Lewis Mallory - The Nursery

[H_P_Saucecraft]

Lewis Mallory - The Nursery (Hamlyn 1981)

Another Day, Another Hamlyn:

[bushwick]

Read this the other day. A disappointing one, I thought - pretty unoriginal story, OK writing, no real surprises - doesn't live up to the 'Nasty' tag on the back either. I've got Gate Of Fear as well, maybe that's better.

[bluetomb]

Well, I was rather taken by this one. It gets off on the right foot with a young lady, pregnant and banished from from, revisiting the scene of her passion (a woodland shed) and getting knifed to death. Then we meet, and pretty swiftly bid farewell to, weird old Professor Durrant. I was a bit worried at this stage that the book had given too much away too early on and that most of it would be obnoxious ignoramuses playing catch up, but it doesn't go entirely like that. Of the characters, true, only one isn't at all obnoxious, nice nurse Belinda who just wants to take care of some kids. But the younger Durrant family, inheritors of the Durrant estate and some of the Durrant riches, are a slightly more interesting class of obnoxious ignoramus than I expected. They feel intentional, organic, not just a product of dodgy writing (in the way that say, Matt Parker wasn't a terribly appealing hero in Halkin's Slither). Dad Lawrence switches almost immediately from dejected at losing yet another job to arrogant and entitled when he learns of his inheritance. We don't learn what his job was or why he lost it, but we can guess from his doltish lack of humility or self awareness, and his determination to get all of the Durrant riches rather than let most go to good works. And so it makes sense that wife Margot takes a shine to the first stable seeming guy she spends any notable time with once they actually go to the Durrant estate, and that daughter Trish is a bit bratty, that son Tony is a budding pyromaniac, and even though there is also an underlying plot reason for some bad decision making, the family convince as just being not that generally on the ball.

Of course, some won't be convinced by this, or by the general set up, a not terribly well explained/sensical plant horror. But for schlock, one just has to get a bit beyond the halfway mark of this brisk from the outset effort before things kick off mightily, and most of the last half is a breathless rush, putting its characters through a good wringer. Not all that gory, but the deaths are satisfyingly drawn, and one key reveal is more than nasty enough to explain the "nasty" classification on the back. It builds to a fine climax and predictable yet effectively uneasy epilogue. Altogether one of my best reads so far this year, and makes me excited for when I get around to Nightmare, Mallory's last Hamlyn effort. Recommended!

[dem bones]

Sounds good to me! Hope you'll provide the low-down on Nightmare, Mr. Tomb, another Hamlyn that has so far eluded me.

[bluetomb]

That I plan to do, though its few books down in my horror pile. On The Tribe at the moment and then I fancy a Ramsey Campbell or two as I'm not sure I've read any of his yet.