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Post by dem bones on Dec 5, 2019 20:35:36 GMT
William Essex [John Tigges] - The Pack (Leisure, 1987) Blurb: Fuelled by an insatiable hunger, driven by a consuming madness, the pack ravaged the countryside, killing for sport - killing for food.
Possessed of an unnatural intelligence, skilled at stalking and attacking, they chased and devoured their human prey with the icy, snarling efficiency of the perfect killing machine.
Once they had been pets, now they were man's worst enemy - and their numbers were swelling.
BEWARE THEIR SLAVERING JAWS OF DEATH! Sweary prologue. Prior to crawling the bars of Sioux City with a horny pal, Karl Jurgen locks the junkyard for the night and lets loose his vicious guard dogs to prowl the perimeter. The half-starved nameless pair, a black mongrel and a tan and white bitch, are through with dining on rat. A rabbit pops up on the other side of the wire fence. Mad with hunger, they dig their way beneath the mesh. Day One: ThursdayFour years later at Joe Eppsom's farm in Laughton, Cramden County. The black mongrel and pack of famished strays tear apart and devour a pair of prize Hereford calves. When the furious farmer confronts them, they refuse to back down and set upon him. He dies really really horribly in the cornfield. The Pack cross to the neighbouring field where seventeen year old Johnny O'Malley is listening to Bruce Springsteen on a Walkman as he operates the farm-all tractor. The dogs have already developed an insatiable appetite for human flesh and, strong as he is, Johnny is overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Old Man O'Malley finds a bunch of crows feasting on what's left of his only son and loses his dinner. Who - or what - could have done such a thing? Sheriff Duke Little recalls the spate of cattle mutilations from years back, but this is far worse. Pathologist Mervyn Wilson correctly concludes that Johnny was done in by a pack of dogs, but Little sure don't need to hear crazy talk like that. There must be a logical explanation. An escaped penis-eating cannibal or something. Looks like Pete Reckels, veterinary surgeon, is set to play a prominent role. Pete spent the afternoon picnicking with girlfriend Amy Bondson, before lightening visit to Carol (bitter ex-wife) to hand over the maintenance. At least he gets to spend a precious hour with Jenny, their six-year-old daughter. Jenny lets on that Mum's got a boyfriend, 'Uncle Mark.' He's not too sure how he feels about this, so off to Amy's house for the most underwhelming sex break in a 'when animals attack' ever to see print. Other than that, The Pack is one novel you can safely judge by its cover. I am already looking forward to Day Two: Friday TBCThanks Crom!
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Post by dem bones on Dec 6, 2019 9:50:04 GMT
Action update.
Pete discovers Joe Eppson's hollowed out corpse and those of the prize Herefords. Horrible sight. Bits of half-eaten entrails. Flies everywhere. Once he's left, they feast on his puke. Pete recalls the pack of dogs he saw while driving over to Amy's place. He informs Sheriff Little who calls a meeting with the more responsible local farmers and professionals (i.e., no women, no journalists). He don't want to alarm anyone but it's just possible that a bunch of feral hounds are eating people alive.
Pompous Attorney Al Niebles overhears Pete confiding in Amy. Niebles weights up the evidence, insists that wolves are responsible because they are "bloodthirsty monsters," unlike his little Poopsie the cock-a-poo who knows how to behave herself. There's a point in every 'when animals attack' when you get to hoping a character dies in the appalling, protracted fashion ....
Day two ends in inferno on the road as Chuck Addery's Escort collides with a fuel tanker. Chuck was quietly driving home, observing the speed limit, when the black mongrel leapt through the window and sank its fangs into his neck.
Sunday. A horrific attack on Hooverville, an old hobo jungle by the rail road track. Mercifully Loco Louie, who has survived the rigours of life on the road since the days of the depression, dies pretty much instantaneously. Boxcar Benny, younger and fitter, almost would have made it aboard the train, but for the tenacity of a German Shepherd ....
At least Amy and Pete hit some form; the attractive redhead's steamy striptease seems to have done the trick as Pete proudly whips out his "firm shaft," which she grabs "gently, but in a ferocious way" until "he could feel her writhing as he kindled the coals of love they felt for each other," etc.
P. 201 of 384
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Post by dem bones on Dec 9, 2019 18:40:31 GMT
Rest of Sunday and Monday.
The Pack destroy the Sayman family - Myron, Georgia, and the five kids - as they ready themselves for church. Then the Doberman tears out the throat of their milkman. At least he takes the dog with him. In two pieces.
Duke calls in reinforcement officers and organises vigilante patrols. Mayor Kiley P. Crawford is apoplectic that so much cash has been wasted on protecting civilians from the imaginary meat-mad dog menace , and the council agree. This has all gone far enough. Who do the voters think they are? This isn't an election year! No more expenditure on public safety!
The Pack relocate to the waterfront for easy pickings. Between vomits (everyone's at it), Cop Ben Rathe calls in the gory deaths of the obligatory luckless drunk and $50-a-time hooker. Their bellies full for the night, the black yellow-eyed mongrel leads them down in the sewer.
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Post by kooshmeister on Dec 9, 2019 20:21:39 GMT
Man, and I thought Slime was nasty.
In fact, I believe the fuel tanker sequence was recycled in that novel.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 10, 2019 5:53:27 GMT
Man, and I thought Slime was nasty. In fact, I believe the fuel tanker sequence was recycled in that novel. This time out he is obsessed with dogs feasting on torn off dicks and testicles. That, and observing the speed limit. Never mind a crazed Doberman has shoved its head through the cab window and ripped out your windpipe - drive sensibly! In other news, we just learned that the Pack ate Lila the hooker's tits. This novel makes the stuff under his own name seem subtle by comparison. |
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Post by humgoo on Dec 10, 2019 17:29:30 GMT
This book's slobbering cover features in Mr. Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell, so it's very nice to see you review the book, Dem, kinda like putting a name to a face. Speaking of which, David Fisher's The Pack (1976) is set to be reprinted in Valancourt's "Paperbacks from Hell" series. It's on my to-get list! Did you read that one?
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Post by cromagnonman on Dec 10, 2019 20:22:16 GMT
Enjoying the review by installment, Dem. I knew you'd make far better use of it than I could.
Glad you're enjoying it. Or, at least, I presume you are.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 11, 2019 18:33:10 GMT
Enjoying the review by installment, Dem. I knew you'd make far better use of it than I could. Glad you're enjoying it. Or, at least, I presume you are. I'm enjoying it for sure. I'm guessing Mr. Essex studied the form before embarking on this novel because, bar early inexplicable lapse noted above, he's pressing all the right buttons, and the frequent harrowing Pack attacks keep everything chugging along smoothly. This book's slobbering cover features in Mr. Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell, so it's very nice to see you review the book, Dem, kinda like putting a name to a face. Speaking of which, David Fisher's The Pack (1976) is set to be reprinted in Valancourt's "Paperbacks from Hell" series. It's on my to-get list! Did you read that one? Have tackled a few canines on the rampage nasties but not, alas, Mr. Fisher's The Pack which sounds like great fun. Perhaps my favourite of those read is David Anne's then very topical Day of the Mad Dogs (aka Rabid: "The chilling novel that could become fact. The chilling story of what could happen if rabies did hit Britain," etc.), though fair to say, not everyone is as appreciative. We got an interesting thread out of Robert Calder's The Dogs. |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 16, 2019 12:26:26 GMT
There are some right lovely bastards in this novel. Here's the Mayor, defending his decision to withdraw extra patrols, as a result of which, .... well, what does it matter. "As I understand it, the man was inebriated and the woman was a prostitute - a lawbreaker. Are we to shed tears over such people - such low-lifes?"
All finished now, and must say, for the most part, I enjoyed the ride. The set pieces are bloody gory fun - particularly the attack on the hobo camp and subsequent discovery of itsy bitsy bits of body. Not so many surprises as to who gets eaten alive but it would be unfair to accuse a 'When Animals Attack' of sticking rigidly to formula when that's exactly what is required and, to be fair, some of those I'd merrily marked for death come through.
One BIG criticism - even less forgiveable than the subdued sex interlude - 'Essex' sets up a particularly vulnerable character for a protracted death, only to lose his nerve at the last. I never heard of anybody reading one of these abortions for happy ever after content.
Last word to Al Niedles. "All I can say is that its a darn good thing no one important was killed."
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Post by kooshmeister on Oct 30, 2022 9:59:56 GMT
It occurs to me that this book has a similar structure to Slime. Both books begin and end with characters who set the plot in motion but who never actually interact with the main cast. In this case, it's junkyard owner Karl Jurgens and his horny friend. Much like the guys who dump the toxic waste in Slime, they're in the prologue and the epilogue but not part of the main story. I found it bizarre in that book and I find it bizarre in this one. Just as the protagonists in the other novel never actually learn where the blob monster came from, so too do our heroes in this book never discover where the dogs escaped from. Though in fairness to Essex, it doesn't matter, at least not in this case. One reason it bugs me in The Pack is that you'd think Jurgens and his friend would've heard about the dog attacks and put two and two together, but evidently not. I guess they're too busy doing the books at the junkyard and boozing it up at the local bars to really pay attention to the news.
Another similarity to Slime (besides the aforementioned truck sequence) is that Sheriff Little and Chief Manning are basically Sheriff Sawyer and Chief Simpson. Or should that be that Sawyer and Simpson are similar to Little and Manning, since The Pack came first.
The stupidity of the Mayor (whose name escapes me, and I'm not too keen on bothering to look it up) is astounding. I love the scene where Little browbeats him over recalling the nightly patrols by reminding him they're elected officials and if the Mayor doesn't step things up and get those cops back on the streets, he's going to ensure he doesn't get reelected (and likely sacrifice his own chances in that regard) by going public about how the Mayor and the city council were more concerned with saving money that in defending the citizenry. That made Little one of my favorite characters in the story, that he was willing to throw away his career just to drag the Mayor down. I'm surprised His Honor didn't end up as dog chow.
And speaking of characters I thought would bite it, Niedles' callous comments seemed to be setting him up for a gruesome death as well, but somehow he managed to make it out of the story alive.
As for characters I did like, there's the aforementioned Sheriff Little, and Mark. I was certain he'd turn out to be a jerk when he was finally introduced, but he was actually an okay guy. Such a shame he joins his awful girlfriend (the hero's ex) in getting mauled.
The most memorable death in the book was the milkman. How many people can say they died in a car crash while having their throat torn out by the severed upper body of a dog? That scene was so dumb it came right back around and became awesome.
Trixie felt like a pointless character (insofar as a dog can be a character). Her reluctance to really commit to the pack and her yearning for her owner (who she didn't know was dead, killed by the very dogs she's now thrown in her lot with) had me thinking she'd turn good near the end and maybe save the day, but, alas, it wasn't to be. She dies unceremoniously gunned down by the cops. Though I guess her being brutally killed without managing to find redemption is the point - it is a horror novel, after all - and she's supposed to the tragic member of the dog pack, it still felt like Essex could've done more with her.
And that, for the moment, concludes my thoughts about The Pack.
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