'The Sucking Pit' – Guy N. Smith (New English Library)

It's another day back in the office so while I'm getting back into the habit of a commute that's longer than from my bed to my desk, the books that I post about here will be of the 'quick read' variety. There's also the fact that I built up a little stockpile of 'finished books' that I'm working my way through while I get further into 'Brothers of the Wind'. Which is just amazing by the way but lets leave that for now, it won't be long before you see that post here ;o)

So, another Guy N. Smith read then and we're headed right back to the start of Smith's horror output. 'The Sucking Pit' was written in 1975 and the 'By The Same Author Page' only lists 'Werewolf by Moonlight'. Guy N. Smith was just getting started then and 'The Sucking Pit' isn't a bad start at all...

Deep in Hopwas Woods was a green and peaceful glade. The grass was smooth and weed less, the sun rarely penetrated there, and the local villagers had learned to shun the place. For this was the site of a treacherous and seemingly bottomless bog. Nothing that fell whether by chance or purpose ever managed to escape.

Tom Lawson was a woodsman of the area, he had dark secrets connected with that place; memories of a young gypsy-wife too, who had disappeared one night, and left behind a little black book. This contained the ancient secrets of her people and when Tom Lawson's niece chances upon it by accident, it gives her a longing for power. A longing that is somehow connected with that fathomless pit...

The fact that the blurb really doesn't spare any words, telling you what the book is about, still makes me chuckle as the book itself is only a hundred and eleven pages long... Before we get into the book itself though, just a quick word on the cover. It doesn't really have anything to do with the plot but it is by Ian Miller and that makes it bloody awesome from where I'm sat. Now I've got a little bit of Ian Miller art on my shelves and that's just made my day :o)

But anyway...

What really struck me about this book is that it doesn't really have a plot but somehow still manages to wing it and end up being a quick, fun read. It really is a case of Jenny Lawson drinking a potion and becoming evil which in this book means that she sleeps with the land owner to make some money out of him. The arrival of Cornelius focusses things a bit more, and does open up more of Hopwas Wood for us to see, but there's still no plot, just vague aims that are being worked towards.

Having said all that though, 'The Sucking Pit' is still a book that I tore through in a couple of hours and thoroughly enjoyed. I'm usually after some plot though, as a bare minimum really, so what happened here?

I think, for me, it was that every instance of evil is automatically dialled up to become EVIL. We're not quite at cartoonish levels (which is a good thing) but even though there's no plot, there's enough EVIL floating about that I wanted to stick around and see it vanquished. Or not, it could go either way, most of the time, which is something that Smith has always been good at. I guess that EVIL doesn't need a plot, it just needs people to do it's bidding and that's what we have here. And both Lawson and Cornelius are brimming over with EVIL which makes the rest of the book a race against time, you don't need a plot when you're in a race against time.

Lawson's ex-boyfriend, Chris Latimer, makes for a serviceable hero although again, he doesn't have to do lots, just be in the right place at the right time. It works though and that's key. I mean, it doesn't hurt that I'm a bit of a fan by now but this is Guy N. Smith doing what he does best, setting ordinary folk against some nightmarish horror and it works because he knows how to get his readers invested in what's happening.

It doesn't matter then that 'The Sucking Pit' looks a little on the lightweight side. It is but only because it's streamlined into a book that hits you with exactly what you need and then has you turning the pages to see how it all works out (and who is left standing by the end). Definitely ended up being worth the few extra quid that I bid on eBay ;o)