|
Post by dem bones on Jun 24, 2010 19:00:22 GMT
Shaun Hutson - Assassin (Star, 1989) Blurb: London was in the grip of its bloodiest bout of gang warfare for two years. Shootings in the street. Car chases and torture. Into this world of corruption, violence, madness and death came the Assassin. A force more powerful than vengeance, more lethal than a lorry full of high‑velocity weapons and more terrifying than any nightmare...i've no idea how Assassin rates with our Hutson-heads but i'm guessing very highly? A grisly supernatural thriller set for the most part in London's Soho and Whitechapel, at times it reads like a very crude take on The Long Good Friday. Gangland boss Frank Harrison, concerned that his men are being horribly murdered one by one, unleashes a hit squad on his rivals. In keeping with whats gone before - by page 100 we've squirmed through torture by heated curling tong, power drill and, perhaps most risible of all, a crucifixion-cum-flaying alive - Frank's retribution is excessively violent and we hope he enjoys it because he's nailing all the wrong people! It's obvious to the reader that those responsible for skinning/ eliminating all and sundry are Charlie Ross and his henchmen, but perhaps Harrison can be forgiven his oversight as he had them shot and buried in concrete three years earlier. Langeley Towers, the block built over their unmarked grave, crumpled almost as soon as the first tenants moved in (another five deaths to add to the scorecard) and who should drag themselves free of the rubble .... To ensure the body-count shoots right through the roof, Hutson also introduces a Charles Manson clone, Jonathan Crawford, who has declared war on "rich c--ts" - that is, "rich c--ts" like Harrison and his glamorous moll, Tina Richardson. When Crawford is taken into custody and charged with a very conservative five murders, the urban guerrillas kidnap Tina and mail her fingers to Harrison. The bloody showdown between these factions is gate-crashed by Ross and his fellow putrid walking corpses determined to have their revenge on the despised gangster ... It's all very uneven but suspenseful and certainly gory enough and the ending is way more convincing plausible effective horrible than the closing chapters of Spawn. Best/ worst bit has to be the revolting episode wherein single mum and prostitute Nikki Jones blows one of the zombies only to choke on a throatful of maggot ..... the music press liked it. Those mean metal muthas at Kerrang! urged their readers to 'ENJOY A GORE-FILLED RIDE' while even the more pop orientated Record Mirror toasted 'THE NATURAL HEIR TO JAMES HERBERT'S HORROR THRONE' File under: Really, really disgusting. But, sadly, no Eat Them Alive.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Jun 25, 2010 11:00:02 GMT
You are right. One of his best. Who could ever forget poor Nikki But you are also right that this is maddingly uneven. The whole subplot with the pseudo Manson gang feels tucked on, to stretch a rather simple plot into something it is not. Each plot alone would have made a terrific but shorter book, but here it feels just forced. A typical Hutson problem, imho.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 25, 2010 12:41:37 GMT
of the two i've read recently, i preferred the almost, ahem, subdued Spawn although i felt that lost its way toward the end. When we're asked to believe that ********** was swiping the severed heads all along - well, that made no sense to me whatsoever!
Assassin is a lot pacier but, yeah, i'd agree, needlessly convoluted, and the rip off Manson family had enough about them to warrant a nasty to themselves. Bloody good ending though!
|
|
|
Post by killercrab on Jun 25, 2010 18:07:18 GMT
Having just finished Guy N Smith's The Island ( a damned fine vintage from the *man*) - I'm back to Erebus! 100 or so pages to go - now where was I ?
KC
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Dec 12, 2012 9:57:54 GMT
Assassin was one of a group of Hutson books that I read when I first discovered the author in the late 1980s. It is very graphic with some nasty scenes, but also a pacy, enjoyable read imo. I liked the hit-man, who listens to heavy metal on his walkman as he shoots his victims. For substantial stretches of the book the supernatural elements are absent. The shoot-out towards the end between the gangsters and resurrected zombies is suitably gory. As with other Hutson books, such as Renegades, the horror and thriller elements do not always fit together very well, and it is tempting to wonder if Hutson could have split them into two books, one a straightforward horror and the other a thriller. I view Assassin and Renegades as basically violent thrillers with horror elements. Indeed, when re-reading Renegades, I usually skip the chapters dealing with the creature in the stained-glass window, and just read it as a thriller, and it works just fine imo.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Dec 12, 2012 19:05:18 GMT
You are right, the elements don't always gel. In Assassin they are stronger as in Renegades. Here both parts would have been stronger as a solo novel. But I think Assassin is the stronger novel. I never was a big fan of most of Hutson's Thrillers which plots I often thought a bit too simple, but I thought in Assassin he captured the gangland milieu better then in others. And his "Zombies" were nice.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Dec 12, 2012 21:05:05 GMT
I agree, Andy, Assassin is the stronger novel imo and the horror elements work better. Even though the zombies are 'off-screen' for large portions of the story, for me they were always just out of shot, waiting to menace the main characters. I was expecting that more would be made of the mad priest mentioned at the beginning of the book, but that wasn't developed. In contrast, although I enjoyed Renegades as a thriller, the horror elements, for me, just didn't weave into the thriller thread. The creature in the stained-glass window just seemed out of place and disconnected from the main action.
|
|
|
Post by noose on Dec 12, 2012 21:50:37 GMT
Is this the one with the dead penis/maggot blowjob? If so, it's the only thing I remember from this book, but what a thing to remember!
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Dec 12, 2012 22:17:05 GMT
Is this the one with the dead penis/maggot blowjob? If so, it's the only thing I remember from this book, but what a thing to remember! Indeed it is, and likewise. It's been only a year and a half, but I don't even remember reading it, far less "reviewing" the damn thing and the Manson wannabes and the zombies are a complete blank to me now. It's that James Herbert thing: As Mr. Hutson grew more accomplished as an author, I fell away, though am always glad to hear when they've had a good result. Enjoyed your interview with JH in the current Fanatic by the way, Mr. M. If the contestant on whatever quiz show had been asked "what was his third novel" instead of first, I wonder if they'd still have come up with the right answer? And Ripper, it's great to have you back!
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Dec 13, 2012 9:32:29 GMT
Thanks for that, Dem, it's good to be back :-D.
I much prefer Shaun Hutson's (and James Herbert's) earlier books. For me, both had an energy that seemed to lessen as they grew more established on the horror fiction scene. I remember being shocked by the first SH book I read, Relics as a matter of fact, as I had not come across anything quite that graphic before. Indeed, around the time that Renegades was first published, there was a discussion on a Central TV late night programme about that book and how extreme some people thought it was.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Dec 13, 2012 10:25:47 GMT
Ah , yes, the blowjob. Unforgettable!
I used to be a big fan of Mr. Hutson, and I still like a lot of his writing - he really has perfected the lean, short chapter, one can learn a lot from his writings -, but plotwise his novels seem to become often rather underdeveloped. But nobody writes unsympathetic bastards better then Hutson. I even had the joy to translate one of his books in 95, Deadhead, which was a straight but suspenseful thriller. Unfortunatly he never caught on.
I also loved the Herbert interview, Johnny. Funny, after reading this the first thought which popped into my mind was: now this is a good businessman. You don't mess with James Herbert. Has anybody already read the new Ash?
|
|
|
Post by noose on Dec 13, 2012 11:17:19 GMT
Enjoyed your interview with JH in the current Fanatic by the way, Mr. M. ) cheers Dem, it was great fun to interview him! A few bits of info that I certainly knew nothing about came to light, so it was all good!
|
|
|
Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 13, 2012 12:55:07 GMT
I really loved Assassin. Good of Rip to link it with Renegades too. Two fine stories that linked his ultra-violent thrillers with the horror past. I like the combination of genres.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Dec 14, 2012 9:51:45 GMT
I think that Assassin more successfully combines horror and thriller than does Renegades. For me, the zombies in Assassin were always a menace, whether actually doing something nasty or just lurking around in the background. In Renegades, the horror elements did not really engage me so strongly. I think the demon in the stained-glass window story had potential that could have been possibly developed into a full-length novel of its own. I like the Sean Doyle character, first seen in Renegades, and I hope that Mr. Hutson resurrects him in future books; his last appearance was in Hybrid, I believe?
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Sept 30, 2015 8:42:54 GMT
I was planning to re-read 'Relics' but as it hadnt yet arrived decided to give 'Assassin' another go.
Well, it is extremely violent, with some really nasty scenes. The maggot bj is unforgettable. There is enough material here for two books, possibly three at a pinch. I am still of the opinion that it is among the more successful of Hutson's mix of horror and thriller. As with most of Hutson's books, it is very fast paced with short chapters that don't hang around. With the possible exception of Tina, there isn't a really sympathetic main character in the book. Even the 'hero', Carter, runs over an innocent pedestrian with hardly a flicker of emotion, but you don't read a Shaun Hutson book for character studies. For all the mayhem that is portrayed in the book, caused by the gangsters, zombies and Manson wannabes, the police are surprisingly absent. I lost count of the number of deaths but the police don't seem to be trying too hard to put a lid on the carnage. A couple of things that made me chuckle. Firstly, Carter runs over one of the Manson wannabes at 60mph, throwing him high into the air and all the guy suffers is a badly broken leg, and even then he manages to stand up. Secondly, when Tina is kidnapped, her little finger is hacked off and sent back to Harrison. After she is rescued, there is not another word said about her injury, with no mention of getting treatment, being taken to a doctor or anything. If I had lost a finger I think I would be running to the nearest A & E. To sum up, 'Assassin' is probably among Hutson's best books, and not a bad place to start if you are new to the author.
|
|