Number 15 - Dead Shift by John Llewellyn Probert

The more astute of you may notice that I've jumped stratight from 13 to 15.  I wiill post my thoughts on book 14 next week after the book club meeting.  I bet the tension is killing you all. As strees is known to cause hear palpitations I will reveal that book 14 was Untied Kindom by James lovegrove.  That should hopefully relieve enough of the stress that none of you suffer unnecessarily.

John Probert has a gleefully vicious sense of humour. He's also an enormous fan of the classic horror of the old Hammer movies (and indeed amicus et al) and the writings of Dennis Wheatly, HP Lovecraft along with modern masters of horror.

His influences always shine through in his work. His love of old movies was explored in his Doctor Valentine series with a half-ptromise that there will be a Dr Valentine 4 based on Italian Giallo fims.  I so hope he gives us that one soon.

This book - Dead Shift - is clearly influenced by the satanic rituals of Dennis Wheatley's work and a huge dollop of tentacled monsters that would fit in nicely with the Cthulu mythos. But, though he wears his influences on his sleeve (and namechecks them in his books) he certainly can't be accused of ripping them off. 

This book never takes itself too seriously. It's a crackingly good homage to the aforementioned writers in a very easily readable straightforward style, with several belly laughs popping up in the midst of the demonic monster chaos, bloodshed and mayhem. He even manages to generate genuine tension in places.

In the opening chapter, an old man tries to summon an unknown entity in a deserted tower block. He's found by a passing security guard and taken to the local hospital. There he tries to continue his ritual and literally all hell breaks loose. A brave quartet of staff join forces to combat the evil. How many will survive? The fate of the whole world could be in their hands.

It's very short, I read it in one day - which, as a cheat read, that's ideal. But despite the brevity, it packs in a lot of stuff.  Many many dead people, not all of whom have stopped moving, tentacles,  giant insects, killer fungus, tentacles, parallel dimensions, evil books, more tentacles.

I won't make any claims for this as a work of high literature. But it's bloody good fun.  It does exactly what it sets out to do, and dos it bloody well.

An easy 8/10 for sheer energy.

John Probert is currently trying to review every cult movie ever at his House of Mortal Cinema

The book is available from Horrific Tales Publishing www.horrifictales.co.uk