Mort Castle: Cursed Be the Child

[vaughan]

Phew. Nice cover.

I simply cannot make any headway in the book though. 60 pages or so was enough, and for the first time since I returned to the wonderful world of fiction horror, I simply had to give up.......

There are two things that sinks it - firstly there is a lot of Gypsy folklore in the book, which could/should be a good thing. However, it's layered on so thickly, with strange terms used and scattered profusely about, that I found the book didn't flow, my reading just stuttered along.....

Secondly, Mort Castle is a tad too inclined to hyperbole. When something exciting happens, fair enough, but I was actually laughing at some of the descriptions of ordinary things. It's simply way over-the-top.

Dealing with tricky subjects such as pedophilia and incest, I thought his one might be a tough read. It was, but for different reasons.

Sorry folk - I bailed out. I'm not proud of it, but I wasn't having fun at all.

Loving her new home and its big basement, five-year-old Missy is unaware that her imaginary playmate, Lisette, is the tortured soul of a murdered child determined to get revenge on a cruel world for her destroyed life.

[andydecker]

Mort Castle - Cursed Be the Child (Leisure Books, 1990, 357 pages)

Cover found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.

[dem bones]

I always hoped Paperback Fanatic would get around to some kind of illustrated guide to Leisure Books, though I guess Grady Hendrix amply compensates in Paperbacks From Hell.