Edward Jarvis - Pestilence

[H_P_Saucecraft]

Edward Jarvis - Pestilence (Hamlyn 1983)

I've seen this one mentioned on vault before, but it doesn't seem to have its own thread, so I thought I'd add one.

[H_P_Saucecraft]

Just read this one. Nice & entertaining, plenty of mutilation & ridiculously big lampreys.

As ever nuclear testing is what unsettles these dormant creatures, sending them to attack in droves. Jarvis certainly loves his acronyms, (CHOP being one of them). There's a nice humourous moment late in the book, where in typical fashion, the American correspondent disputes another country's report of a bigger lamprey than their lastest report (Lamprey envy? .

I think lord gorse mentioned it in another thread & I certainly agree, part of the book does read like it was written by the tourist board.

After ever increasing Lamprey sizes, a plan is hastily put together & put into action & it does make it feel a bit rushed, but that's generally the style of these things & part of their charm.

Not quite at Richard Lewis level, but a good Hamlyn nonetheless.

[noose]

Hamlyn (1983)

WHAT IS IT?

The subtle killer that no one has seen...

The plague that grows - and grows - from an unknown source...

A monster of writhing, insatiable blood-lust...

The voracious destroyer from which there is no escape...

Until mankind is faced with final, total carnage.

PESTILENCE

[erebus]

Been after this bugger for yonks. Although to be truthful I thought Maggots was pretty pap.

[erebus]

A good Hamlyn indeed. Its no classic, but I did read the entire thing in one Sunday so it must have some redeeming qualities.
It begins with a prologue of a group of kids finding their pussycat headless in their empty swimming pool. From then on in we meet our main character Garry Marshall a newspaper writer who gets him fingers sucked off whilst unblocking his drain on a Saturday afternoon. This doesn't seem to bother him that much as later he's dropping puns like crazy " leave it to me I've first hand experience " etc.
Its here were the book surprised me. I thought the novel was confined to the perils in merry old England, but no. In Sweden we have Dr Carl Larson, who works for the Geological Research Group. He has noticied large explosions and seismic activities under the ocean. Meanwhile over in the US fat Glen Kalmar ( it says hes fat its not me being rude ) and his son witness ducks and geese being plucked from below the waters of the lake.
In India a group of bathers are savaged in the River Ganges and a young actress in a film being shot in Delhi has her leg chomped off filming a scene " cut as clean as a sliced breadstick "

Garry gets promoted at the paper. The Daily Moniter. And exchanges notes with the various people who witness the attacks. He and the papers editors set up CHOP Co Ordination and Help to Overcome Pestilence. Dear Lord, and I thought CHUD was bad .
The books Vignettes are not very frequent or graphic. And most tales are told in newspaper and Newsflash reports. Manatees being killed and washed up in Hong Kong. Gondolas being smashed up in Venice. One incident has Glen and his annoying kid and friends being attacked on a Steam Barge, the make it out alive via Helicopter , except old Chuck, who has his left lung sucked out through his backbone.

Dr Larson heads to London and fills everyone in about the eruptions, but the creatures are still unknown. Crocodiles suggests the Judd Cass the fated film director of earlier, Piranhas chips up another, but the nearest guess is the fellow at the National Aquarium who suggests eels. Nearly pal but no cigar.

Of course we gather eventually its Lampreys, giants and small, of all sizes. Unleashed from a dormant sleep of 540 million years. A three foot specimen is found dead in a Suffolk bath drain, but its the giants that are the worst problem. Garry and his female accomplice get out for the day to escape the rat race. Tranquillity is interrupted when they witness an old bloke slip on some seaweed sodden steps and plunge into the waters. A huge Lamprey attaches itself to his belly and feeds hungrily, Gary impales the beast with an anchor and pulls him free of the water, although he is dead, what do they do then ? Call for help ? Get the police ? no the leave him and bugger of in the car.

A yachting team are then attacked by gigantic versions. Slurped down like spaghetti. Over in the States Glen reckons they have caught the biggest on record, found dead feeding on a shark. Where in New Zealand a specimen is said to have been discovered attached to a Whale. A jealous Glen isn't impressed. Does this spell the end of humanity ? How can these creatures be destroyed ? More to come.... perhaps.

[erebus]

......To make matters whose, Gary is told his wife,Verni, has been killed in a cross channel ferry. Why anyone would want to venture near water in this time is beyond me. Perhaps its probably because Gary hasn't been home that often, he's been with his assistant half the time Lorna. In fact he beds her soon after the funeral, Shameless.
The people of the city evacuate to the hills and high ground. Why do they not just stay away from the water ? Anyway Passenger Liners are now being attacked including the illustrious USS Stupendous. This is giving us and indication of how big the creatures have become.
But thats not all, the laws of nature have been interrupted. A shark has bitten of a fishermans leg whilst he stood in knee high waters. An Octopus strangled yet another, and worse of all CLAMS have returned to Kent for the first time since 1960. Oh my Dear Lord is there no end to this madness.
Garys, who has gotten over his wifes demise ridiculously quickly, has sent his kids to their Nans . This being so he can meet up with Glen and attend a European conference on how to defeat the Lampreys. They are soon told a Mega Lamprey has swam up the River Thames and got banked in the mud.

After a outrageous argument about landing a helicopter they are in ( Gary really is an arsehole ) the gang set down alongside the dead creature, One of the group is intrigued with the monsters mouth and does what anybody in the whole world would do and climb inside *Sigh!* "Wow its like Aladdins" cave he blurts, along with "Hey listen to the echo we could make a Pop record in here" I needn't tell you the rest. The dying creature also takes out Judd. He's sucked alive, his insides slurped away in one final swansong from the monstrous Lamprey.

The way the creatures are defeated is one of the most outrageously ridiculous means I've ever come across in a book of this sort. It truly is preposterous. As for the beached Giant Lamprey its blown up, along with half of Kent.

Looking at this the book sounds more exciting than it really is. Most if not all the details above don't happen within the storytelling, but are told as news reports and second hand passed on details.
The few on page deaths are told quickly and clumsily with little or no detail, and the story moves on instantly like it never occurred.
The main character is so very annoying, not to the degree of the bloke in Halkin's Slither. But he's a close run second. The rest of the characters are equally as frustrating .
Its a shame really Jarvis didn't elaborate on the Lampreys and their attacks more. They truly are a nasty creature as Google images will back up. But I can't help feeling he just wanted to get a quick book out whilst the creature sub genre was still hot.
The opening scene with Gary had me hooked, as I thought we would get Lampreys in sinks, drains, baths and shower heads, It would have made for a better book rather than going the way with big creatures in the seas and rivers. The little versions would be far more horrific and make for a better novel. Also I wish he kept the book confined to the UK rather than hop around the globe, disinterest sets in as a result.

Its a decent Hamlyn. Not one of the greats and cannot hold a torch to a Halkin or a Lewis. I recall my read of Maggots many years ago being a dreadfully boring experience. Don't know now if I should venture back.