Ramsey Campbell - The One Safe Place

[dem bones]

Ramsey Campbell - The One Safe Place (Headline, 1995)

Simon Dewey

Blurb:

'We'll get you for what you done'

When Susan Travis is selected to teach a special course on violence at a British University, her family moves with her from Florida to settle in Manchester. Her husband Don opens a second-hand bookshop, and their twelve-year-old son Marshall enrols at Bushy Road boy's school.

Their troubles start the day that Don has an altercation with another motorist who threatens him with a gun. After Don's description of this alarming incident to the police, the local newspapers print a highly unflattering Identikit picture of the aggressor – which the man finds so objectionable that he searches out and invades the Travis home.

The intruder is arrested and sent to prison – but, far from being the end of the matter, this is only the start of a nightmare escalation of violence which not everyone will survive. For the man's brothers are psychopaths too, and determined to teach Don a violent lesson. Meanwhile their twelve-year-old nephew Darren feels lie must prove something also, by doing his worst to Marshall.

It won't take long before this horrific vendetta brings extreme tragedy to the Travis family ... and that's only the start of the terror.

Could be a while 'til i get around to this but the blurb is saying all the right vaguely Straw Dogs-ish things and the idea of a vicious thug being driven to further violent deeds because he feels insulted by his ugly identikit photo is inspired. The credit for Martin Barker of A Haunt Of Fears and Video Nasties in the acknowledgments suggests The One Safe Place continues Campbell's crusade versus censorship. My guess is at least one of you will have read this, so how does it rate against his other non-supernatural novels?

[thecoffinflies]

Well I liked it very much - wait...was that a dog barking?