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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Apr 9, 2009 22:52:21 GMT
John Halkin - The Unholy (Hamlyn 1982)The blurb sounds great, I'm just wondering if it's the exploits of dem's arm that it's describing. Now we know what he's been up to 
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Post by dem bones on Apr 10, 2009 0:17:33 GMT
"Monstrous ... obscene .... unstoppable". I must admit, it does sound uncannily true to life although nobody could ever confuse me with "a drunken tramp lurching through side streets". Just ask FM and pulps.  Another fantastic blurb and what looks like the essential Hamlyn nasty - but then, i guess, they all are. Must update that listing, Dave as I reckon you've doubled it single-handed. |
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Post by Dr Terror on Apr 18, 2009 23:14:07 GMT
This one didn't live up to my expectations.
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Sept 2, 2009 19:54:51 GMT
The second Halkin I've read & it doesn't disappoint. The hands of orlac have got nothing on The Unholy, an ancient severed arm, which once revived goes on the rampage tearing one of their arms off & attaching itself to the stump. It racks up a great number of kills, hopping from one host to another, randomly attacking people it encounters.
Great scenes, like the afforementioned tramp, who keeps The Unholy warm & recieves a new/old arm for his trouble, that is until the ungrateful wretch decides it would rather meld to a gang member that attacks the tramp. Also the coach attack, where a fur coat wearing arm-afflicted man gets mistaken for a yeti.
There's also magic ceremonies & whatever else can be thought of to stop the severed beast, mostly to no avail. At 158 pages, this is just over Nel length, & it rattles along nicely.
My only disappointment, is the ending, not that it isn't any good, but I could have done with a Richard Lewis style epilogue.
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Post by erebus on May 3, 2012 14:38:52 GMT
Well before I went back and re-visited Halkins Squelch/slime/slither trilogy, I thought I would return to this book. It starts of in a grandslam fashion. But sadly the book slows down a lot. And between the attack scenes some of the story and dialogue becomes a little tedious. But the attacks are great stuff. Although a certain degree of imagination is warranted as the vision of a severed arm cut at the elbow leaping through windows and tearing through clothes is pretty outrageous. The kills are gruesome enough. People have their faces squeezed off. A scalp gets pulled back. And off course the Unholy attaches itself to you and controls you by squeezing your own arm off and knitting itself into the vacant spot. Yep told you it was bizarre. The foggy French streets and alleys lend to the atmosphere. And as noted the kills are great when described ( including the obligatory tramp  ) But alas it doesn't seem to cut the mustard compared to his notorious trilogy. Perhaps the high standards of that squidgey trilogy somehow tarnished this book for me. Not a bad book, but of course not Halkins best. |
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) But alas it doesn't seem to cut the mustard compared to his notorious trilogy. Perhaps the high standards of that squidgey trilogy somehow tarnished this book for me. Not a bad book, but of course not Halkins best.