placed foreshadowing, gray-shade characters, sly humor and overall excellent writing.

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“Fat Chance”: A longtime-married husband plots his wife’s (Mary) death after she puts on seriously unhealthy weight and he meets Frances, a stimulating, weight-healthy woman. Readers familiar with Bloch’s writing style and structure may see what “Fat Chance”’s twist-finish is likely to be, but it’s still the work of a superb writer spinning a worthwhile, clever tale.

 

“The Unpardonable Crime”: Sherry,  a desperate, lowlife actress, returns to her husband (Roger, a film director) after disappearing for three years. She hopes to revitalize her career, but things have changed in ways she couldn’t foresee. Fun, Hollywood-dark read, offbeat and excellent twist.

 

“Method for Murder”: Madness—contagious?—dominates this tale about a woman (Alice), sick of her husband’s obsession with his thriller work; she finds an illicit and dangerous way to deal with it. Fans of Bloch’s 1982 novel Psycho II might especially appreciate “Murder.”

 

“Two of a Kind”: A wealthy man (Preston Lambert) offers a young couple (Mary Dexter and her husband) a life of luxury if they’ll work with him on what seems like mad lark. Memorable, great twist-finish in this story.

 

“Untouchable”: Race Harmon, an arrogant and racist filmmaker in India, goes stir crazy beyond his usual, drunken actions and slurs (which are language-explicit and may be shocking for sheltered/sensitive readers). This being a Bloch tale, there’s a heavy price to be paid for such behavior. Nasty, blunt and excellent story.

 

“Beelzebub”: A fly torments a Hollywood writer (Howard). Fun story.

 

“ ‘Frozen Fear’”: Walter Krass realizes that his Cajun wife (Ruby) intends to kill him, so he tries to respond in kind—but murder isn’t always the answer, nor is it the end of certain situations. Good, solid work.

Poison Flower by Thomas Perry

 

(hb; 2012: seventh book in the Jane Whitefield series)

From the back cover

“James Shelby has been unjustly convicted of his wife’s murder. To save him from prison or death, Jane orchestrates his escape from the heavily guarded criminal court building in Los Angeles. Within minutes, imposters posing as police officers shoot Jane, take her away, and tie her to a mattress in a small, dark room.

“Jane’s captors are employees for the true killer, who believes he won’t be safe until Shelby is dead. His henchmen will do anything to break Jane’s mind, body, and spirit to get her to reveal Shelby’s hiding place, yet Jane endures their sadistic torment using techniques passed on via her Seneca warrior ancestors. Jane is alone, wounded, thousands of miles from home with no money and no identification, hunted by both the police and her ruthless captors. In an unrelenting cross-country battle, Jane must use all her cunning to rejoin Shelby, get them both to safety, and unmask the real murderer. And when at last Jane turns to fight, her enemies face a ferocious warrior who has one weapon they don’t.”

 

Review

One of the many strengths of Perry’s Jane Whitefield series (and overall writing) is that he, a prolific author, regularly switches up the plot structures and setups of his books, often within the same series, so that each book stands out from (most of) his other works. This is especially true of Poison Flower, which focuses not on Jane guiding her clients to safety, but her trying to escape kidnappers and, having done so, making sure that she and those she cares about are safe from them—even if it means her engaging in an activity she reluctantly engages in: revenge.

Poison, like other Jane Whitefield novels, is a fast, entertaining work, making for another thriller that feels fresh and familiar while expanding ongoing characters and Jane’s world. The emotional gravitas of the dangers Jane and her friends and family face are immediate, engaging, action-brutal and often hair-raising (especially after Jane is kidnapped by Daniel Martel’s auction-minded killers). This is an excellent work, not shocking considering its creator, fast-moving but not so slick as to lack memorability or emotional heft. Followed by A String of Beads.