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Post by allthingshorror on Jun 21, 2009 12:30:42 GMT
Sphere (1979)
BEWARE OF THE...
'The child was weaker than I thought, and I acted quickly. I was careful not to touch its delicate skin with my teeth. It was a simple matter to grasp its clothing and drag it to the water. It cried out only briefly before I forced it under. It quickly went limp, and I stood back and watched it until it's feeble hold on life was broken.'
...BAXTER
He looks like a pet dog, one of millions. He even behaves like one - most of the time. But he's evil - inhumanely evil. After you have read this novel, you will never, ever, look at your family's pet quite like you used to...
Just started reading this and it could quite simply be one of the greatest books ever written. This is what FLUKE should have been. Written from the dogs perspective, then flitting to a normal narrative balances the book out quite a lot. Was originally published as HELL HOUND by Ken Greenhall. It's really quite simply one of the most mental things I've read for quite a while!
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Post by bushwick on Jun 21, 2009 16:35:26 GMT
Picked this up a few weeks ago. Might read this next - it's very short too.
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Post by dem on Apr 13, 2010 8:29:39 GMT
Jessica Hamilton - Baxter (Sphere, 1979) Blurb; Beware Of The Baxter
`The child was even weaker than I thought, and I acted quickly. I was careful not to touch its delicate skin with my teeth. It was a simple matter to grasp its clothing and drag it to the water. It cried out only briefly before I forced it under. It quickly went limp, and I stood back and watched it until I knew its feeble hold on life was broken.'
HE LOOKS LIKE A PET DOG, ONE OF MILLIONS. HE EVEN BEHAVES LIKE ONE - MOST OF THE TIME. BUT HE'S EVIL. INHUMANLY EVIL. AFTER YOU HAVE READ THIS NOVEL, YOU WILL NEVER, EVER, LOOK AT YOUR FAMILY'S PET QUITE LIKE YOU USED TO..Florence Rapp bought the dog as a present for her mother, Mrs. Prescott, to keep her company now she's widowed and getting on in years. At first Mrs. Prescott is terrified of Baxter, a bull-terrier, but they've been together six months now and she's come to love her faithful friend. If only she knew what was going on in his head! Someone else would love me, as she has loved me. I'm certain of that. People have a great interest in love. They see it everywhere. Probably in me ..... Baxter has designs on moving in with the young couple across the street and realises the only way to bring this about is to bump off his current owner .... One funeral later and life with John and Nancy Grafton is everything a bull-terrier could hope for. They're attentive to his needs, have a large, overgrown, rat-infested garden, and he has the freedom of every room in the house. But Nancy is pregnant. John takes to cleaning up his dog's beloved jungle to make way for a pond. And, when baby George is eventually born, Baxter is booted out of the house to go live in the freezing garage. Baxter, furious at this betrayal, works on a strategy to set things back the way they were before the pathetic infant arrived on the scene ... Which brings us to p.38 (of 144) and so far, it's incredibly engaging, grimly funny too. I think we'd best get to know baby George while we still can ..........
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Post by dem on Apr 26, 2010 14:26:24 GMT
Right, where were we ....
That massive spoiler on the back cover already told us what was going to happen to the baby - a sad, even tragic moment - after which the Grafton's are desperate to be shot of Baxter as they can't help but think that maybe he had something to do with George's drowning. So step forward potential new owner Carl Fine, a thirteen year old Hitler fanatic with sadistic tendencies! Carl has a secret hidey hole in the local junkyard where he wanks over photo's of Eva Braun (accounts of the final days in the Berlin bunker move him to tears). His trendy, upwardly mobile parents, Jason and Sarah, are concerned that maybe Carl ain't normal and perhaps he needs a dog ....
Carl has a crush on his schoolteacher, Mrs. Cuzzo, but he's seeing classmate Veronica Bartnick whose Dad is a bit of a tartar. Together with Carl's parents, the bereaved Grafton's, and Queenie the Spaniel, these complete the cast for the bulk of the novel which reads like some mutant offspring of James Herbert's Fluke and Stephen King's Apt Pupil (but 'better' and nastier). Needless to say, the dramatis personae are whittled down some as Nazi-boy learns only too well from Baxter what it takes to get away with whatever you like .....
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julieh
Crab On The Rampage
One-woman butt-kicking army
Posts: 70
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Post by julieh on Jan 3, 2011 6:29:37 GMT
I've seen the movie adaptation - it was pretty well done, and quite disturbing. And French. Never occurred to me to look for a book.
Cool!
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Post by rawlinson on Apr 14, 2017 22:09:18 GMT
Finally getting to read this thanks to the Valancourt release under its original title of Hellhound and author name Ken Greenhall. As mentioned by the op it flits between perspectives, alternating between the inner thoughts of a coldly murderous dog and his various owners, it's brilliantly done. They've also published his novel Elizabeth and I was wondering if anyone had read it and if it's up to the same quality as Hellhound?
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Post by dem on Jan 12, 2020 16:25:50 GMT
Jessica Hamilton (Ken Greenhall) – Baxter (Sphere, 1981) Blurb; BEWARE OF THE ....
`The child was even weaker than I thought, and I acted quickly. I was careful not to touch its delicate skin with my teeth. It was a simple matter to grasp its clothing and drag it to the water. It cried out only briefly before I forced it under. It quickly went limp, and I stood back and watched it until I knew its feeble hold on life was broken.’
.... BAXTER
HE LOOKS LIKE A PET DOG, ONE OF MILLIONS. HE EVEN BEHAVES LIKE ONE – MOST OF THE TIME. BUT HE’S EVIL. INHUMANLY EVIL. AFTER YOU HAVE READ THIS NOVEL, YOU WILL NEVER, EVER, LOOK AT YOUR FAMILY’S PET QUITE LIKE YOU USED TO... Found this later edition at this morning's market. I think Valancourt have since reissued it as one of their Paperbacks from Hell?
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