Guy N. Smith - The Neophyte

[bushwick]

Have just checked and seems there's no thread for this, so thought I'd start one...

My first impression (one chapter in) is that this is great. Atmospheric, has that arcane-backwoods-countryside-"yurr narrt fram round 'ere" vibe that Guy does so well, and two bloody murders in the first 35 pages. An occult theme to this one, about the hunky son of a witch.

Nicely written, more 'serious' in tone than some of his. Anyone read this? Thoughts? I will do a proper review when I get back off hols.

[killercrab]

Was considering reading this myself a few months back before I burned out on Guy after 6 books in a row ( I think). I loved The Lurkers and Accursed but The Resurrected *really* impressed me. Have Snakes on the go at the mo but cooled on it - hoping to pick it up for another Guy jag soon ! I have The Undead just waiting to be enjoyed too.

Let us know how The Neopyhte went!

KC

[dem bones]

Guy N. Smith - The Neophyte (New English Library, 1986)

Blurb:
Once, in the time of persecutions, of fear and death, the witchfinder had come. And out of the deaths Evil had been born, to feed and fatten in all the dark places of the village; in the minds, twisted and hungry to hate, of its people.
Now, obscene and lusting, that Evil's hour of fulfilment was at hand.

The man died first, gored and stamped into the mud. Next, the woman, alone and mad. Then the young boy, throat sliced open ...

After the slightly disappointing Blood Circuit, thought I'd try my luck with this 300+ page epic.

Arthur Tarrat, farmer, wishes he'd never married Hilda, the skeletal, locally feared witch of Hope. It's not like he had much choice in the matter as she'd cast a love spell over him, but this is worse. Hilda has discovered his fling with a villager, and her "love" has turned to hate. Fortunately, Hilda has yet to learn the identity of his partner in infidelity, but Arthur is doomed to die slowly and horribly and "My vengeance shall not end with death."

Arthur is tasked with delivering Bovril, the Morris family's bull to the adjacent field for a romp with the cows. Arthur is climbing a gate when Bovril's vicious streak comes to the fore at the most inopportune moment.

Hilda Tarrat is delighted with the "news" that her wandering husband has been disembowelled, as now her proper vengeance can begin. Having placed son Joby in the care of old hag Mrs Clatt - her only friend and fellow witch - Hilda walks out into Hope Wood during a lightening storm and sacrifices herself to the Old Ones.

Ten years on, Joby is now sixteen. He's left the dubious care of Mrs Clatt and her feline familiar, moved back to his late parents' decrepit cottage with its haunted attic. His has been a tough childhood. The kids at school taunt him as the son of a witch. But the village beauty Sally Ann Morris, also sixteen, has her eye on him as he toils in the field. Those good looks and rippling biceps make her feel funny. She's among the small crowd present when little Timmy Cooper makes a snide remark at Joby's expense. The billhook Joby's been using on the hedge slips from his grasp and neatly decapitates the boy.

Much to her mother's distress, Sally Ann gives testimony on Joby's behalf that it was all a terrible accident. Amy Morris, 44, lives in fear of her gorgeous daughter developing an interest in boys, Joby in particular, but who is she to preach when she's been cheating on Cliff for years? He's a decent man in his way but too much time on Sparchmoor farm has turned his brain to cowshit until all he can think of is business. Amy is still a looker with a (here we go) magnificent pair of breasts, and, once the coast is clear, she's off to see the latest in her long line of fancy men. Could it be that we have identified poor gored Arthur's mystery woman?

Which brings up to the end of page 66. GNS has already packed in plenty of story and three grim deaths with much potential for bad sex. I think we are all going to get along fine.

[dem bones]

What's that in the attic? Who is lurking behind the stair-cupboard door? Why was the Jarrold's tomcat crucified in the woods? Where's Joby's runic amulet disappeared to? Are all folk guitarists chronic masturbators? Bloody hell, but this novel is busy.

Ally Goode - he's about ten or eleven years old, I think - is the nearest thing Joby has to a friend. Ally hero-worships Joby and sees Sally Ann as competition. He warns that she is evil. For her part, the village beauty claims the same about Ally. Who to trust? Probably not Sally Ann, who appears to Joby every night as a succubus, or at least, you'd think so judging by the state of his bedsheets. To make matters worse, Mrs Clatt's accursed puss is spying on him, no doubt reporting back to the old hag. It is all getting too much of a strain. When the cat invades the cottage yet again, Jody sets about it with an axe (evidently Guy was having some trouble with the local feline population at time of writing this one). "Now, at last I can be free!" he tries to persuade himself and makes plans for a new life far away from Hope. Somebody removes the cat's corpse during the night.

It's leaving day. Joby has packed his bags and is just about to creep away from Hope for good when his fellow outcast, Harriet Blake, the big-bummed local hooker, shows up on his doorstep claiming destitution. Joby lets her stay the night, though his motives are far from selfless. Well, it was Harriet herself suggested it is about time he got to really know a woman. If Blood Circuit is almost eerily monastic in it's approach to bad sex, the ensuing wrestling match sees GNS back firing on all cylinders. Joby is, understandably, ecstatic...

... until the next morning when, wondering where Harriet disappeared to, he calls at her cottage.

[dem bones]

Bad move on Amy Morris's part to let Sally Ann know who her Dad was. Sally Ann hates the thought of being fathered by a witch but worse, much worse, it means Joby is her half brother! On the plus side, she has inherited her old man's dark gift, and is already proficient in mind control (she warmed up by willing a dog to run in front of a car). It was her caused Joby to accidentally decapitate that snivelling little squirt, Timmy Cooper, and she destroyed Harriet through sheer force of hatred.

Sally Ann's favourite past times include stalking and voyeurism.

Joby is still bent on moving to town but first he must rid himself of the cottage's baleful influence. He bravely conquers his fear of the attic and destroys mother's Satanic shrine. With the destruction of the altar, the thing in the stair cupboard is vanquished - or so it seems. Finally, he banishes a tearful Ally Goode as a treacherous agent of the village people.

Free at last!

To celebrate, Joby heads off for town with £10 of his dole money to find a prostitute. Sheenah is hardly an upgrade on Harriet, but she takes a shine to him and even invites him to stay the night. After a promising start ends in premature ejaculation, Sheenah massages his "protrusion" until he's ready for round two. Alas, it ends horribly. Tormented by visions of Harriet and Sally Ann, Joby gives into his most brutal desires. Sheenah is particularly upset at this unnecessary vile treatment as was going to give him his tenner back.

Which takes us just beyond the halfway stage - I still can't get used to the idea of a GNS novel running to over three hundred pages. It seems ... indecent somehow. Still, we are definitely getting our moneys worth. Am just a little worried that this one may prove my personal Killercrab versus The Wood.