Shaun Hutson - Deathday

[allthingshorror]

Star (1987)



Beware the golden disk - it brings decay...destruction...death

Four hundred years ago, a woman died in agony to keep its secret and went to her grave with it hung around her neck. Now in a desolate graveyard, a workman has unearthed the amulet by chance and decides to keep it. His first mistake...

That night the village of Medford is plunged into a nightmare of terror by the discovery of a double murder and mutilation - the first in a series of shocking killings. Wherever the amulet is found, ancient evil-hideous, powerful and vile - is once again reborn... From the Sphere edition.

Cover is from the internet - I've got the crappy Sphere reprint that I found at the carboot today - you can hardly see the cover for the creases. Lifted from the pages of Richard Matheson's I am Legend - Deathday was first published under the pen name of Richard Neville. I think I have a copy published by Leisure, but that'll be for a future trip to the loft...

This was the first Hutson book I ever encountered, and I still have a soft spot for it.

We start of with a woman, she's tied up - but clearly she's not here for a bit of bdsm. A tall man, with some superiority wants to know where her Master is. When she doesn't give up the goods he punctures her nipple with a small metal spike. When that doesn't work, he uses a hot poker - first on her cheek, then on her tittie. When she wakes up from this, the poker is between her legs. Rather than have that - she tells all about an amulet - where the first one to touch it is tainted, but none thereafter until her Master has touched it again. With that - a rope is found and the woman is hung, where she kicks a bit. The tall man and his lynch mob go and look for The Master.

We then go into Part One. Medworth, Derbyshire - a bustling little town, which is thriving, but it's cinema is a rotting shell at the top of the main street.

Tom Lambert is at the cememtery, visiting the grave of his brother. Michael had died on his own stag night.

The car. The screaming of brakes. The explosion.

Tom was in the car, but he was a pissed passenger and neglected to buckle up, or close his door properly. He was somehow flung free of the car before it crash, and he saw it hit a lampost. There was no explosion, as had been mentioned only four or five paragraphs before! Tom waits with his brother, who had been flung through the windscreen, his face shredded by glass. He doesn't know his brother is dead until the ambulance men arrive, lift his brother into the gurney. But his brothers head falls off onto the road!! The neck has been severed!

We find out that Tom is a policeman, and not some drunken lary fool.

Next chapter and we have Ray Mackenzie and Steve Pike - two men who do the hard graft for the council, and they have been asked by the local vicar to remove a massive tree stump from the local cemetery. Stve Pike likes to drink tomoato soup, Ray likes something a little stronger.

But no matter how fortifying their drinks are, they cannot move this f**k**g tree stump. And the harder they work, the colder they get. There's something weird going on. But finally, after a mammoth extertion, they free the stump, and there is a slug the size of a small dog under it! Mackenzie goes mad and attacks it with an axe. I wonder if this is some weird throwback to Shaun's first book?

Anyhoo, under the dead slug, there is a coffin. Instead of phoning the relevant authorities - they do a bit of Burke and Hare, and open it, revealing the screaming form of a rotten skeleton. Around its nexk is a beautiful gold medallion. Makenzie grabs it, but it sears into his skin, extremely hot, and he lets it go. Steve pickes it up, by Mackenzie grabs it from him. It is now cold. But it has given him a shitter of a headache.

That night, Mackenzie goes him to his long suffering wife June, who thinks he has been on the piss. He has a really bad time with it, his headache is worse and the light is driving him mad. Later that night, after a few spats, and Mackenzie has already went to bed, June goes up, only to be confronted by an evil heinous man - who has no eyes! He just has two blood red orbs that swirl like crimson blisters from the dark skin which surrounded them!

She gets it, her eyes are torn out, and so are those of her daughter Michelle who she so valiantly tries to protect.

Then we go onto a brief interlude where Tom is at home with his librarian wife Debbie, and its the first of many sex scenes. Flowing juices, pulising desires and being impaled on erections.

More later.

[allthingshorror]

Maureen Bayliss is concerned about her neighbour, June Mackenzie. As Maureen is getting the kids ready to go off to school, she sees that une's curtains are still drawn, and June would never let something like that slip as she is a stickler to detail.

Maureen goes over the road to her friend of ten years house and knocks on the door, surprised, and a little bit uneasey when it just swings open. She runs back over to the house where her husband Jack is sleeping, fresh of the nightshift. She wakes him up, and he is a grump about it. He goes across though, shouts for Ray a few times, then goes upstairs and opens one of the rooms. He screams, then the sound is choked away as he pukes all over the shop. Poor Jack will be having nightmares for a long time now!

Vic Hayes is a policeman of 52, more than 30 years on the force and the only thing he had ever seen in his life in Medworth that could be described as nasty was a GBH - where a man got a spanner to the face.

He is at the scene of the crime. where PC Gary Briggs find the medallion in a jewlery box. Hayes gets the word out that he doesn't want news of this spreading, that the people of Medworth are not ready for this sort of butchery invading their nice, soft, little lives.

Hayes phones Lambert. Tells him about the double murder that happened at Elm Street. Lambert is full of adrenalin, he doesn't need to think about his dead brother anymore, he has something else to focus on! John Kirby, the forensic doctor tells him that the suspect will be sporting some heavy scarring around the face as June gave him a run for his money. The girl has six wounds to her face and neck, the mother has twenty three wounds. With a piece of mirror.

Lambert reacts in horror to the news that both the eyes of the mother and daughter were taken, ripped out from their sockets by bare hands. Lambert is suitably angry and demands that every person is out looking for the maniac. After the phonecall, which was at his house, he drinks a whisky, then that is the start of many more. When Debbies comes home, they have a stand off - him pissed and saying that he was ready to go back, her saying that he should leave it a few more days. They come to an agreement, and they cuddle.

Emma Reece is wondering if she should have her hair dyed before a party on the Saturday. Her husband of twenty-five years, Gordon just tells her to grow old gracefully and let the grey hair run free.

Emma gets the dog, and takes it for a walk, where she ponders for a few pages on her daughter who is coming back, and of whom she hasn't seen for a long time. Emma starts walking on the Wasteland - on the outskirts of Medworth - and actually surrounded by trees and shrubs. She lets her dog go, and then a piece of barbed wire is wrapped around her neck, and is pulled and pulled until her head is nearly severed! As she falls to the ground, the attacker starts scrabbling at her face...It's Mackenzie, and he wants her eyes!

Back home, Gordon is watching the Liverpool game. Half time comes, and he goes to make a cup of tea. He hears a scratching, and he thinks its the rain against the windows. But no - it's at the door. He opens it, and its the dog, looking at him with baleful eyes. It's lead is blood splattered...

Lambert is in bed fast asleep, when he is woken up by the news that Emma Reece, 52, has been murdered. The body is already at the morgue. He drives 15 minutes to the station. He goes through to the police pathology lab in the station where the smell of blood and chemicals hit him immediately. He is told that there is a link between the double murder and this murder. He doesn't understand how - then John Kirby does a magicians reveal, and TA-DA! there is a woman with no eyeballs!

Things getting on top of him, he goes to the cemetery for some peace of mind - then goes home where he tells her that there's been another murder and that Reece's funeral has been scheduled for the next day, and then instead of doing the housework - they have a bit of sex.

[allthingshorror]

Gordon Reece has just buried his wife. He is in his chair, full of tranquilizers and whisky. It is 12:15 am. He reads the sympathy cards on the mantlepiece. He squeezes the glass he is holding so hard it shatters in his hand, but he doesn't notice the crystal slicing open his palm.

He wakes up again at three that morning. His hand hurts like buggery and the dog is growling. The back door is rattling. He unlocks it and the rattling stops. Then the door slowly opens.

It is his wife, her empty eye sockets full of grave dirt! She has escaped the eternal confines of her grave!! She attacks him.

Later that morning Lambert and Hayes go and pay Reece a visit, but when they get there and have a look aound, they find no-one. Lambert finds a bit of the whisky glass, picks it up with a hankie and pops it into the safety of his leather jacket pocket.
They get a radio call from the station saying that they have captured Mackenzie, saying he had been hit by a car up by the cemetery.

They tear ass across there and Mackenzie is lying there. Kirby examines him. They have a look at his eyes. No whites, no pupils, there is just the fiery red of blood. Kirby shines his light into the prone mans eye, and Mackenzie strikes out, smacking Kirby clean into the air.

Mackenzie then gets strapped down to the table and he is examined further, bright lights shone into his eyes and Mackenzie goes nuts and starts to scream. Kirby flicks the light off and Mackenzie is all peaceful again. It can't be a corneal haemorrhage - as he would be blind.

Lambert and Kirby shrug their shoulders and decide to go for a drink. They end up in The Blacksmith where they wax lyrical about the three murders and Gordon dissapearing. Lambert pulls the lump of bloodied lump of whisky glass from his pocket and puts it on the bar, where he ponders over it.

Then back at the office Lambert ponders over the golden medallion and thinks that as his wife works at the library, she'll know something about the inscriptions around the outside of the golden disc. Those words MORTIS DIEI look like the ancient language Latin. He wonders how Mackenzie got hold of the medallion. He thinks that it should be forensically examined.

PC Davies bursts into his office saying that Mackenzie has broken his bonds and is going nuts in the police cell. And he is, like a mad looooon. Lambert tells Davies to switch on the light in the cell so they can have a better look and Mackenzie slumps to his knees and cowers away from it. Then he jumps up and smashes the uncovered bulb.

Lambert goes home and mulls over Reece and the Medallion over in his mind. He had shown the golden amulet to his missus and she confirmed that his suspicions were right, some of the language was Latin. She didn't know what the other stuff was. PLainly gibberish. He thinks to the victims having their eyes torn out.

He groans, waking up his wife. They have a few words and she says that he should take the medallion down to the old antique dealer, Mr Trefoile, as he would be able to date it, and possibly translate the inscriptions.

Debbie then grabs his penis, gives him a handjob, and they have a bit of sex.

[allthingshorror]

After Lambert and Debbie climax savagely, Lambert drifts off to sleep at 4:15. He then wakes up later and goes to the police office and sees Mackenzie strapped down on the table. He is out for the count. It transpires that at Dawn, someone flicked his switch and that was that.

Lambert and Kirby figure out that the dark makes him mental. Kirby says that his heart rate is practically nil - Mackenzie is in a torpor, a coma if you like.

Kirby says that he would like to perform a E.E.G on the killing beast, so they arrange to take him to a hospital unit twenty miles from the steel door security of the prison cell...

At the hospital Lambert stands behind the tinted glass, squinting as there are some very powerful lights being shone on Mackenzie who is lying on a hinged couch which can be adjusted by a large screw on the side...

Mackenzie is propped and the the machine is started - there is no response, his brain waves are dead. It is like Mackenzie is a vegetable! A man called Morgan turns to the intern, Brooks, to turn off the light. The examination room goes dark, but the E. E. G. machine goes bananas. They turn the lights on - Mackenzie goes brain dead. They turn the lights off, the monitor spazzes out. They go to turn the lights on. And nothing happens!

Mackenzie is straining against his bonds. One of them snaps. Lambert turns the light on and for a brief second they work, and Mackenzie screams at the brightness. But then the lights explode! What the hell kind of supernatural voodoo is this?

Mackenzie is free and leaps for Lambert (but wasn't Lambert watching from another room?) and grabs the policeman by the throat. It is up to our heroic intern Brooks to save the day, he rips off the first set of blinds, letting the sunlight in. Mackenzie screams, and as Brooks tries to tear down the other blind, Mackenzie rushes for him, and they crash out the window and fall twelve storeys.

Lambert feels a momentary twinge, but the case seems to be wrapped up, with only Gordon Reece missing. He goes back to work.

Lambert is driving and pondering, and then remembers he has the medallion, so he will pay a visit to the antique shop.

Howard Trefoile is eating. He ponders about being alone. He is in the kitchen, when he hears the door of his antique shop ring. He goes through to tell the newcomer to bugger off, when he finds out it is the policeman. After pleasantaries, Lambert shows him the medallion, and Trefoile is excited. He reckons it could be worth thousands of pounds. He reckons it comes from the 16th Century. He says that some of the inscriptions are Latin, but his Latin isn't up to much anymore. Trefoile thinks he has seen the medallion before, in one of his fathers' old antique books. Lambert lets the man keep a hold of the medallion for a while and his card, lest the dealer needs to get in touch with him.

Left alone, Trefoile looks at the inscription.

Mortis Dei.
Mortis.
Mortis.
DEATH.

He doesn't have a bit of sex as we move onto PART TWO.

[vaughan]

I'm reading this right now. And yes, I have a copy with the cover shown here in fairly good condition.

However, I'm finding it a real slog to get through.

There is an author comment at the start of the book telling us he wrote it when he was 19 - and boy does it show!

We have Lambert (the lead) and his wife having sex half the time, usually after talking about a grisly death - we have cell doors in a police station that are "twelve inches thick". We have a doctor being called to the cell because the prisoner is smashing everything up and bleeding profusely who says: "Well, there's nothing I can do, just leave him until morning" - even though we're told the sink has been torn from the wall and water is pouring everywhere. We have a medallion with mysterious words on it - THEY MIGHT BE LATIN - the first word of which is: Mortis. Yet a head librarian has no clue, and an antiques dealer doesn't either. We have an EMPTY bottle of whiskey thrown at a wall where the "brown liquid flowed down the wallpaper" (?!?!?) We've got a man, having been tied down, who tears himself free only to be overcome when daylight arrives. So what do they do? Take him to a hospital and tie him down in even more flimsy restraints.....and.................. I could go on and on.

I mean, I've actually started laughing AT the book as I'm reading.

Clearly this is earlier Hutson, and I won't hold it against him. But the writing and plotting here is really quite terrible. I'm sure he mastered his craft as he went on..... but this is my starting point, and it's really very poor, imo.

Sorry to jump in with negativity. Maybe people can read it for a laugh. ;D

[vaughan]

Well, last night I finished this book. That's something to be grateful for!

The book doesn't get any better. I started the book by being genuinely interested, then started to laugh AT the book. Eventually though that wore off, and I was left dazed by the repetition, the silliness, and madcap plotting.

Apologies upfront to fans of this one, but for me this is grade Z stuff, with a germ of a good idea hiding beyond poor poor writing. A decent editor would have done wonders for it.

So okay, Hutson was 19 when he wrote this one - so I'll cut him some slack. But make no mistake, it READS like it written by a 17 year old. So that's not saying much. When the decision was made to finally print it, why didn't they do an edit and tidy up the prose?

Terms that drove me mad: "Big salt tears", "Fetid breath", "Red orbs", "particles in the air", "wincing" (at either cold tea or cold coffee - tea and coffee instantly goes cold in this book), "Big gulp".

There are many many more. In fact, in this book Hutson seems to have one description in any given situation, and he uses it over and over. Sometimes in subsequent paragraphs. It's incredibly tedious.

Characterization is weak in the extreme too. Our lead, Lambert (a 22 year old Inspector heading up a force of ten men?!?) clearly has mental issues. He likes someone one minute, and hates them the next (usually in the same conversation). He rants, raves, and offers no leadership at all. I couldn't get a handle on the guy at all.

I wanted his wife to die. She SITS ON HIS KNEE for half the book it seems. As soon as they were in the room together I counted the words before she perched herself upon his leg.

The plotting is nonsensical (and I'm not talking about the fantastical elements of the plot here, they're accepted of course.)

**MINOR SPOILERS**

There's a black magician who, if joined together with a medallion, can raise the dead. So..... back in the 1500's..... they BURIED HIM AFTER PLACING THE MEDALLION AROUND HIS NECK. Erm.... why not destroy it, or keep it somewhere far away from the magician?!?

A character solves the riddle of the medallion, but says to our hero: "Look I want nothing to do with it, sorry." So his wife has to translate two whole books of Latin because he refuses to even tell what it's all about!

The medallion has a code on it. A CODE! You know what the code is? The words are written BACKWARDS. They notice it earlier on in the book, but when it comes time for the wife to translate, she FORGETS this important fact and it takes her DAYS to remember. The phrase in question is three words in length....

A policeman is killed during a gun fight. Lambert - our hero Inspector - asks where he's gone, concluding: "Oh well, he probably run off." No-one ever looks for the cop again, the police force simply forget him. Days go by! Nothing, no-one cares.

I'm paraphrasing so not to spoil things too much - but here is an encounter (in my words) between our hero and the Head of Divisional headquarters:

"Sir, I need six extra men to deal with 90 disappearances in my town."
"What's happened to them?"
"They've turned into zombies."
"Well that's rubbish!"
"Yes sir, but true."
"Well, you're obviously yanking my chain, you can't have anyone!"
"How about some guns?"
"Have you ever used a gun, have your men?"
"Nope."
"Well.... alright then. Pull your car up out back, we have a stock of whatever you want in the basement. A pump action shotgun for every one of your men, a couple of brownings, and as much ammunition as your Capri can hold. Will that do you?"

"That'll do nicely."


I mean come on....


**END OF SPOILERS**

I found this book a real struggle. There is clearly a germ of a really good story here, but it's made ridiculous by all the problems mentioned - and many many more.

Basically it's the craft of writing that fails badly - plotting, characterization, setting a scene, a lack of variation in the descriptions, the same words being repeated over and over... the best part of this book is the cover.

I do NOT recommend.

Unless you're going on a quiz show and your subject is "Early Hutson".

[vaughan]

ps: 384 pages!

384 pages of THIS!

Ouch.

[andydecker]

I know I have read this, but I have zero recollection of this. Not a good thing

But I remember "The Skull" better, another of the early Hutsons. Not a brillant one either, but it had a few nice scenes.

Still, this sounds like a novel I have to look into again ;D

[erebus]

Sorry guys but I think its great. I am a Hutson fan so anything he writes I enjoy. Although Bodycount his recent work was poor.

[vaughan]

Don't be sorry - tis fair enough!

There are some good set pieces, and the story itself isn't too bad of its type. It's only some of the writing and structure that I found extremely weak.

I have a lot more of his books and will give him another go later.

[ripper]

It has been a few years since I read Deathday and I think that it is one of the weaker of Hutson's books. I found it to be rather too long and repetitive, and I was glad when I finally came to the end--it's one that I won't be rushing back to re-read anytime soon.

I haven't read any of Hutson's recent works. I do have a copy of Hell to Pay but have yet to read it. Does anyone know if it is any good?

[andydecker]

Shaun Hutson - Deathday (Star Books, 1987, 383 pages)

According to the writer this was his first written novel with 19 which only was published after he sold 24 novels. One of the benefits of becoming a successful writer who made money. This may be not the first publication, though, according to the small print in the novel it was published in America by Dorchester in 1986.

[pulphack]

Probably was published first in the US as his agent then was Bob Tanner, and all those ex-NEL guys had ties with the likes of Pinnacle and Dorchester. The good Mr Hutson found his metier with the horror paperback - I've never read any of his romance titles but I bet they're interesting... Those days it was 'what do you want? I can do you 60,000 words chief, no problem'...

I still think the best bit of publicity he ever did was the interview where he said that his next door neighbour had knocked at the door with a copy of Slugs, asked him if he'd written it, and then called it the most disgusting thing he's ever read and punched him when he replied that he had. Doesn't matter if it was true - imagine how many kids read that and then went out and bought it...

I prefer his later books as I'm not a big fan of splatter, but the man is always reliable (still) and delivers what it says on the tin. Can't ask for more than that!

[johnnymains]

And first published under the pseudonym Robert Neville - protagonist of I am Legend

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

This is the current edition on my online ebook site.

Published January 14th 2016 by Caffeine Nights Publishing