|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 16, 2014 10:05:32 GMT
Peter Tremayne - Nicor! (Sphere, 1987) Blurb: THE WATER DEMON
The monsters straddled the bay, giant block towers spurting flame far into the tropical night. From the belly of each a long, sharp proboscis stabbed down into the sea bed.
Oil rigs. Slashing, whirling teeth biting greedily into the ocean floor, sucking deeply of its secrets. Secrets that should have remained forever buried in those peaceful waters.
For in those Caribbean depths lurked something beyond the feeble powers of man, an abomination that the oilmen's relentless probing would provoke into a violent frenzy of retribution and surging, blood-stained surf ....Prehistoric sea-serpent versus a drilling tool-pusher on an oil rig off the Venezuelan coastline? Somehow, every Peter Tremayne horror novel screams "must read" and, truth be told, they're always worth the effort unless you demand proper bad sex and ultra gore. On this occasion, Mr. T. is quick to pay tribute to the roughnecks who gave him a crash course in working the rigs, but factual stuff kind of bogs us down in too much reality. The novel truly gets under way with the introduction of Maria Sabena, the impossibly gorgeous twenty-something PR Officer, who is showing a bunch of VIPs around the rig when the drill-bit cuts through the sea bed to upset Nicor. Aforementioned tool-pusher Tom Hughes (42), has bags of experience where the ladies are concerned, so when Maria snubs his crass advances, he reacts with commendable maturity, e.g. "Stupid broad! Playing hard to get! Pretending she didn't know the score." Let's hope Nicor is a feminist. Maria is rescued by gallant Tony Stevens (32) when her paddle in the sea turns ugly and her foot is trapped in a giant clam. Stevens is director of security for Galveston International, whose clients include the BS 127 drilling rig. Tony tries his luck with Miss Sabena whose response is to storm off in a mood. He can't help but admire her retreating figure; "classic Castillian beauty; dark hair, creamy skin, flashing eyes in a well-shaped face. The bikini certainly sat well on her." In other news, wealthy widow Señora Barrancas has been murdered and mugged. There's been a massive undersea earthquake. And a fishing boat has just been smashed to pieces, its two-man crew devoured by ..... something.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 17, 2014 8:45:03 GMT
Whoever murdered Señora Barrancas at the Casa Calvanio wasn't messing about - they pulped the poor old dear's head, and that of her nuisance Pekinese. Lieutenant Banderas worries that "we might be dealing with a psychopath." Suspicion falls on the tool-pusher, a fellow resident of the 48 apartment complex, who absconded at around the time of the murder. Hughes has his unsavoury side, but we're not sure he's the culprit. As Maria warns Stevens "He is simply a self opinionated male chauvinist. He thinks he is totally irresistible to women and because I have rejected his advances and shown myself friendly to you, his anger is being taken out on you." Yes, Miss Sabena has thawed some where Tony is concerned, although they're not at the holding hands stage just yet. A hysterical journalist has been confined to the sick bay, suspected of drug abuse. "He says he saw a sea serpent. A great monster's head. He says he was standing there having a quiet smoke when the giant head came out of the sea and looked at him." Even as they speak, Nicor is taking out a Venezuelan submarine .... 100 pages down and while it's hardly another Reptilicus, Nicor! is not without a cheap thrill or two. The formula is very The Morgow Rises without being quite as gripping (to date). |
|
|
|
Post by erebus on Jun 18, 2014 12:07:21 GMT
How frequent are the scenes with the monster Dem ? In Curse of Loch Ness he rarely raises his scaley head until the end. And thats but a mere cameo. Nice book nevertheless.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 19, 2014 4:54:59 GMT
How frequent are the scenes with the monster Dem ? In Curse of Loch Ness he rarely raises his scaley head until the end. And thats but a mere cameo. Nice book nevertheless. As you probably guessed, our water demon has kept a low profile. The only person to have seen him and lived to tell the tale is the hack who nipped out for a crafty fag, and he's been packed off to the sanatorium for his trouble. So, with just seventy pages to go, all we know about Nicor! is that he or she has a big head and is often mistaken for an island. Tremayne devotes a sizeable portion of the novel to the onshore murder mystery. |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 19, 2014 18:36:22 GMT
"Are you telling us that we have a three-hundred million year old dinosaur wandering about out there?" All finished now. Just when you think Mr. Tremayne has entirely ditched the sea monster for the spot-the-psycho storyline, she finally gets her turn under the spotlight. Prof. Huston needs just the one incredulous glimpse of the gargantuan beast bearing down on the rig to identify the species - Eryops - except Tony Stevens can't say "Eyrops" so he nicknames the creature 'Nicor' after a scaled and horny comic book monster he'd thrilled to as a child. With a hurricane imminent, the destruction begins. One sequence reprises the end of The Saint episode, The Convenient Monster and it is not unlikely that the author has a working knowledge of Crabs On The Rampage. In terms of bad sex, nothing whatsoever to report. Circumstances require Maria to slip off her blouse and skirt a few times, and Tony goes skinny dipping but that's as raunchy as it gets.
|
|
