‘Doomflight’ – Guy N. Smith (Hamlyn)
It feels like an absolute age since I read anything by Guy N. Smith, let alone posted about it here. Nothing against his books at all, the wind just blew my reading in a different direction for a while. It happens ;o)
The weekend just gone though seemed like the ideal time to dive back in. After a hectic few weeks at work, I was after some pulpish horror to help me unwind a little bit and whenever I’m in that mood, well… There’s really only the one author that I reach for ;o) I have read ‘Doomflight’ before but not for many years so I thought I’d revisit it and see how much I remembered. Not a lot as it happened but I still had a great time with it.
Fradley airport seemed to be as good as dead – all that remained was cracked concrete and scrubland, half-ruined buildings, rusted steel hangars – and the rumours. Strange, grotesque tribal killings, bizarre ‘accidents’, the legend of the dead airman who returns to lead trespassers to a horrible fate…
Then a private company decides to turn the site into a major international airport. A local teacher warns of then ancient Druids who will wreak terrible vengeance on those who desecrate their stone circle – but he is dismissed as a madman.
Each day the casualties increase and their threat grows more chilling. For deep under the modern runways a huge abyss is opening – the wrath of the gods has been incurred and demands human blood.
The Bird of Evil will not rest until Fradley airport has been devoured in the ultimate doomflight…
I’ve got to admit, I was wondering how much Smith could realistically do with the concept of a haunted airport. I mean, lets be honest… Airports are so busy that you wouldn’t expect to stay in one long enough to be haunted by anything at all. At least that’s what I thought, I should have remembered that this is Guy N. Smith we’re talking about here. I’m surprised that anything got done at Fradley airport at all, there is so much supernatural activity taking place here, Honestly, you can’t turn a page without something happening or at least starting to happen. And all of it is pretty damn creepy. Sure, you can see some of the deaths coming but that just adds to the tension here and this time round, not everyone meets a gruesome end so there is a little uncertainty playing into the overall effect as well. I really enjoyed the ‘timeslip’ moments where people suddenly find that they’ve left the present and are somewhere else entirely. They always caught me by surprise so you can imagine what it does to the people in the book...
Smith has a whole airport to play with here and he really goes for it. We’re not just talking random scares for individuals; the evil lurking under the airport is particularly partial to a large body count and achieves in more than one explosive scene. Again, the element of ambiguity around these events really feeds into the tension that builds up across the plot. Shit sometimes just happens but when you’ve gone and desecrated a Druid site of worship, well… Who can tell what’s an accident and what is evil from beyond time…
What really struck me here though is that Guy N. Smith must have really loved the countryside and not just the wildlife, the history that lies below those fields. Because ‘Doomflight’ is a vicious little ghost story but there’s also something here about the human cost of greed, what it takes away from us and what we are left with. It’s easy to miss that in the midst of all the human sacrifice and so on (which is still fun, don’t get me wrong).
The ending was certainly explosive, damn… It draws a line under everything but also hints at more story to be told for Lance and Pamela. To the best of my knowledge that never happened and sometimes, it’s good to leave things a little vague. I’m left wondering what happened to them next…
‘Doomflight’ ended up being pretty much the ideal Bank Holiday read then. Plenty to hold my attention and a lot to think about at the same time. I think it’s time to read the rest of the Guy N. Smith books that I haven’t got round to yet...
Then a private company decides to turn the site into a major international airport. A local teacher warns of then ancient Druids who will wreak terrible vengeance on those who desecrate their stone circle – but he is dismissed as a madman.
Each day the casualties increase and their threat grows more chilling. For deep under the modern runways a huge abyss is opening – the wrath of the gods has been incurred and demands human blood.
The Bird of Evil will not rest until Fradley airport has been devoured in the ultimate doomflight…
I’ve got to admit, I was wondering how much Smith could realistically do with the concept of a haunted airport. I mean, lets be honest… Airports are so busy that you wouldn’t expect to stay in one long enough to be haunted by anything at all. At least that’s what I thought, I should have remembered that this is Guy N. Smith we’re talking about here. I’m surprised that anything got done at Fradley airport at all, there is so much supernatural activity taking place here, Honestly, you can’t turn a page without something happening or at least starting to happen. And all of it is pretty damn creepy. Sure, you can see some of the deaths coming but that just adds to the tension here and this time round, not everyone meets a gruesome end so there is a little uncertainty playing into the overall effect as well. I really enjoyed the ‘timeslip’ moments where people suddenly find that they’ve left the present and are somewhere else entirely. They always caught me by surprise so you can imagine what it does to the people in the book...
Smith has a whole airport to play with here and he really goes for it. We’re not just talking random scares for individuals; the evil lurking under the airport is particularly partial to a large body count and achieves in more than one explosive scene. Again, the element of ambiguity around these events really feeds into the tension that builds up across the plot. Shit sometimes just happens but when you’ve gone and desecrated a Druid site of worship, well… Who can tell what’s an accident and what is evil from beyond time…
What really struck me here though is that Guy N. Smith must have really loved the countryside and not just the wildlife, the history that lies below those fields. Because ‘Doomflight’ is a vicious little ghost story but there’s also something here about the human cost of greed, what it takes away from us and what we are left with. It’s easy to miss that in the midst of all the human sacrifice and so on (which is still fun, don’t get me wrong).
The ending was certainly explosive, damn… It draws a line under everything but also hints at more story to be told for Lance and Pamela. To the best of my knowledge that never happened and sometimes, it’s good to leave things a little vague. I’m left wondering what happened to them next…
‘Doomflight’ ended up being pretty much the ideal Bank Holiday read then. Plenty to hold my attention and a lot to think about at the same time. I think it’s time to read the rest of the Guy N. Smith books that I haven’t got round to yet...
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