Bari Wood - The Tribe

[dem bones]

Bari Wood - The Tribe (NEL, Oct. 1982; originally NAL, 1981)

Blurb:

Hut 554 in Belzec Extermination Camp was different. The inmates were alive.
Shabby, pale, but in good health and well-stocked with food - official supplies that were better than even the German Army had by 1945.

But amongst the horror of the camp and the relief that some at least had sur­vived, one man noticed something strange about the Jews of Hut 554: a fine greyish dust that coated the interior and clung to their clothing. A small mystery that could be part of the big mystery: why had this one small group been kept carefully alive?

Thirty-five years later, in Brooklyn, police burst into the basement hideout of a teenage gang. This time the in­mates were dead. Brutally killed, bat­tered to death and torn limb from limb. And again, amongst the bloodbath, something strange: a fine greyish dust, scattered and clinging to the bodies.

'. . . an ultra-readable story of occult sus­pense.' Daily Mirror

In 1941, thirty-five Polish Jews were transported from Dabrowa to the Belzec Death Camp. Incredibly, the majority survive. Why did Commandant Speiser allow them to live while thousands perished in the gas ovens? Shortly before his execution at Nuremberg, a terrified Speiser confides all in Major Bianco, a tireless Nazi-hunter. Bianco carries the awful truth with him until 1981 when ...

Adam Levy, a young philosophy teacher, is mugged and senselessly murdered in Brooklyn by The Eagles, a pathetic five-strong teenage street gang. The dead man's father, Jacob Levy, a kindly local bookseller, is spiritual leader of the Hut 554 survivors. The Tribe impose upon him to do as they always have when threatened and unleash their protector - the Golem. The Eagles are torn to pieces and strewn across their clubhouse, mangled corpses smeared in clay.

It falls to Inspector Roger Hawkins, one of few black officers on the force, to investigate the murders. Levy thinks of Roger as the son he never had, but, under pressure from his tribe - racists to a man - cold shoulders him. Hawkins swears to Rachel, Adam's widow, that he will find who was responsible for the muggers' deaths no matter the consequences. The holocaust survivors move as one to Long Island, settle again, only for an Afro Caribbean family to move in. Fearful of the effect on property values, Levy revives the clay man, butchers the new arrivals.

Major Bianco, watching in the wings all these years for any recurrence of the "incident" at Dabrowa, reads a newspaper report on the murders and finally breaks cover. But even with his knowledge, can Hawkins, Rachel and a down-at-heel Cabalist overcome the Tribe and their killing machine?

I tore through this powerfully haunting novel between sleeps over a single day and glad to have done so. Despite gory set pieces and queasy subject matter, the overall tone is quiet horror done well. Very recommended.

[humgoo]

Valancourt edition, 2019; cover painting by Don Brautigam (1981)

As circumstances are becoming more and more depressing (I'm from Hong Kong), I know I need some good monsters to cheer me up. The Tribe arrived timely. Most of us know how good Valancourt's books are (excellent printing, typesetting and proofreading, often with original covers with the artists credited), but they go the extra mile for this series ("Paperbacks from Hell", namesake of Vault favourite Mr. Hendrix's book), as the books in the series are specially produced in the smaller "A-format". Simply adorable!

Halfway through the book, I think Dem's comment ("quiet horror done well"), as usual, hits the nail on the head. The introduction by Mr. Hendrix is also, as may be expected, excellent. The other titles in the series are equally attractive -- I know I will order more.