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Post by andydecker on Feb 12, 2022 14:33:21 GMT
I think Renegades was also my first Hutson novel. I had seen them on the shelves of my local Martin's for a few years, but never sampled one. What prompted me to read Renegades was a discussion about the book on a television show. Not too sure, but it might have been Central Weekend, and I seem to remember James Whale was involved, though as it has been 30 years ago I may have those details wrong, but it was certainly a TV discussion that led me to becoming a Hutson fan. There's a scene in the book where the two people anxious to get their hands on the window--they live on a large estate in Rep of Ireland--come across a car crash while driving, and the female ahem gets rather excited while the bodies from the crash are retrieved. This part got a bit of a pasting on the programme, but if its detractors thought they would dissuade potential readers it didn't work on me. I gave the novel a quick look over for the thread, after a while skipping mostly the Doyle scenes. But this scene was well realized and an inspired bit of characterization. At the time Hutson had a knack for sex-scenes. They were never pretty or glamorous, always had this subtext of misantrophy and obsession. There was no fun. It made them kind of interesting. |
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Post by ripper on Feb 12, 2022 16:37:21 GMT
I think Renegades was also my first Hutson novel. I had seen them on the shelves of my local Martin's for a few years, but never sampled one. What prompted me to read Renegades was a discussion about the book on a television show. Not too sure, but it might have been Central Weekend, and I seem to remember James Whale was involved, though as it has been 30 years ago I may have those details wrong, but it was certainly a TV discussion that led me to becoming a Hutson fan. There's a scene in the book where the two people anxious to get their hands on the window--they live on a large estate in Rep of Ireland--come across a car crash while driving, and the female ahem gets rather excited while the bodies from the crash are retrieved. This part got a bit of a pasting on the programme, but if its detractors thought they would dissuade potential readers it didn't work on me. I gave the novel a quick look over for the thread, after a while skipping mostly the Doyle scenes. But this scene was well realized and an inspired bit of characterization. At the time Hutson had a knack for sex-scenes. They were never pretty or glamorous, always had this subtext of misantrophy and obsession. There was no fun. It made them kind of interesting. Yes, Hutson's sex scenes were definitely on the more explicit side of what could be found in mass market horror fiction at the time, and I never really found them erotic, just a physical act carried out, usually devoid of love or even affection between partners. I wondered at the time why Hutson didn't just make each storyline into separate novels, though I suspect that he was anxious to write thrillers, but didn't want to alienate his horror fan base, so combined the two genres. Assassin is another example of Hutson mixing horror and thriller, and is worth a read. I think it mixes the genres rather more successfully than in Renegades, even though it was published earlier. |
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Post by andydecker on Feb 12, 2022 19:26:41 GMT
Assassin is another example of Hutson mixing horror and thriller, and is worth a read. I think it mixes the genres rather more successfully than in Renegades, even though it was published earlier. I share your opinion. In some novels Hutson tried to do the parallel story-lines which are only connected at the end. It needs a lot of work to be a success and I am rather sceptic if it is worth the effort. It is a matter of balance and a delicate thing which can easily fail. |
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