This was a week that reminded me how varied the horror genre can be. 3 horror novels read, and they couldn’t be more different from each other. Kiss of a Killer was romantic and suspenseful, The Totem was tense and weird, and Terrifier 2 was darkly humorous and crazily graphic. I think because horror is a feeling more than anything else,nthe genre can have a wonderful diversity of plots and styles.I had fun anyway, even if the Sweet Valley High book was a disappointment.
Books I’ve Read This Week
Sweet Valley High: Kiss of a Killer by Francine Pascal and Kate William
A disappointingly obvious end to the vampire trilogy. Boo.
The Totem by David Morrell
David Morrell is an author who deserves more recognition. Best remembered for creating the character of John Rambo in his novel ‘First Blood’ I think modern readers may have the impression that he writes the kind of gung ho action typical of the later Rambo movies. In fact his work is much more subtle, tense and interesting than that.
‘The Totem’ is no exception, a dark, suspenseful horror novel about weird series of deaths in a small town. It pits a mismatched duo of typical 70s thriller stalwarts (a cop and a journalist) against an unknown horror that gradually ramps up and comes into focus as the book progresses.
The book has a slightly fragmentary style, skipping rapidly between scenes that are sometimes no longer than half a page. This may in part be because this 70s version of the novel was a cut down one (Morrell published a much longer version years later), but it works, keeping the reader constantly off balance. It’s tense and compulsively readable stuff, with a very 70s sense of paranoia and uncertainty that works brilliantly.
Manalive by GK Chesterton
A humorous, philosophical short novel from 1912 concerning a mysterious figure, Innocent Smith, who turns up at (and disrupts) an English boarding house.
This was the first book in a series of buddy reads I am doing with my dad of his favourite books. I definitely enjoyed it, but not sure I’m as much of a fan of it as he is. It’s definitely amusing at times, with a wonderful turn of phrase at times. but I found it a bit convoluted and more concerned with it’s message than with telling a story.
Terrifier 2 by Tim Waggoner
This felt like kind of a miracle. I am, and have been since childhood, a fan of movie novelisations. They’re often entertaining, and a fun way to revisit a favourite film, but they also can feel like they’re lacking something that would make them fully satisfying as a book in their own right. Books can get turned into Oscar-winning movies, but no novelisation is ever going to win a literary prize.
So my expectations of Tim Waggoner’s adaptation of shockfest ‘Terrifier 2’ were tempered. I’ve read and enjoyed one book by him in the past (and original work called ‘They Kill’), but he’s not an author I know well. This book made me want to get to know his work better. He’s managed to pull off two tricky things here, Firstly, capture the weird magic of the movie – the horror, the black humour, the touching and convincing family dynamic, and the unhinged tone. Secondly, he’s managed to turn a film that is incredibly visual, Art doesn’t even talk, for crying out loud, into an effective book. Even at 400 pages I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read.
It should go without saying though, that if you aren’t a fan of the films this is NOT for you.
CriminOlly 
Thanks for recommending David Morrell. I’m definitely going to look for his books at the library this week!
Enjoy! They’ll be a video about him on Thursday