Hemlock Grove or, The Wise Wolf, by Brian McGreevy

(pb; 2012)


From the inside flap:

"The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey steel mill.  A manhunt ensues - though the authorities aren't sure if it's a man they should be looking for.

"Some suspect an escapee from White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family - their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel - where, if the rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place.  Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told an impressionable high school classmate that he's a werewolf.  Or maybe it's Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia."


Review:

Hemlock Grove is a mostly well-written and entertaining hodgepodge of Frankensteinian experimentation, small town life and lycanthropy.  McGreevy has a clear love of striking phrases and scenes, as well as a love of language itself.   The characters are simultaneously familiar and engaging.

I use the phrase "mostly well-written" to describe Hemlock because of the author's occasional ill-advised point of view changes in the middle of scenes - he goes from third person omniscient to a different first-person present tense without section breaks and without warning (and often for only a line or two); these abrupt shifts jarred me out of this otherwise solid story. 

McGreevy easily has the potential to pen an excellent novel, but this isn't that novel - though, with a few choice edits, it could have been.  Borrow this from the library.

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The resulting Netflix series began airing on April 19, 2013.  Eli Roth serves as an executive producer on the show.

Landon Liboiron plays Peter Rumancek.  Bill Skarsgård  plays Roman Godfrey.  Penelope Mitchell plays Letha Godfrey.   Famke Janssen plays Olivia Godfrey.  Lilli Taylor plays Lynda Rumancek.  Freya Tingley plays Christina Wendell.  Kaniehtiio Horn plays Destiny Rumancek. 

Dougray Scott plays Norman Godfrey.  Joel de la Fuenta plays Dr. Jonathan Pryce.    Ted Dykstra plays Francis Pullman.  Laurie Fortier plays Marie Godfrey. 

Cabal, by Clive Barker

(hb; 1985, 1988: horror anthology)

From the inside flap:

"Cabal. . . is the story of a young woman willing to cross the borders of the human to be with the man she loves.

"That man is [Aaron] Boone, a beautiful, tortured soul who believes himself responsible for atrocious crimes.  He has taken refuge in a necropolis situated in the wilds of Canada, beneath which all the last great monsters of the world - the nightbreed - are in hiding.  They are possessed of extraordinary powers; so is Boone.  And in the hunt for Boone, they, too, will be hunted.  Can they survive when the colder, deadlier monsters of the twentieth century are on their heels?  And can Lori's love withstand the extraordinary truth of Boone's soul?"



Overall review:

Above-average novella/story anthology that showcases Barker's trademark, sometimes eloquent, sometimes gory meld of the beauty and darkness.

Worth owning, this.



Novella/stories:

1.)  "Cabal": See "inside flap" description.  Good, entertaining read.

The resulting film, retitled Nightbreed, was released stateside on February 16, 1990.

Clive Barker directed the film from his screenplay.

Craig Sheffer played Aaron Boone/Cabal.  Anne Bobby played Lori.  David Cronenberg played Dr. Phillip K. Decker.  Debora Weston played Sheryl.  Charles Haid played Captain Eigerman. 

Hugh Ross played Narcisse.  Doug Bradley played Dirk Lylesberg.  Catherine Chevalier played Rachel.    Kim Robertson played Babette.  Malcolm Smith played Ashberry.  Bob Sessions played Pettine.  Oliver Parker played Peloquin. 

John Agar played "Decker's Victim".


2.)  "The Life of Death":  A woman's brush with mortality during surgery portends her further, more complex association with that irrevocable element. 

Excellent, gripping story, with a stunning and darkly hilarious finish.


3.)   "How Spoilers Bleed":  Three European imperalist men, in contentious negotiations with an Indian tribe over land rights, find themselves on the business end of a terrifying and relentless curse.

Good, moralistic tale.


4.)  "Twilight at the Towers":   The possible defection of a high-ranking KGB agent (Mironenko) sparks a cycle of deceit, bloodshed and revelations.

Good, twist-pretzeled story that melds the milieus of John le Carré's spy world and grisly violence.


5.)  "The Last Illusion":  A private detective (Harry D'Amour) discovers that his gig babysitting a famous magician's corpse is more difficult and hellish than he thought it would be.

Entertaining, distinctive mix of noir, humor and the supernatural.

The film version, retitled Lord of Illusions, was released stateside on August 25, 1995.

Clive Barker directed the film from his screenplay.

Scott Bakula played Harry D'Amour.  Kevin J. O'Connor played Philip Swann.  Famke Janssen played Dorothea Swann.  Barry Del Sherman played Butterfield. 

Daniel von Bargen played Nix.  Vincent Shiavelli played Vinovich.  Wayne Grace played Loomis.