‘Carnivore’ – Guy N. Smith (Arrow)

I’m doing ok with my current reads (I’m actually going to finish ‘Revenge of the Rose’ which is a big deal for me as I’ve never managed it yet) but fancied a little break from the fantasy, last night, in favour of a little horror instead. The only rule was that it had to be a quick read, one that I could polish off in an evening, as I didn’t want to spend too long away from Messrs Moorcock and Erikson. Well, a new TBR pile is in the process of growing on my ‘loft ladder’ and that’s where I found my ‘quick horror read’, it was a Guy N. Smith book of course 😉 I found a couple of his books in ‘Faction Books’, not so long ago, and had been meaning to pick them up for a read; last night saw me give ‘Carnivore’ a go and it was just the book I needed.

The first victim to die on the Corby estate is a starving poacher, condemned to a terrible end by both man and beast. He is not the last. The mad Earl of Corby’s ancient law has been repealed and blood sports are to be allowed once more on the land. But, the pact with Nature broken, the wildlife turn on their killers. Savage, predatory and murderous, they seek and take revenge on the flesh and blood of those who dare to defy the Corby Curse.

‘Carnivore’ is a very slim read (just over two hundred pages) and has a very simple plot, two elements that combine for a read that really won’t take much out of your day to get through. It’s also very readable, the plot may well be simple but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot going on. There is and most of it inevitably ends in death for our human cast. Throw all of that together and I had a horror read that I didn’t want to put down until I was done with it. Just because things are simple, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be good. Just so long as they play to their strengths, something which ‘Carnivore’ does very well indeed.

‘Carnivore’ lays its concept out very early on and then proceeds to spend the rest of the book showing us exactly what happens next after the mad Earl’s law is repealed. And that’s it, that’s the whole book. Smith adds a few layers though and that’s where the fun is to be had. We have a gradual build-up of violence, from the wildlife, that erupts into full on warfare and a ‘conveyor belt of death’ where supporting cast and a couple of leads meet their end in a suitably gory manner. It’s typical Smith really but he does have a nice line in drawing out the tension until the coup de grace, making full use of the Corby grounds to let you know that an attack really could come from anywhere. And those foxes… That moment was genuinely creepy.

It's not just this though (although that is plenty to be going on with). We are also shown how this gradually eats away at the residents of the Corby Estate until they either leave or resolve to see it through to the very end. There are some nice moments here and it all builds up to an explosive finale that is the only way it could possibly end. I for one would have loved to have seen a ‘Carnivore 2’ (Smith did it with ‘Thirst’…) but it is a great way to sign things off here.

‘Carnivore’ doesn’t give you a lot to chew on but it is a book where plenty of things chew on people and that is all you really need here. It’s a lot of fun and perhaps the only book of Guy N. Smith’s where I’ve skipped to the end so I could check that my favourites made it out alive. If you see a copy, pick it up.