'The Walking Dead' – Guy N. Smith (New English Library)


No, not that 'Walking Dead' although it may feel like the show has been around for as long as this book has ;o) Nope, it's time for another installment in my read through of all things pulp horror and Guy N. Smith...

Not of a lot of reading has happened this week and I didn't want to hit today not having posting something bookish so it was a bit of a no-brainer to round things off with a short, sharp dose of Guy N. Smith. Especially as it was 'The Walking Dead', I'm not so hot at finding 'Guy N. Smith Sequels' so it felt like a bit of a treat when I found this book and now I've finally got round to reading it...

He sank deeper, deeper...

The black sullen water closed over his head. Bubbles of vile-smelling marsh gas rose from the slime and mud of the pool. Still deeper he sank, eyes staring, wide-open. Now strange figures - human figures - swam before him with weed-entangled hair and outstretched, beckoning arms. An unearthly siren song of desire and death swelled and rang in his ears. Soft water-bloated flesh stroked and nuzzled against him. Down, down they took him. The creatures of the pit, who were dead yet could never die, bone white in the inky blackness, sucked and pulled at him. Claimed him for their own.

The Sucking Pit is back (well, it never really went away but you know what I mean) and you know what that means. It's time for EVIL to make another appearance, people to die horribly and for others to have some fairly vigorous sex in the meantime. A typical Guy N. Smith book then and there's plenty to suggest that 'The Walking Dead' falls firmly into that category. Not that that's a bad thing, not when the story is just as much fun as it's predecessor.

'The Walking Dead' is a good mixture of ghost story (to get you interested) and horror (for the payoff) and Smith keeps up a fairly frenetic pace throughout with plenty going on. As such, it can be a bit difficult sometimes for the tension to remain constant but that's a minor failing when you have moments of horror that are really quite visceral and in your face (I've always been more about the horror than the haunting). And lets not forget the sex which can be very unsettling when set against what's happening with the Sucking Pit. And talking about the Sucking Pit itself... I thought that Smith did superb work in giving what's essentially a bit of boggy ground a sense of evil that is palpable. 'The Walking Dead' is a book that has something for everyone and for the most part, Smith hits the target.

At only a hundred and sixty pages long (well, more like a hundred and fifty nine and a half...), don't expect too much in the way of plot. Things happen which lead into more things happening and then it's the finale. 'The Walking Dead' is very linear in it's approach to the plot but the return of Chris Latimer, and some well drawn new characters (including an appropriately corrupt businessman) make up for this. It feels like it's all done deliberately to keep those pages turning and I can get behind that. It was just what I needed for the bus journey home after day at work.

'The Walking Dead' can come across as a little too quickly paced for its own good but is still a lot of fun for a couple of hours reading which was exactly what I was after last night. You might want to bear that in mind but overall, another 'win' for my reading. Onto the next Guy N. Smith book which I think is 'The Neophyte'...

You can read my thoughts on 'The Sucking Pit' Here.

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