Cursed Words by I.D Russell (2022) - Comedy Horror Book Review

Cursed Words is the latest novel from I.D Russell (Under Blood Lake, The Killing Death), and like those other novels, this takes place in the same world, featuring some welcome returning characters. I always forget how dark parts of these novels can get, while there are certainly purposeful comedic moments, sometimes this is pushed to the side for some more concentrated horror.

Sick of his author girlfriend telling him how hard it is to write a novel, Dexter decides that to prove a point he is going to write one in a single weekend. He decides to travel to the Van Lundgren estate, a bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere, somewhere outside of his home of River City. He hopes that the peace and solitude there will allow him to focus on his task. The night he arrives however, also sees the arrival of a whole bunch of different characters, all there for their own reasons. With the estate having a dark past, this gets reignited with the arrival of the strangers.
Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Sergeant Frank Malone and his rookie partner Jimmy Hooper are travelling out of River City with the aim of making it to a favourite roadside cafe of Malone. Their journey eventually leads them inadvertently to the cursed estate.

While they are very much side characters, it was comforting to see the return of Malone and Hooper. My first experience with this shared universe was watching the 2008 comedy thriller The Killing Joke and so the images of these two characters are cemented into my mind as Jeremy Dangerfield and Tyhr Trubiak, making them seem more real. Malone in particular was as expected the stand-out part of Cursed Words. While he might not feature too often, he as always brings to mind Frank Drebin from Police Squad, coming across as a bumbling idiot, yet having a bizarre method to his madness that always results in him coming out on top. Much of the comedy revolves around him, it was a real highlight every time he got a chapter to himself.

The focus however isn't on this brilliant character, but instead much of the novel follows wannabe writer Dexter. This is good up to a point, but with the heavy supernatural elements playing out, a lot of the story falls under an unreliable narrator, by this I mean events happen that seem real to Dexter, but might not actually be taking place. Up until around the halfway point the book was easy enough to follow. The various characters are introduced at the estate and it feels like this is going to play out as a somewhat traditional murder mystery. There is decent backstory drip fed throughout Cursed Words, with ten chapters evenly spread throughout that are set from the mid nineteen fifties up to the mid nineteen sixties, concerning a troubled child that had unfortunate 'accidents' that follow him wherever he went.
I was surprised then to see this murder mystery quickly morph into something that was far more supernatural. The second half of the novel is a whirlwind of strange events that keep you ever guessing as to what is going on. Characters die in one chapter, but then return in the next none the worse for wear, the antagonist included. There are false leads and red herrings that are so well mixed in that it can be hard to parse what is real and what is fabricated. It led to me reading at an ever increasing speed, hoping that all would be resolved and explained by the books end. For me that never happened, from the last final twist I was left pretty confused with what had been going on, unsure if the unreliable viewpoint pointed towards literal supernatural goings on. If Cursed Words was a film then the whole second half would have gone deep into arthouse territory, containing as it does dream sequences that may actually be real, hallucinations that again may actually be real, as well as a lot of full frontal male nudity, so all very arthouse.
This confusing perspective did make the subplots a nice change of pace. Getting Malone and Hooper's outsider perspective calmed things down, as well as being genuinely amusing, while the sections set in the past gave definite facts to what was occuring in the present. With Dexter, I wanted to like the character, but struggled due to never knowing exactly what was going on with him.

As is always the case with Russell's novels, Cursed Words is written very well. As confused as I was, this wasn't due to the style of writing, it was very easy to visualise in my mind's eye what was happening. Some of the characters were well realised, of course Frank Malone as always was a pure joy to read about. I fear a lot of my confusion over the plot was down to me, over the days that have passed since reading this I have sorted out a lot of the story in my head. Regardless, Cursed Words is well worth a read, a murder mystery with an arthouse difference, and a story that goes to some very unexpected places.

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Under Blood Lake by I.D Russell (2021) - Comedy Horror Book Review

A few years back I had the pleasure of watching Ian Russell's low budget comedy horror film The Killing Death. A stand out character from that film was Frank Malone, a no nonsense jaded super detective. Russell is also an author, and his novelisation of the film expanded on the story greatly. His latest novel, Under Blood Lake is a prequel of sorts, though unrelated to the actual story of The Killing Death it does have the wonderful Frank Malone character as the central protagonist.

It is the eighties and Detective Inspector Sergeant Frank Malone learns that his brother has died in the sleepy fishing town of Lakeshore under (blood lake) strange circumstances. His boss, maybe wanting to get Frank and his blunt way of performing his duties out of River City, gives the man a weeks leave to go and get his brothers affairs in order. Frank is convinced there is more to his brother's death than meets the eye, with it already being suspicious that he apparently died by accidentally driving his car into the lake while drunk, when it was known that he was a teetotaller. Lakeshore is a place that is not welcoming to outsiders and the more Frank tries to learn exactly what happened the more resistance he gets from the locals who just want him to leave.

Russell describes the book as a mix between H.P Lovecraft's Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dirty Harry. Both these inspirations are obvious to see. With the former you have the legend of fish people said to live in the lake, and the later is Frank's often wild way of performing his police work. Frank as a character reminds me more than anything of Leslie Nielsen's character Frank Drebin from Police Squad, it helps that Jeremy Dangerfield who excellently played Frank in The Killing Death has a similar look to that character. In that film and book Frank had a straight man to play off against. I had a mild fear that Frank unleashed on his own would become a bit exhausting due to his crazy ways. This doesn't really come to pass due to the assortment of characters Frank meets who are just as weird as he is. From the alcoholic Captain Jack to the sex crazed host at his Bed and Breakfast, there aren't many typically normal people to be found. Unlike Drebin, who often seemed to be successful in spite of his insanity, Frank is a great detective, so his journey and unfolding investigation plays out well. It could be said the story wraps up a bit too neatly in a whirlwind of a final act, but I loved this unleashed version of the character and how quickly he resolves everything, in comparison to a Frank trying his best to play by the rules.

Under Blood Lake is comedic but it also tells a horror story, these two elements blend together satisfyingly with neither over shadowing the other. There are plenty of ridiculous conversations with funny wordplay that was always entertaining. I also appreciated the melding of the real with the fantastical. Without going into details the Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers features heavily here. I assumed he was a fictional character but then there is an afterword by Russell who explains the inclusion of this singer into his story was done out of love for the artists work. Ideas such as this reminded me a lot of the far fetched fiction of Robert Rankin, a sub-genre that has always appealed. The story wasn't as light as I thought it would be, well as light as a story can be that starts with a man and his girlfriend getting decapitated. Some of the events of the book get dark, from murder all the way up to rape. It was a decent mix, maybe my favourite parts being Frank's frequent encounters with the bumbling goons of a local gangster.

Russell has a style of writing that just makes his novels so easy to read, Under Blood Lake was an enjoyable breeze to get though, the story may not have been too surprising taken as a whole, but there were definite moments I did not expect, and the character of Frank was always a central highlight.

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The Killing Death by I.D Russell (2017) - Comedy Horror Book Review

A few months ago, back in June I reviewed Ian Russell's indie comedy horror/crime film The Killing Death, and mentioned in the review that there had been a book written. Well since then I have now read that book which serves both as a novelisation of the movie, as well as a sequel to that story all rolled into one. I nearly always say this when reviewing books - I'm not great at reviewing books! I shall try my best though.

Roughly half of The Killing Death follows the events of the film. There is a serial killer loose in River City, one whose M.O is collecting a different body part from each of his victims. By the start of the book this killer has been captured with recollections by both the killer, and the detective duo, consisting of seasoned Frank Malone, and rookie Jimmy Hooper showing how he came to be captured. The second half of the novel takes place after this with a new and even more dangerous foe for the men to battle against.

It's hard to talk about the story too much as there is quite a nice twist in the middle which completely changes the tone of the story. If the first part was an indie horror (as it indeed was) the second half feels more like a Hollywood blockbuster in terms of the sheer scope of it. I wondered how the novel would expand on the characters and it actually does cure some of the issues from the film. With Chicago Phil in particular you get a lot more insight into what he is hoping to achieve, as well as getting backstory that led him to become who he was, whether justified or not. This was all good as he never really got much opportunity in the film to be a more rounded character. What I also liked was how the jokes got ported over. In particular there was a moment in the film where I felt the comedy didn't work, a silly scene that was like something out of Scooby-Doo as characters opened and closed doors in a hallway, appearing in different places each time. Here that same scene becomes hilarious due to the bewildered thoughts of Jimmy as he is experiencing this. This isn't transposed verbatim from the film, with some of the more amusing dialogue exchanges missing, but there is of course a lot added. Again there are some moments that don't work too well, an early part involving a rerun of Jeopardy was more confusing than amusing as one example.

The Killing Death is an easy read, and also written in a style that I enjoyed. Not too surprising that this was decent as it turns out as well as director Ian Russell is also an author. He said that due to being published ten years after his film that he was able to expand what was on screen, and with this he was successful. Both parts of the book were enjoyable, though there is a definite shift at the halfway mark that makes it almost seem like two separate stories featuring the same characters rather than one whole. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, it was fun seeing what happened after the film ends. The humour is reduced a little in the second part but there are still funny moments, and I did like the shift from crime novel to something a little bit more supernatural feeling.

I thought the film The Killing Death was a fun watch, but the book adaptation is even better. With a clear easy way of writing this was something I frequently couldn't put down. It does build on the ideas of the film, while the new stuff is nearly as strong. A book I would recommend even if you haven't seen the film.

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Vices and Virtues (2017) - Horror Anthology Book Review

Much like with films there isn't much better than a horror anthology when it is done right. The great thing about collections of short stories is that even if there are some which don't resonate with you there is always going to be something that does. Vices and Virtues is a 400 page anthology put together by Ashley Franz Holzmann (The Laws of Nature) and which contains sixteen different tales of horror written by thirteen different authors. I love anthologies that have a theme and this book has a great one, as the title suggests the theme here is vices and virtues with each story ending with a single word that states what the chosen thought was. This ranges from curiosity, trust, love and pride all the way down to chauvinism, manliness and remembrance.

I think perhaps the best thing about this book is how completely different some of the stories are from the usual horror yarn, there are some that hop outside of the traditional short you would expect into a different genre entirely. With The Lonely Man ( by Kristopher J. Patten) you get a John Wyndham style sci-fi story that takes place on Mars with an isolated astronaut discovering someone who should most certainly be dead. With Sesshoseki (again by Patten) you have an action packed Japanese based spy story with horror thrown in thanks to a visit to the notorious suicide forest of Aokigahara. Elsewhere with Heart Full of Love (by L.Chan) you get a futuristic take on Edgar Allan Poe's classic story The Tell-Tale Heart that takes place in a world where synthetic organs are the norm.

With a few of these influences can be seen, but usually there is a unique twist that makes the stories their own beast. Given Form (by S.M Piper), Chaucer's Horses (by Christina Ferrari) and Biserka (Patten's third story in this anthology) all seemed to owe a debt to the master of legitimate terror H.P Lovecraft which is never a bad thing. Then you have My Time Is Very Valuable (by J.D Patrick) that has the idea of a Faustian pact meet up with the film Limitless to great effect. These combinations of horror types and genre types all impressed me a lot with the variety on offer, there is even a spin on zombies with first story The Girl Who Died (by C.K Walker) that just comfortably sits along more realistic stories such as the effective The Compliant (by J.L Spencer) that is about a fake kidnapping gone wrong, and Dammit Janet by Holzmann himself that is a cold observation of a woman who is always wanting better for herself and which leads to her downfall.

Deck Z: The Titanic (2012) by Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon - Zombie Horror Book Review

I have never seen the film Titanic so I was quite interested to read an account of how it came to sink, albeit one with added zombies. I read this book cover to cover in two days, though rather annoyingly finishing the book coincided with my Internet being cut off.

Everyone knows that the Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage, what people don't know is that a giant secret was covered up along with the sinking of the vessel. Theodor Weiss; a German scientist is on the run from the German military after he discovers a virus that can turn the most gentle person into a savage monster impervious to pain or reason. The military want the virus to use as a biological weapon, Weiss hopes to flee to America where he can make a cure for the natural disease. Unfortunately for him and the other people of the Titanic there is a German agent on board who corners Weiss and takes the vial containing the virus. The inevitable soon happens and an outbreak of zombies starts to occur. Weiss teaming up with the crew of the Titanic must find a way to not only contain the outbreak, but also to locate the missing vial.

Deck Z: The Titanic is a great zombie book, I must admit I was surprised with how much of a real page turner it was. This is helped by really short chapters, at most around five or six pages, some not even a page long. Each chapter starts with a heading giving the location the chapter takes place in as well as the time it takes place. This gives a great sense of progression.

Doing some research after reading it I was surprised to see that a number of real life people are included in the tale including the ship's Captain Edward Smith, White Starline's Chairman J.Bruce Ismay, and even the naval architect Thomas Andrews. I thought this was real cool, if a bit of an insult to the memories of these real people being used in such a strange context. That's not to say I don't approve, it gave the events more of a realistic feeling, and I have heard it say Captain Smith was portrayed poorly in the film, here he is pretty much the hero of the piece, armed with a sword dispatching zombies throughout, so redeemed. Bookending the story are two chapters based in modern day, a good addition even if it does lead to a predictable twist ending.

The zombies here are of the flesh eating kind, slow shambling, dumb hordes and quite gruesomely described, one part where a parade of zombies were getting chopped up in a giant fan was a highlight.  The characters are a hotchpotch of stereotypes and deeper characters. Set in 1912 the sensibilities and opinions of the characters are different than the norm, the old setting brought some freshness to the genre. Main character Weiss is deeply flawed, others such as young girl Lou and Smith are more likable and given personality often lacking in these types of books.

Kinda a spoiler here but I was expecting the Titanic sinking to be a huge part of the book, but when this event occurs it is already over two thirds of the way through the story and dealt with really quite briefly. After the horror of a zombie outbreak aboard a ship, the sinking of the ship almost seems like a welcome relief to the characters trapped there.

Well written, simple yet entertaining I would really recommend Deck Z: The Titanic, a decent zombie book with real life facts giving it a neat twist.

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