Peter Saxon - Corruption

[dem bones]

Peter Saxon (Wilfred McNeilly) - Corruption (Sphere, 1968)

Cover printed by Acorn Litho Feltham Middx.

Blurb

A brilliant surgeon becomes a multiple killer .... to preserve the beauty of the woman he loves.

Himself responsible for the accident which disfigures her, Sir John Rowan performs a brilliant operation to restore Lynn's horribly scarred face.

But the effects are short lived.

Spurred by his infatuation for her, he is forced to repeat in secret the dangerous but vital operation on Lynn's face.

And each time he operates, a woman is found murdered .... and disfigured.

Screenplay by DONALD and DEREK FORD
Produced and Photographed by PETER NEWBROOK
Directed by ROBERT HARTFORD-DAVIS
A PETER NEWBROOK and ROBERT HARTFORD-DAVIS Production

Touched with Godlike genius he may be, but Sir John Rowan's colleagues are worried. There's no denying the great man has been overdoing it of late, and his growing reliance on stimulants is cause for concern, as his romance with super-model Lynn Nolan, whose frantic social life and hectic schedule are sure to tell on his fragile health. But Sir John has never been happier, and if being with Lynn requires his attending Mike Orme's way out "arty crafty" party tonight, then so be it!

Orme, doyen of the Bright Set, is the extravagantly talented photographer who propelled Lynn to stardom, and, much to Sir John's dismay, thinks nothing of groping his protégé in public. Really, the behaviour of these young, "with it" type's is disgusting! Girls cavorting in nary a stitch, chaps pretending to like loud, discordant so-called "music," and all of them slaves to the latest "fad." It quite gets on his nerves! How his head aches! And now Orme is mauling his bride-to-be yet again, encouraging Lynn to peel off her dress in front of all these people!

Watching the love of his life writhe on the floor for Orme's camera causes something to snap inside Sir John. He launches himself at the arrogant whelp, and, in the ensuing brief skirmish, a tripod goes flying, dislodging a white-hot dish lamp straight into Lynn Nolan's face. Goodbye modelling career. She'll be lucky to land a gig as stunt double for David Mellor. Oh Sir John! What have you done?

To be continued, very ....

[dem bones]

"I'm beginning to believe that tissue - living tissue can be restored without graftings ..."

Anyone know if Corruption is the basis for the popular Peter Cushing - Sue Lloyd movie/ Lord & Lady Probert stage play, or a speed-written novelization of same? Either way, it really is a super read, almost a shudder pulp for the flower children.

Lynn finally awakens from her coma, wishes she hadn't, and that's before they've even removed the bandages. What horrors lurk beneath that mummy-wrapped head? Sir John, filled with remorse, turns to his books on Egyptian embalming technique for inspiration, which doesn't do much for the morale of Val, sister of the disfigured, who has devotedly maintained bedside vigil this past harrowing month, physically preventing Lynn's suicide in the process. But the great surgeon is too engrossed in torturing hamsters to pay any heed. Today he achieved breakthrough!

Next stop the mortuary to borrow a few bits and bobs from a fresh corpse. Dr. Steve Harris catches him in the act, but professional courtesy and a dangerous sympathetic streak decides him to keep the matter private. Even so, Sir John will keep a close eye on Dr. Harris from now on.

Safe in the confines of his own state of the art home operating theatre, Sir John scrubs up for the most daring surgical feat of his career ...

[pulphack]

It's a novelisation, not the other way round, and although I do like it, I feel that it's not MacNeilly at his best, and seems a bit tossed off - the story and subject matter are all there, but our Wilf has oft times made better of such stuff. I was disappointed when I first read it, though to be honest that might be more because of my expectations than owt else.

[Johnlprobert]

This is the edition of CORRUPTION I have been the proud owner of a copy of since the late 1970s. I remember really enjoying it when I was 11 (of course). Have you come to the bit where the magazine Kinky Milkmaids gets a name check yet?

[dem bones]

Lynn's face, until recently a thing of vomit-inducing horror, is miraculously restored to its full beauty. But Steve Harris is not without misgivings. "We don't know enough about the endocrine system; you can't be certain of the consequences!" Who cares? Certainly not Lynn! Overjoyed that her nightmare is ended, she drags Sir John away on a world cruise, only to drag him straight back home again when the effects of his breakthrough surgery wear off. So, dead tissue isn't the answer, and he's in too deep to quit. Lynn, crueller and more demented by the day, demands he go kill someone and grab their pituitary gland while it's still hot.

John takes the train to Soho, eventually plucking up the courage to visit Mary Winter, prostitute, who plays "jungle music" - which, thinking back to the fatal party, always sets his pulses throbbing - and doesn't find it the least disturbing when a mad-eyed client draws a knife from his little black bag ("Kinky, eh? Oh well, it takes all sorts ..."). "The Headless Corpse Case" makes the front pages of all the quality tabloids.

Lynn's face is back in business, but Mike Orme is a fickle man. The fashion world doesn't stand still, Daddy-o, and he has a new model, Annabel, to elevate to the top. Lynn takes rejection badly.

Murder. It's a nasty business. Commit one, you're obliged to commit another to cover for it, and before you know it, you're striking people down at a rate of one every chapter. To get away from it all, Lynn suggests a week at John's Cornish holiday home, which is how they get to meet the girl on the beach. Terry explains she's just quit her beatnik pals because they're not very clean, she has no relatives and nobody knows where she is. Why don't you come and stay with us, suggests a delighted Lynn, wary that she's due another outbreak of the faceache ....

And so it goes on.

Agree with Mr. Hack, Corruption is not McNeilly's absolutely greatest work, but it really doesn't need to be. He makes the most of transcribing a threadbare, Jack the Ripper plot, and keeps it good and slick, ensuring a nifty cheap thrill ride.

Jun 6, 2015 19:44:22 GMT Johnlprobert said:

This is the edition of CORRUPTION I have been the proud owner of a copy of since the late 1970s. I remember really enjoying it when I was 11 (of course). Have you come to the bit where the magazine Kinky Milkmaids gets a name check yet?

Hey, Lord P. Must be losing my touch, because I didn't spot a single mention of Kinky Milkmaids(!). Can you provide subscription details?

[Johnlprobert]

Well there's a lesson to check before I post, even if it does put me in common with most people on the internet!

I've unearthed my own copy of this splendid tome & can find no mention of Kinky Milkmaids on the page where I thought I saw it! Which means it must be in another book where a surgeon enters a mortuary and the attendant has to hide it hastily.

And now I shall stay awake wondering what it is…..

[dem bones]

Jun 13, 2015 20:32:26 GMT Johnlprobert said:

Well there's a lesson to check before I post, even if it does put me in common with most people on the internet!

I've unearthed my own copy of this splendid tome & can find no mention of Kinky Milkmaids on the page where I thought I saw it! Which means it must be in another book where a surgeon enters a mortuary and the attendant has to hide it hastily.

And now I shall stay awake wondering what it is…..

And you're certain this wasn't some rumbustious Eurovision 2014 flashback, yer honour? How odd. Perhaps its featured in the movie, though that, admittedly, seems a long shot.