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"Must survive until they take me from this place." Scribbled in the margins of an ancient, moldy Bible, found wedged between the roots of a tree, is the truth about what Nazarill (now a luxury apartment building) was centuries ago. Sixteen-year-old Amy struggles to decipher the messages as her father becomes increasingly dictatorial, fanatical, and monstrous. This perfectly constructed, richly terrifying novel will satisfy even those readers who've been reluctant about Ramsey Campbell. As S.T. Joshi, award-winning scholar of weird fiction, writes in Necrofile, "Nazareth Hill will not be long in taking rank as one of the finest haunted house novels in literature, rivaling even Shirley Jackson's masterful The Haunting of Hill House.... With this novel [Campbell] has unified the many themes of his earlier work--pure supernaturalism; exploration of social and domestic trauma; chilling portrayal of psychosis--in a seamless fusion."

Note: The House on Nazareth Hill is the title of the Headline Press U.K. edition of this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Beautiful Contemporary Gothic House Has Room for Improvement
The prose demands attention. In the beginning, it's difficult to decipher, like the marginalia in the "moldy bible" that's one of the novel's most beautiful, horrible objects. Gloriously, Campbell rewards your struggle with vivid imagery that lives in your imagination after the book's put down.

The book has its spectres and haunts. But more frightening than the supernatural elements is the repressive society surrounding Amy Priestly, the teenage protagonist. Almost everyone else in the novel seems to conspire to disavow her imagination. At the same time you come to believe she's the only one who perceives reality. It's a chilling statement about society that transcends and adds to the horror/thriller genre.

At the same time, the novel has its weak joints. The conclusion isn't well-supported by the narrative. There are hosts of unanswered questions that demand satisfaction. This kind of vaguery deprives the reader of the richest possible experience.

I read this book on a recommendation by James Jacobs of Paizo, whose short list of must-read horror novels includes King's The Shining and Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. This book invites comparisons to certain episodes of Chris Carter's The X-Files, in both what it achieves and how it fails. Fans of any of those works will like this book.

Not What I Expected
If you're looking for a haunted house story, look elsewhere.While the house may be creepy and there are a few disturbing scenes involving the spectors and their victims, the novel focuses on the psychological tension between father and daughter more than it does on the eeriness of their home.I assume that it is somewhat their presence in the house that is causing this tension, but I don't get that from what Campbell writes; rather, it reads as if their conflicts are the result of the death of the mother and typical teenage rebellion, not the result of a tainted dwelling place.And, as one reviewer wrote, the ending is trite and predictable, surprising from an author who generally writes great horror stories.

Disturbing
Nazareth Hill is without a doubt one of Campbell's finest works. The story is very well written and keeps the reader interested despite some moments that drag. The overall story makes you ignore the slow moments simply because the reader want's to find out what happens next.

Now i should warn most of the horror fan's like myself out there that this really is not a typical haunted house story. When some of the events that take place in the book happen they will downright bother you, i sure know they bothered me a great deal. This is not for the faint of heart and the way this book ends will not please a great many people.

I recommend this book to any horror fan out there simply because you probably won't read anything similar out there with the exception of King's The Shining, but even saying that King's novel doesn't hold a candle to the outright brutality that takes place here. Enjoy....

Unnerving and creepy
This is my first novel by Ramsey Campbell, but most assuredly it will not be my last.Amy Priestly and her widowed father Oswald are headed toward a collision course with unnamed horrors, all of which reside in their home of Nazarill.I admit that it took me awhile to get into this novel, the style of writing is often difficult, especially the cadence of Oswald which only grows more archaic as the story progresses.The final few chapters are superb, with the level of tension building to an almost unbearable climax. If you are looking for a well written horror story that delivers, this one does the genre proud.

Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-Legged Beasties...
...and things that go bump in the mind...

Fifteen year old Amy had a scare at the old building called Nazareth Hill, ten years ago.So did her devoutly religious insurance salesman dad, who was with her at the time.He is intensely arachnophobic, and thought he saw some kind of big spider.She saw something worse-something so bad, she blocked it from her memory until now.

Having remembered, Amy goes on a radio show to relate her ghost story about Nazareth Hill, now an apartment complex where she and her widowed dad live, and ticks-off a lot of people who are afraid of her scaring-down the rent.Some of them believe her, though.Because they've seen things, too.And those people are just up and leaving all of a sudden, turning Nazareth Hill into something of a ghost town.

Amy's dad is staying, though.So is Amy, because she's got no choice.She's doing research into the Nazareth Hill area, and finding its history as an insane asylum-and some sort of witches' coven spot.Her father doesn't like it.He's going quietly insane.All he wants is to shut her up-and he's getting less picky about how.Especially with all those spiders creeping around in the dark, making it harder for him to relax...

This is a really great haunted house/ghost story, more akin to Stephen King's The Shining than anything else, only generally much, much more subtle.Nazareth Hill is a place festering with evil spirits, scampering about all but unseen, glimpsed just sufficiently out of the corner of one's eye to drive people mad.It's a psychological horror story as well as a supernatural one, and succeeds on both levels.It has a pervasive feel of menace and doom about it, and many genuinely creepy moments.

Campbell has written several good horror novels, but this is his best to date.Not for the squeamish. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Startlingly Real!
The "star" of Secret Story is Dudley, a man relegated to a tedious civil servant position and who still lives with his meddling somewhat busybody mother.Secret Story is gritty and real in away that makes for slightly uncomfortable reading...we feel slightly sorry for him, even slightly embarrassed for who he is, yet there is something darker and more menacing underneath Dudley's seemingly bland exterior.As we are introduced to Dudley, he's done something quite unspeakable, but is never traced back to him (and it's apparently not he first time), unfortunately for Dudley, his mum is always meddling, pushing and prodding him to be something more, convinced that the world just doesn't recognize him for the genius he is and feeling that if he just asserted himself a bit he'd get the recognition he deserves...we all know a mother and son like this pair, but they are stereotypically delicious in the details of Dudley's dreary life that we can recognize and understand...even if we don't particularly like it.It is his mother's meddling that starts him on the long road to hell and we all get to watch in uncomfortable silence as Dudley wins a literary competition (which his mother entered him into without his knowledge or consent) and his secret stories suddenly become publicly known...and what happens as Dudley spirals out of control is both chilling and hard to watch.

What makes Secret Story a success is that he's rather an everyman...he could be anybody...anybody could be a Dudley he's that dull guy in the office who no one really notices, yet he's something darker and more malevolent!This tale is well written and realistic in way that'll make you think twice before getting to close to that train platform or wonder if that guy behind you IS following you!Wonderful late night reading!You'll love and hate this story and before you're done; your skin will be crawling!I give it a solid A, it's suitably bleak, drab and depressingly british (which strongly evokes the flavor of Dudley's life) while also managing to be creepy, uncomfortable, and down right inhuman.

A curious tale about a psychopath and his mum
Twenty-something Dudley Smith lives in Merseyside, England, with his divorced and doting mother, Kathy. He also works at an employment agency in Merseyside, where he interviews the jobless in search of work. It's a boring, unrewarding job for Dudley, his having to deal with his drab co-workers and a listless public all day long. Dudley, however, has another occupation, a secret past-time writing fantasies in a private journal he keeps in his laptop hidden away in his bedroom. Everyday, when Dudley returns home from work, he sits down to his laptop in the privacy of his second story bedroom, and elaborates on these short stories written for his eyes only. But are these stories really fantasies; or could it be they are recorded souvenirs of ghastly deeds Dudley himself has already committed? For Dudley, you see, has written a considerable anthology depicting the grisly deaths of young women, which bear an uncanny resemblance to real but unsolved murders.

One day while he is at work, his busybody, meddling mother decides to poke around his bedroom while straightening it up for him. She comes across his laptop. Curious about the stories he has never allowed her to read, she snoops in his computer and reads one of them. Impressed with how good the story reads, Kathy decides her darling but modest Dudley deserves recognition. On the sly she enters the story in an amateur writing contest hosted by a magazine in Merseyside, which features unknown talent in the area. The magazine editors like Dudley's story, and decide to publish it.

What follows in this clever tale told by horror master Ramsey Campbell is fascinating, creepy reading that will keep you turning the pages to the very end without break ... if you are fortunate enough to be able to set the time aside for uninterrupted reading. SECRET STORY is very original in concept, and very British in pen. I loved it.

Highly recommended.

great behind the scenes thriller
Civil servant Dudley Smith writes a short story based on a true crime murder that occurred on an underground train.He entered his work in a Mersey Mouth magazine contest and won.However, the parents of a real victim of an identical homicide threaten to sue Mersey Mouth and Dudley.

Instead of being upset editor Patricia Martingale is euphoric that they found a local talent and encourages Dudley to write more such tales starring "Mr. Killogram".A movie director is also interested.However, unbeknownst to Patricia or her cohorts at Mersey Mouth or perhaps they are just not interested since the bottom line is all that counts, Dudley can only write what he has performed; thus when the movie director asks for script revisions, Dudley needs real life victims to rewrite; when Patricia asks for a magazine article, Dudley needs real victims to write about.At the rate Dudley is going he might win an Oscar for screenwriting and an Agatha in the same year; that is if he is not caught for his realism.

This is a terrific crime thriller that showcases in cleverly restrained ways how Ramsey Campbell believes what the author's obligation is to his reader, his cast especially the lead character and to him or herself.Dudley keeps the tale together as a psychopath willing to exploit the avarice of the film and publications industries while symbiotically, the film director and the magazine editor are willing to exploit Dudley as they do not want to know the truth.The shock to SECRET STORY is the seemingly mundane mutual exploitation of the lead characters that leads to a great behind the scenes thriller.

Harriet Klausner
... Read more

Book Description
Ramsey Campbell is the worlds most honored living horror writer. Among his honors are four World Fantasy Awards, nine British Fantasy Awards, and three Bram Stoker Awards. Alone with the Horrors is a career-spanning collection of the best of Campbells short fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I dont see it....
This guy is supposed to be a great horror writer, but all i can see is a bunch of incoherent ramblings.Nothing began to be bothersome.

Some of the best ever
Ramsey Campbell has produced some of the greatest short horror stories ever written. Most of them are in this volumn.
Mostly Campbell is influenced by H P Lovecraft rather than explicit gore or gratuitous violence - although there are always exceptions! So his writing style is completely different from say Stephen King, but both are masters of short horror fiction in their different ways.

The stories within are as scary as horror fiction can get. Amongst my favourites are "In the Bag", and perhaps best of all "The Companion". You know how with some novels (King on occasions is an example) after reading through hundreds of pages you get to the end and think - is that it? I.e. the ending never quite leaves you satisfied despite the brilliance of the story telling before (again King). Well you won't get this with Campbell's short stories, his end with a punch, metaphorically a knock-out one to your head...

Another splendid volumn to get if this one becomes unavailable is Dark Companions which contains many of the same stories. You'll probably only get this 2nd hand but its worth searching out.

Don't be alone with this book
I couldn't possibly read "Alone with the Horrors" straight through in one sitting.Ramsey Campbell has the gift of isolating his readers from their comfortable surroundings (I read these stories sitting next to our Christmas tree, surrounded by snoring cats), and plunging them into a freezing, lightless abyss.I wouldn't recommend more than one or two stories at a time.Those readers already depressed should not read them at all.I've become literally ill reading some of this author's stories, e.g. "The Guide," "The Chimney," and "The Companion"---not grossed out as after a Stephen King story, but sick with horror.There has not been an author of supernatural terror like this one since the heyday of M.R. James.

Although "Alone with the Horrors" is an almost complete compendium of Campbell's short fiction from 1961 - 1991, such tales as "The Guide" are excluded as they were written in a style not entirely his own ("The Guide" was written after the manner of M.R. James.)The following is a sample of the included stories:

"The Tower of Yuggoth" (1961) - My advice to editors of short story collections is, for the new reader's sake, don't arrange the stories in order by date written.Campbell's first published story is a Lovecraft pastiche, complete with the scion of a decayed New England family tottering about the sinister, moon-lit swamps, and doing unspeakable business with the Elder Gods.He is driven mad by the sight of "the ebony void of space" and the creatures that crawl about there, but he lives long enough (naturally) to gasp out twenty pages of Lovecraftian drivel.I wish the rule-of-exclusion had been applied to "The Tower of Yuggoth" instead of "The Guide."

(There are so many humans doing business with the Elder Gods these days, you'd think They'd form a franchise and open outlets at the local malls.)

"The Interloper" (1968) - Two schoolboys visit "The Catacombs" during lunch break.It turns out not to be a music club.If Ramsey Campbell really had teachers like the ones he depicts in this story (be sure to read his introduction to this collection), I can understand where he gets the inspiration for his horror fiction.Don't let your kids read this story.They'll never go back to school.

"The Companion" (1973) - So much great horror takes place at carnivals, and this story is one of the best.It scared the bejaysus out of Stephen King (see his nonfiction book on horror, "Danse Macabre") and it did the same to me.

"The Chimney" (1975) - A young boy is afraid of what might come down the chimney in his bedroom on Christmas Eve.I thought I had wrung all of the terror out of this story once the boy grew up and became a librarian, but I was wrong."The Chimney" saves its gut-punch for the very end.

"Hearing is Believing" (1979)--Have you ever had a dream with multiple awakenings, each one more horrible than the last?In a sense, this story epitomizes the whole book.It is "The Tower of Yuggoth" distilled by twenty-eight years of practice into something much more horrible than any tentacled thing that cracked open the sky above New England.
... Read more

Book Description
The bookstore's shelves are put in order every night, but every morning, books are found lying all over the floor, many damp and damaged beyond repair. The store's computers keep acting up, and even when the machines are off, they seem to glow with a spectral gray light.Things soon go from bad to worse. A salesclerk abruptly loses his ability to read. One employee accuses another of making sexual advances. A hit-and-run in the parking lot claims a life. The security monitors display half-seen things crawling between the stacks.Desperate to pass a company inspection, the manager musters his staff for an overnight inventory. When the last customers reluctantly depart, leaving almost-visible trails of slime shining behind them, the doors are locked, sealing the staff inside for a final orgy of shelving. The damp, grey, silent things that have been lurking in the basement and hiding in the fog may move slowly, but they are inexorable. This bookstore is the doorway to a hell unlike any other. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

When Horror Fails to Scare
I haven't read much horror fiction in years other than to dabble in the genre via an occasional Stephen King novel, and even those have become rarer and rarer for me lately. But, on the other hand, I've found myself drawn more and more to books about books or bookstores so when I noticed that Ramsey Campbell's The Overnight was set in an English bookstore I grabbed it despite my general misgivings concerning horror novels. Frankly, they don't scare me anymore and I find myself laughing at the "horror" more times than not. In that regard, this one did not turn out to be the exception.

Ramsey Campbell has long been one of the mainstays of horror fiction with more than two dozen titles to his credit, such as The Doll Who Ate His Mother, The Last Voice They Hear, Scared Stiff and Waking Nightmares. None are titles that would make me reach for my wallet but I was so intrigued by the fact that Campbell wrote The Overnight after having worked full time at the Cheshire Oaks branch of Borders for several months that I decided to give it a try.

Strange things began to happen at the new Texts bookstore almost as soon as its American manager opened it for business. An unusually dense fog settled over the strip center in which it is located and never lifted again, the computers seemed to have minds of their own (I know, Bill Gates, nothing so crazy about that), one employee suddenly lost the ability to read, books were found damaged on the floor each morning despite having been properly shelved the night before, a strange, chill dampness invaded the store and customers stayed away in droves.

Soon enough the new store is ranked as the very worst of all the Texts locations and Woody, the American manager, is told to expect a visit from corporate bigwigs who are flying to England to see the problems for themselves. In desperation, Woody schedules the entire staff for the all-night marathon shelving and clean-up project that brings the novel to its horrific climax. Although I found myself chuckling at the "horror," Campbell does provide an insider's look at some of the drudgery associated with working in one of the big chain bookstores, the constant rush to get new books out of the stockroom and onto the shelves, the never ending battle to get every book back to its proper place at the end of the day despite the best efforts of customers to misplace them, and dealing with destructive customers being chief among them.

If you enjoy horror novels, and if they really do scare you, this is one of the better written ones that you are likely to find. If you are more attracted to the novel by the bookstore setting than by the horror, you will have to judge for yourself whether or not, at 396 pages, this one is for you.

The Overnight
An exciting, intelligent, atmospheric book about a bookstore staff and their haunted store. It's also an excellent multi-character study. An original blend of building horror and dark, tense humor, both funny and very, very frightening.

A Slow And Painful Way to Seriously Maim Yourself
This is my first effort at absorbing the vaunted efforts of what many have described as a master of the art of telling a horror story. And while that may be the case, the unfortunate reality of this book is that once past the cover art (slightly different for my copy that what is listed at the sight here) everything falls flat.
Campbell adequately captures the hopelessness of working in retail, a nightmarish horror of corporate hypocrisy that leaves one feeling utterly raped and completely used. But while scraping the skin back to leave the reader's nerves tingling with excitement, Campbell leaves the operating table of his own design in favor of watching the latest drivel on television. And while he continues to indulge in something other than tearing our eyes and ears out with scalpel edged prose, dramatic scenery and something seriously scary to go 'bump' in the night, we are left with what fills the pages of this seriously lacking novel.
Without spoilers, the basic premise of the bookstore going to Hell is so staggeringly exciting that you wouldn't want anyone less than a master to take you there. Because, anyone less would leave you wandering through the aisles of the store, getting lost in titles like 'Chicken Soup for the Existentially Bored' or 'Apathy Comes Knocking'.
All despite the language (British import), the bottom line is that the boss of the store is a putz, his worker bees are putzs, the supposedly clever choice of language leaves the 'cleaver' at home till late in the game. And by then its far too late. The end of the book comes and leaves you screaming- not at the sheer terror of the unreality Campbell is purported to know how to deliver best- but screaming "WHERE THE F- IS THE SCARY NASTY MONSTER THINGY?! THE BIG REVEAL?! THE BALLS TO THE WALL, RIP MY EYELIDS OFF AND POUR NIGHTMARES INTO BOTH BLEEDING ORBS REVALATION?!"
If you like the sound of static, and love watching the associated snow pouring through your television screen, read this book. It produces the same effect in literary form, which I didn't think was possible.
If you're sane and looking to be tipped over the edge into insanity, skip this book and head back to Campbell's earlier works. Or sacrifice to the dark gods, and pray that in a fit of delusional inspiration dear Ramsey reloads his 12 gauge brain and opens fire on us all with something truly diabolical... something to blast the memory of 'The Overnight' straight out of our brains and into red smears of pulpy happiness on the pages of his newer literary imagining!

Abyssmal
I'm really trying to finish this book simply because it's not so engrossing that I'd ever miss my stop on mny daily commute.There is nothing scary about this book besides the day-to-day horror of working in a bookstore (of which I can speak first-hand).It drags so much you wish something awful would hurry up and happen just so you don't have to deal with such boring characters and lack of storyline any longer.

Scary as Hell
OK.All Right.There seems to be a gigantic split of opinion on this one.My opinion:

1. What you find fightening is as individual as what makes you laugh.Personally, this literally gave me nightmares.That hasn't happened since I was a kid.But I don't know what scares you:werewolves? vampires? final exams? IRS audits?

2. It must be admitted - Campbell takes an ungodly amount of time getting the book going.I enjoyed the shifting third person limited points of view.I also found some of it mildly funny, and the soap opera elements also interested me.But it is not remotely scary until over half way through.Be prepared for that, don't read it, or skip to the middle.You'll not understand the characters as well if you skip, but it may be the best way for some of you to read this.

3. The ending offers no explanations (although one is sort of alluded to earlier in the book).The fates of all the characters are not detailed, nor do we have a Monday morning wrap-up of what the world makes of what happened in the store overnight.I didn't feel that it needed that sort of ending, but you may.

4. The character of Woody is such an over-the-top American stereotype that it is somewhat distracting.He becomes in effect a secondary villain.I don't remember such scorn for Americans in previous Campbell novels.Post-Iraq War anger, maybe?

If you can deal with these caveats, buy this book and enjoy.Personally I loved it. ... Read more

Book Description

Ramsey Campbell's daring look into the mind of a psychotic killer was published in truncated form in 1979; an expanded edition was later published in 1982. The paranoid outlook of the book's main character, Horridge, is a grim commentary on a bleak Liverpool suburb and Thatcher-era England. Millipede Press is proud to present this masterpiece of paranoia literature in a brand new edition, with the corrected text by Campbell and the compelling photographs of J.K. Potter.

Customer Reviews (5)

Classic...
Ramsey Campbell has one of the most distinct voices in modern horror.He transcends the membrane between literary fiction and genre fiction.Many horror authors consider The Face That Must Die one of the best horror novels of all time, and that alone makes it worth reading.

It's not quite what you expect.The thing that most people find so disquieting is that it is told largely from the killer's point of view.Poppy Z. Brite likens it to Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.Campbell points out that (because of this) the novel is as much crime fiction as it is horror.

The thing about the killer is that he's not Hannibal Lecter.He's not brilliant or charming.He's not even strong (he has a bad leg).He's just a loser - close-minded, bigoted, and quite insane.

The new edition by Millipede Press is the one to get.It are a great small press that is dedicated to publishing classic works of horror (many of which would be headed for oblivion) in quality paperback editions.This one has an introduction by Poppy Z. Brite, a new afterward by Campbell, and the photographic art from the original version throughout the book.

psychological horror
This one was good.I really got into the villian.The only problem was that the guy became kind of preditable, so I didn't feel a constant tension.

Paranoia, violence, and realistic characterization
"The Face That Must Die" was a great read. This is my first experience with Ramsey Campbell, and it won't be the last.

The book starts off with two short stories, one semi-autobiographical and another brief story unrelated to "The Face That Must Die". The opening tale has Campbell speaking about his childhood and the paranoia he lived with under the roof of his mentally unbalanced mother. Campbell's descriptions of the increasing insanity of his mother are very well done, and he paints a sobering picture of how an ordinary person can become swallowed by their own personal demons. How does one cope with a loved one losing their mind? Read this great little tale and find out.

The second story is very short, and somewhat disturbing in its own right. Not a bad story, but it is forgettable compared to the introduction and the main course.

When the main event begins, the reader is treated to another fine examination of paranoid thinking and the consequences thereof. Our "heroes" all live in a small apartment complex, however none are anything more than average people living average lives. One married couple in particular elicit little sympathy from me, as they live their lives stuck in a rut of arguments and drug abuse, making little effort to improve their circumstances. I didn't like any of our protagonists, mostly because Campbell paints them so realistically that they could be real people; people I happen to dislike.

Our antagonist is a bit of an enigma, as his portions of the story are written from his own mad perspective. You never get a clear picture of him, even though the character makes a strong effort to apply reason and logic to his insane internal ravings. Campbell is masterful in his handling of this character and different readers gain different effects from the writing style. Example: darkgenius wrote an excellent review for this novel on this site, and he explains that Horridge lives in a cheap tenement. The impression I got, however, was that Horridge only THOUGHT he lived in the tenement, yet in reality lived as a homeless man on or near the grounds of said tenement. A small bone to pick, but very telling; Campbell expresses the mind of a person disassociated from reality so well that it creeps into each and every line of thought he has.

The plot revolves around Horridge thinking he knows who has been killing gay men in the area. He is convinced that this person lives in the same apartment complex as the other players in the novel, and wishes to intimidate the killer into a confession.Of course, things are not what they seem to be, and as the story develops it is the paranoid delusions of a madman that makes "The Face That Must die" so disturbing and fun.

My only complaint is that this novel lacks the depth necessary to make it a classic. The book is not shallow by any means, but the protagonists are, and the novel suffers a bit as a result. Still, I recommend it wholeheartedly to horror fans. Campbell deserves to have his stories back in print; he is every bit as good as other horror authors (Laymon, Little, Clegg) with large paperback distribution deals.

Quite a uniquely disturbing book of horror
The Face That Must Die is rather a disturbing read.Ramsey Campbell gives us a look inside the tortured mind of a killer, one who evoked a number of different emotions from me as the story progressed.The man Horridge is a sad, unhappy soul who has pretty much lost everything he once had, including his old home.He now lives in a section of cheap tenements which he regards as a concrete prison.His memories are full of tragic experiences, but the unpleasantness of what has already happened pales in comparison to the increasingly paranoid thoughts running through his disturbed mind.He believes that everyone is out to get him, and he is particularly suspicious of foreigners and gay men.The story begins with the backdrop of a couple of ghastly murders of gay men, and Horridge is convinced he has seen the killer.After a close encounter with the supposed murderer, he sets out to harass the man and thereby protect his own safety by letting him know that he is on to him.As his fears increase, he takes increasingly bold actions that his poor mind tells him are right and just.Simultaneous to his story we have a running commentary on the dysfunctional life of a husband and wife living in the same building as the man Horridge believes is the murderer.As is so often the case with Ramsey Campbell's characters, it is almost impossible to like them, especially the drug addict husband.Naturally, the paths of these main characters cross in the end to present the reader with a pretty effective conclusion to the novel.

The novel is not half as disturbing as Campbell's very personal introduction.In "At the Back of My Mind: A Guided Tour," he offers up an autobiographical account of his unusual childhood and the mental derangement of his mother.He basically never saw his father growing up, although he still lived in the same house with him.On her own, his mother basically lost her mind.Campbell describes her overwhelming fears: strangers would appear in her home and stare at her, she would never change clothes because she claimed someone stole her good clothes and replaced them with rags, her neighbors were trying to poison her, she became convinced that her home was not her own but another one that looked just like it, etc.Campbell acknowledges that his account sounds rather cold-hearted, but he felt it was important to say all these things; it is an attempt on his part to somehow describe why he writes the things he writes.It certainly does make the character of Horridge have much more of an impact on the reader, for he exhibits the same kinds of paranoia that Campbell's mother did.

The book also contains a strange little short story called "I Am It and It is I," which is a little disturbing in itself, but the meat of this literary meal of horror is to be found in the foreword and in the novel itself.The Face That Must Die is a fascinating read that, despite the typically bleak setting and troubled characters that seem to always fill Campbell's novels, is sure to set up permanent housekeeping in one of the darker corners of your mind.I can't say I've ever read another horror novel quite like this one.

THE FACE THAT MUST DIE
A MUST for fans of Ramsey Campbell. Campbell takes his readers into the mind of an insane killer, a paranoid maniac and reveals how his fears drive him to murder.Not only a truly frightening tale but a book that should beconsidered a classic of the horror genre. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book by a great author!
This is a very good book by Mr. Campbell.There are a number of very surrealistic and spooky scenes in it, such as disembodied faces that slid along the floor, a bunch of bizarre clowns that put on a strange almost threatening performance just to name a couple.It involves a man writing a book about a long forgotten silent film star and his supressed films.The search takes the main character to several places where he encounters people who seem unnaturally agressive towards him.A very intriguing section deals with a person on a messageboard whose screen name is Smilemime.Smilemime is a major thorn in the main characters side throughout and creates a mystery as to who he is.This is a fun and concise read that has short chapters, so it reads pretty quickly.My favorite Campbell book remaines Incarnate, but this one isn't far behind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Feel the Influence of Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell shows once again that he is an undisputed master of horror. He takes the things that go bump in the night and throughs it in your face. A great modern ghost story that will tingle the spine a send a chill deep to the core.

One of the finest and most chilling modern ghost stories
THE INFLUENCE is perhaps the best demonstration yet of Campbell's skills as a novelist. Like INCARNATE and THE NAMELESS before it, this book sees Campbell writing at the peak of his abilities both as a sensitive chronicler of ordinary lives threatened by unpredictable forces, and as a literary conjuror of spine-chilling spectral terrors. In addition, this may be Campbell's most understatedly eerie novel since THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER; but even so, some particularly frightening scenes and images in the latter half of the book may well be among the scariest that Campbell--or any horror writer, for that matter--has committed to paper within the last fifteen years at least.

Offering a haunting perspective on death and dying and a unique, skewed vision of what may lie beyond that proves both chilling and chillingly plausible, THE INFLUENCE is ultimately an intelligent, moving, terrifying meditation on loss, regret, and our need to come to grips with our own mortality--the result being arguably Campbell's most perfect novel so far.

One of the finest and most chilling modern ghost stories
THE INFLUENCE is perhaps the best demonstration yet of Campbell's skills as a novelist. Like INCARNATE and THE NAMELESS before it, this book sees Campbell writing at the peak of his abilities both as a sensitive chronicler of ordinary lives threatened by unpredictable forces, and as a literary conjuror of spine-chilling spectral terrors. In addition, this may be Campbell's most understatedly eerie novel since THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER; but even so, some particularly frightening scenes and images in the latter half of the book may well be among the scariest that Campbell--or any horror writer, for that matter--has committed to paper within the last fifteen years at least.

Offering a haunting perspective on death and dying and a unique, skewed vision of what may lie beyond that proves both chilling and chillingly plausible, THE INFLUENCE is ultimately an intelligent, moving, terrifying meditation on loss, regret, and our need to come to grips with our own mortality--the result being arguably Campbell's most perfect novel so far.

A decent read that is far from Campbell's best
While The Influence is by no means a bad read, it certainly does not represent Ramsey Campbell at his best.An old matriarch named Queenie has managed to summon her family around her in her dying days, exhibiting a conspicuous amount of attention to her great-niece, whom she summons just before she dies.As her family settles down in the house for the next few months, young Rowan begins to change, becoming more and more like the late Queenie herself.Queenie had always had a terrifying influence on the family, particularly upon her nieces Hermione and Alison, Rowan's mother, once scaring Hermione so badly with a vision of death that the girl had to spend some time in hospital.After Queenie's death, an acquaintance of the family supposedly kills himself after having tried to contact Alison about "the child."Rowan also finds a new playmate named Vicki whom no one but Hermione ever actually sees.She, unlike her sister, is deeply suspicious of Queenie's motives even after death, knowing the old lady all but swore she would never really die, but everyone else thinks of her as just a little too unstrung by events.Naturally, Rowan continues to take on more of Queenie's ways, eventually coming home a changed little girl after a traumatic night with her Aunt Hermione.The story takes something of a weird turn here, one which ends up slightly problematic in my eyes.The events of the last several chapters are thrown together a little haphazardly, with Campbell conveniently avoiding several thorny issues that I believe he really needed to elaborate upon.The actual shift in focus is handled quite well, revealing itself rather surprisingly to me, but the novel's momentum increasingly falters at the very times it should be heating up.Another plot device I didn't particularly embrace was the author's tendency to shift back and forth in time between characters; something would happen to one character in one chapter, then the next chapter would shift backwards and walk the reader up to the same established point through the eyes of another player in the events; this isn't necessarily a bad technique, but I found it a little awkwardly done at times.

The Influence has plenty of potential to interest and even please the potential reader, but it doesn't seem the type of novel one might find exhilarating; I basically watched events unfolding without ever finding myself really sucked into the drama.Ramsey Campbell fans will surely want to read this novel, but there are several more impressive Campbell novels better suited for those wanting to try Campbell for the first time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Where is the Horror?
Good horror stories keep you on the edge of your seat, this barely kept me awake.

Feel the chill of the Midnight Sun
A creepy chilling tale of supernatural horror. Perhaps not one of Campbells best but still very good. This tale will have you bolting your doors and locking your windows- as well as turning the furnace up to ward off that evil chill in the air that this book is sure to deliver.I found that this book is a great read but does have some slow parts. Definitely worth reading.

One of Campbell's least satisfying novels
In Midnight Sun, Ramsey Campbell attempted to write a novel in the traditional, atmospheric horror style; in my opinion, he had only limited success in doing so.I have seen a couple of people place this novel alongside the best of Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, but in my opinion it falls far short of such a lofty mark.I don't think it is in any way Lovecraftian either, I should add.I've read a good many of Campbell's novels, and this is by far the most problematic of the bunch for me.The story is built around some type of preternaturally remarkable presence lurking within the forest outside Ben Sterling's childhood home, a presence that has called Ben home to unwittingly pursue its agenda of remaking the world in its own ice-cold image.The first section of the novels introduces us to Ben as a child.As an eight-year-old, he runs away from his aunt's home and makes his way to the gravesite of his family, all of whom had recently died in an automobile accident.Just before he can figure something mysterious out, he is returned to the home of his aunt, where we find him perusing the stories written by a singular ancestor of his, tales and legends brought home from the northern lands of the midnight sun.His aunt seems quite wary of the book and gets rid of it, but the stories have already planted themselves in Ben's mind.We then jump to the present, which finds Ben moving back to the Sterling home of his childhood with his wife Ellen, daughter Margaret, and son Ben.From that point on, it's one incredibly drawn-out process of watching Ben change as the mysterious forces at work in the dark forest prepare the way for the mysterious reawakening of a force older than man.

The strange woods outside the Sterling home are of utmost importance in the events of this story, but Ramsey Campbell went a little overboard on his descriptions of it.Every other page seemed to contain yet another lengthy appraisal of the strangeness of the forest, the mist above the forest, the way the forest seemed to move, etc.There also seems to be about a sentence apiece for every single snowflake that falls during the blizzard-like winter serving as the backdrop of events.Campbell just repeats himself over and over again to a frustrating degree, and this in fact works against his attempts to make the woods seem exotically creepy.On another note, I became frustrated with Ben's obvious change in personality and his wife's repeated dismissal of any problem until the very end; anyone who keeps turning off my heat during a blizzard is going to have some words from me, I can assure you, and this is the least of Ben's obvious problems.In this same vein, I have to point out my own displeasure at seeing the center of vision change from Ben to Ellen over the course of the second half of the book; this helps build the suspense for Ben's big (and ultimately disappointing) surprise, but I did not really like being thrown out of the main character's mind just when I was getting to know it.Reaching the ending of Midnight Sun took more work and time than it should have, and the ultimate reward is no reward at all.Suddenly, with only the weakest of a reason, Ben's thinking totally changes; this major plot point is not explained adequately at all, and it struck a major blow to my ultimate enjoyment of the story.

Midnight Sun could have been much shorter than it is without losing much of anything.What it really needs, though, is a plausible ending that doesn't leave the reader feeling cheated.I am a big fan of traditional horror, so I am not criticizing the genre when I say that this attempt at such writing falls far short of the bar set by the true masters of the early twentieth century.

Something Frigid This Way Comes...
Ellen is worried about her husband, successful children's book author Ben Sterling.Ever since inheriting the family house in isolated Stargrave, his old childhood demons have been reemerging.Ben's father was crazy-he traveled to the ends of the earth researching legends of the midnight sun, and committed suicide by stripping naked in a snowy clearing-and Ellen is beginning to be afraid Ben might just be a chip off the old block.

But soon something starts scaring her worse-Ben's insistence that an eldritch god is awakening in Stargrave to reshape the planet in its image seems less a fantasy than when he and his crazy father first started spouting the idea.Stargrave is changing.It's getting colder.More isolated.The trees, the snow, the very frost itself, increasingly appears to be rearranging itself into that god's own image.Which means, perhaps, that Ben isn't a madman at all, but a genuine prophet-and if that is the case, then the end of the world is at hand...

This is one of Campbell's best, and that's saying a lot.The novel is uneven, and could have been structured better, but overall it's a steadily mounting masterpiece of menace.It's most reminiscent of Algernon Blackwood and H. P. Lovecraft, in that its horror is genuinely cosmic and never truly seen except for the effects of its presence.Dramatically, it's highly reminiscent of Stephen King's The Shining, in that a snowbound woman protects her children from her increasingly unstable (and quite possibly dangerous) husband, with an unseen supernatural being influencing events from the frozen shadows.

Sadly-like most of Campbell's best work-this book is out of print, but it's well worth trying to find anyway if you're a fan of well-crafted, creep-up-behind-you horror.

A big disappointment
As a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, Campbell's early work seemed like the perfect choice for me when I decided to read a horror novel for the first time in ages.I wasn't looking for a Lovecraft imitator, but the framework for the story (similar to Lovecraft's "Lurker at the Threshhold") seemed promisingly horror-inducing, and the author seems to have no shortage of admirers.

Early on, the book seemed to be competently, but not outstandingly, written.But the greatest feat of the mysterious-force-emerging-from-the-forest story is that it manages to take nearly 400 pages getting to a ham-handed climax while telegraphing in every plot point about fifty pages before its actual arrival.

After reading reviews that made much of Campbell's "literariness," it was also disappointing to find that not only was this book a total bore, but only a shade more literary than typical airport fare.In short, the prose was as anemic as the plot.

Reveiwers seem to laud Campbell for being both literate and entertaining.This book, sadly, is neither.But I suspect that the folks who spent their high school careers cajoling English teachers into letting them write book reports on Stephen King are now patting themselves on the back for moving on to such heavy hitters as Campbell. ... Read more

Book Description
Once upon a time there was a man who loved children. He loved them so much he tried to save them from their imperfect parents. Unfortunately, Hector Woollie didn't work for Child Protective Services . . . and the children he rescued, he murdered.Once upon a time, Leslie had a happy marriage, a happy son, and a happy life. Now divorced, she is trapped in ongoing battles with her ex-husband, Roger, especially over their newly-adolescent son, Ian.When Ian and his young stepsister disappear, Roger insists the boy kidnapped the girl, while Leslie thinks Ian might have run away. She prays that her son is near and will come home soon.Ian is near-right next door, just on the other side of a shared wall. Ian can hear his parents fighting and his mother's desperate weeping, but he can't call for help. Hector Woollie has him and his stepsister, and if either child makes a peep, the madman will slit both their throats. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Extremely Dissappointing
Campbell is a popular and critically respected horror writer, but it's hard to imagine why after reading `Silent Children'. He comes off like an 80-year old man, cut off from the modern world for several decades, trying to be hip and relevant again. He describes a computer as a `word processor'; a teenager's favorite band, portrayed as something approaching thrash metal, is purchased on `cassette' in the `pop' section of HMV; the harshest language used by any adult is `crap', quickly proceeded by an apology for such terrible language; nobody seems to own a cell phone, an answering machine or even a cordless telephone; and terms such as `okay' and `I figure...' are constantly presented as strange and unusual foreign idioms. Whatsmore, Campbell appears to have never even heard an American speak before, having his Los Angeles-based character use words, phrases, and syntax that are so blatantly UN-American as to make the premise completely unbelievable.

All of this would be understandable if the book had been written, or was set, in the 1970s or even '80s, but it wasn't. It was written in 2000 and the lack of any period detail would suggest that it is supposed to be contemporary. This appalling failure to capture anything of late twentieth century life is all the more disappointing given Campbell's brilliant ability to capture the authentic voice of his English characters. In Hector Woolie, Campbell creates a genuinely unique and disturbing character, though the reader is asked to imagine his capacity for violence rather than ever being shown it.

An excellent villain, a great ear for regional English speech patterns and syntax, and a handful of tensely plotted scenes don't begin to make up for the bizarrely anachronistic and old fashioned perspective on modern society that consistently jars the reader out of the story.

Don't wait too long to read this one.
Ramsey Campbell is brilliant yet again. It a pleasure to read such a strongly written novel. Great plot, richly detailed characters and that overpowering sense of evil that only the very best can emanate from the page. Don't wait too long to read this one.

Campbell's Decline
It has become apparent that Ramsey Campbell has slipped into a pattern that horror fans may find familiar. Author displays brilliance in early work, then the nineties come along, and suddenly their writing degenerates into mystery/thriller type stuff, or plots derivative of their own early work. I am sure you all know several writers that this statement applies to, so I won't name any names. At this point I must confess that I did not even finish Silent Children. I struggled halfway through it, and decided that to read any further would be a waste of my time. I simply had no interest in reading another typical, common serial killer book. "Why is he being so harsh?" I hear you asking. The reason is this: I just cannot express how much Campbell's recent work has disappointed me. If I wanted to read a book about a crazed murderer, I would get a book by Thomas Harris. When I read Ramsey Campbell, I want to read about supernatural horrors lurking in the darkened forest and streets of Liverpool. Who could forget the sinister majesty of early work like "The Doll who Ate His Mother," "The Parasite," "Midnight Sun," and in fact any of Campbell's books from the seventies and eighties. These books displayed a style unlike any other. There was something about them that just kept you hooked and hungering for more. I am convinced that Campbellhas either exhausted his creative inkwell, or that he saves his best work for short stories (check out "Ghosts and Grisly Things" for newer short stories by him. It's wonderful!), as these are always great. He must just write these novels to pay the bills. However, I have heard that he has returned to form with "The Darkest Part of the Woods." Let's all hope so.

Horror as it SHOULD be written
What if your son "disappeared" but was really, secretly, only a room away, hearing every word you said? That's one of the situations in the book - and it makes for a totally suspenseful and unique tale.
Believable characters that I cared about, continuing suspense and twists that I didn't foresee are what kept me glued to the pages of this one. Even the killer has his reasons, however skewed, and he truly believes he is "saving" the children he murders. What I found particularly compelling in this book was the portrait of the teenager, Ian. By the time he and his stepsister disappear, they've become truly compelling characters and the reader cares about what happens to them.

A distasteful thriller.
I grew up both reading and loving Ramsey Campbell's dark hearted horror stories, and still do (Nazareth Hill is one of the all time great haunted house stories), but this suspense novel proved too much for me.A serial killer of children buries his victims in the houses he renovates for customers.The sympathetic main characters, who are unfortunate enough to own and still live in a property Woolie (the aforementioned killer) used to hide his latest victim, are beseiged by the usual hypocrites, know-it-alls, and inhumanly cruel villans one finds populating Campbell's books.As usual Campbell he makes the reader empathize with their suffering completely.But, as I said earlier, the book proved far too disturbing and discomforting for me.I just had to close it, get some fresh air, and read something else.A dip into darkness too many for me. ... Read more

Amazon.com
An American family in Manchester meets up with serious misfortune at the hands of a British family they accidentally run afoul of. Campbell is a versatile master of psychological horror: He is best known for his evocations of vague dread in protagonists whom you're never sure are completely sane, but in this novel he goes instead for clearly delineated, likable characters and intense encounters packed with emotional anguish.Campbell hits hard, and keeps on hitting.He actually scared this seasoned reviewer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

UNFORGETTABLE!
This book is deep and hard-hitting. It's like a trip to another world; an experience you won't soon forget.

Excellent tale of urban horror.
This is a brilliant tale of modern horror that totally eschews any of the usual trappings of things that go bump in the night and instead focuses on the cruelty and nasty possibilties of everyday life. The death of one ofthe lead characters halfway through the book is pretty hard hitting mainlydue to Campbells excellent descriptive technique, you almost feel as if youknow the family. As with all Campbells novels you finish this book with thesatisfaction of knowing you have just read a well written novel by animportant novellist.

The book was horrible!
I absolutely HATED this book.I figured that since Dean Koontz recommended it it might be good.Where did Dean go wrong?This book was poorly written, made no sense, and was B-O-R-I-N-G.In fact, at about the halfway mark I went ahead and put the book back on my shelf.I didn't want to waste any more time when I could be reading a GOOD book.

An understated yet hard-hitting look at real-life horror.
Ramsey Campbell has distinguished himself as one of the top award winners among all active horror writers and his latest, _One Safe Place_, only provides further evidence of his prodigious talent.In moving from the unexplained horror of the supernatural to a more realistic milieu, Campbell sacrifices none of the unsettling quality of his previous work.The book revolves around an American family, newly arrived in Manchester to open up a used and antiquarian bookshop.When the father unwittingly runs afoul of a local thug and his family, the resulting violence has long-lasting effects on both families.This is a haunting and sad novel with a very convincing look at what it must be like for expatriates attempting to start a new life in a foreign country.Anyone who has ever daydreamed of moving to England (a dream I must admit I've had) should read this cautionary tale.Campbell, unlike other horror writers on the bestseller lists, continues to grow and challenge himself as a writer, tackling new subjects and themes with continually superlative results.This reviewer can hardly wait to get ahold of a copy of his next book, _The House on Nazareth Hill_ ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

IDENTIFIED
Effectively scary can only describe this supernatural tale of a woman's quest to find her supposedly murdered daughter which leads her into a cult activity that may or may not exist. Ramsey Campbell succeeds in topping himself with this one.Everything about THE NAMELESS is highly impressive: from its multi-dimensional protagonist to its perfect plot pace, to its many edge-of-your-seat atmospheric moments.His prose is as gripping as the dark presence looming over the heroine.The ability with which he uses his narrative is reason enough to pick this one up.One word, one sentence, says so much.THE NAMELESS should definitely be on top of everyone's reading pile.-----Martin Boucher

Good concept, bad conclustion
"The Nameless" is about Barbara Waugh's attempt to find her missing daughter Angela, whom Barbara thought died nine years ago.The book is a timely (well in the late 70s) look at cults and their beliefs.<SPOILERS AHEAD>Everyone in this book is looking for something to believe in.Barbara wants desperatly to believe her daughter is still alive, and the mysterious phone calls are very convincing.Her boyfriend, Ted, wants to believe that he is a good man, even though he dosn't love his wife or daughter.All the clues Barbara gets leads back to an unnammed cult (hense the title of the book).Ther cult wants to beleive that there is meaning to everything, even the most basest acts of murder and torture.Many comparisons are made to Charles Manson and Jim Jones's cults, and I think that Ramsey Campbell was onto something; about how people could believe that they are not responsable because their worst acts are actually being directed by greater beings outside our understanding.It is when he gets into the supernatural aspects of the book that things started getting a little silly.And I never exactly understood why the cult needed with Angela specificlly.But it wasn't too bad; it just fell too short of a good explanation.

Spectacular Horror Tale
First let me say that you should ignore the rubes who have bashed this book for a reason i simply can't fathom. It's obvious that they have no idea what makes a horror novel great.

Okay let's discuss the story. It starts off with the abduction of a woman's child and than her apparent murder. Years later the mother of the girl recieve's a phone call from a girl saying that she's her murdered child. It all picks up pace after that.

Later in the book we learn about a cult that's members have no names (hence the title). The girl says she is living with them or that they are keeping her prisoner and only her mother can help rescue her. The cult worship some force or being that reminds me of one of H.P. Lovecraft's Old One's or nameless terrors. I can't reveal much more about the story because i do not want to ruin it for those who have not read it yet.

This book starts alittle slow and than like a cannon blast it explode's never leaving the reader time to catch his or her breath. The horrible deeds of the cult will shock and disturb you a great deal and if they don't your a sick person. This book is downright scary because of Campbell's ability to scare the living daylights out of us with his descriptions of the enviorments and the shadows and things half glimpsed before all goes dark. Pick this up and enjoy it as much as i did...i have to say though that the ending is very different and some may not like it but if you have read Campbell before you will be able to take it better than most.

The Nameless or The Numbing?
When I brought The Nameless I thought it was
written by an author that I quite liked.
Then doubt crept in and I feared the
author was none other than RC who had
written The Doll who Ate His Mother.

After I confirmed my fears that it was
indeed the same author I dithered on
whether to read the book but decided
to give RC another chance.

It wasn't worth it! RC is very good
at describing things, so good in
fact that most of the Nameless
describes the countryside, houses
etc and maybe about a 1/5th of
the book has dialogue or
advancement of the plot. As Stephen
King put it in In Writing, description
is a tool that needs to be used
appropriately. RC seems to want
to describe everything not just
the important or significant things
and in this book he doesn't
move very much beyond doing exactly
that.

So if you like endless descriptions,
a plot that hardly goes anywhere
(except maybe in circles) than this
is your book.

But if you want a good horror novel
DON'T buy this book and don't
waste your time reading it thinking
that maybe in the next page- or the
next- or the next etc, that something
might happen and that you might
actually be rewarded for
plodding your way through The
Numbing! I fell into that trap
and by the end of the book I
was in horror at the fact that
not only had I bought the book
but that I'd also forced
my self to read it to it's
uninspired and unoriginal ending.

The Numbing!

What makes good horror? Well I won't claim to know
that as everybody likes a horror (or not) for his
or her own reasons, and we should respect other
people's right to have their own opinion with out
labelling them as 'country bumpkins'[dictionary
definition of a rube].

Having said that I *can* recommend Cold Print
by Ramsey Campell, an excellent read perhaps
because he can't ramble on endlessly in a
short story.

However for a truely good horror I suggest
Graham Masterton's Ritual- now there's a
book that's bound to make you squirm!

Campbell's conclusion is a betrayal of the evil he created
I had high hopes for this novel.Ramsey Campbell, a master of psychological horror, seemed poised to add some uncharacteristically tangible frights and perhaps even it a bit of good old-fashioned gore to this particular work of fiction.The concept is far from original-cult activity at its most disturbing-but I anxiously awaited the results of the author's decision to really get his hands dirty this time.The book crawled along in places, but intermittent moments of foreboding kept my optimism intact as I continued my quest to reach what I felt would be the shocking conclusion.Sadly, all of this great buildup essentially came to naught in the form of a sudden, anticlimactic, depressingly disappointing ending.This novel proves that where there's smoke, there is not in fact always fire.I actually felt cheated by the seeming rush job of an ending here, and I can only look back with regret at the high hopes I associated with this book as I made my way through it.After the complete absence of tension or excitement at the end, one is left with a number of unanswered questions and a small set of characters who apparently served no purpose whatsoever in the narrative.It is as if the author suddenly decided at the last minute that he just didn't care anymore.

Perhaps the term "the nameless" makes you think of unimaginable entities out of space and time with revoltingly indescribable features; it certainly brought a Lovecraftian connotation to my mind initially.In terms of this novel, though, the Nameless are a cult who forego all earthly experience (such as names) in service to their cause.It remains unclear, but there goal seems to consist of gaining power for themselves and presumably opening the door for something evil, I suppose, to manifest itself.All I really know is that they were obsessed with torturing their victims and offering them up as sacrifices to nefarious agents (or so we are told but never really shown).There is some type of nonhuman agent associated with them, but I never really learned what it was or why Campbell thought it needed to be included in the first place.This cult had kidnapped Barbara Waugh's beloved three-year-old daughter, leaving behind an unrecognizable dead body which was naturally determined to be that of a murdered young Angela.Nine years later, Barbara suddenly begins to receive mysterious phone calls from someone purporting to be her long-dead daughter.Desperate to find out the truth and to rescue her daughter if she is in fact still alive, the distraught mother embarks on a frantic search for the group's whereabouts, assisted by her boyfriend Ted and a young reporter looking for her big break.They pick up rather easily on the trail of the cult and seem to always be a few days behind it as it moves around.But just who is chasing whom here?The Nameless have designs on Barbara herself, and they know that her obsession with finding her lost daughter will lead her to them.Some but by no means all of my own questions about Angela's real story are answered in the end, but they are less than satisfying.

Ramsey Campbell is certainly a talented author, but he seems to have misfired on this comparatively early effort.He never goes as far as the storyline would seemingly require him to go here, and this retreat from the abyss he has spent so much time constructing damages the novel's effectiveness and appeal a great deal. ... Read more

Book Description
Daniella Logan, daughter of a film impresario, is stunned to see a group of robed men performing a ritual above the newly-turned earth of her father's grave. Daniella's father and his friends--politicians, newspaper magnates, highly-paid actors, top-flight surgeons, high-ranking police officials, and many more--are bound by an unholy blood pact that calls for the sacrifice of their first born children. Now, the more she learns, the more Daniella makes herself a target. But she must not be silenced, for she is not the only firstborn in danger, only the oldest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

An Engaging and Suspenseful Ride from a Grandmaster
Ramsey Campbell is one of those authors you can rely upon to give you a great thrill ride when it comes to horror and suspense.One of the joys in reading this author over the years has been his constant ability to surprise and astound by proving to be completely unpredictable.You are never quite sure how a principal character will react to a given situation, even when you think that you've read all forthcoming twists in the plot and can therefore expect those involved to behave in a certain way.Suddenly Campbell's plot takes a wickedly unexpected twist and there go your expectations as you follow the characters pursuing a wholly new complication.

PACT OF THE FATHERS focuses on a heroine whose father dies suddenly.Very soon after, she discovers a group of dark-robed figures engaged in a ceremony at his grave.What is going on with these men?Did her father lead a double-life?Who among his friends and associates - from a police detective to a comedian to a retired film starlet - can our heroine trust?The book moves briskly from one part of England to another, and onward to Greece and back.Campbell's breaks with traditional narrative chronology to heighten the suspense.And that's what 90% of this book is:a study in slow-simmering suspense.More than horror; more than cheap melodramatic thrills; more than anything else, the novel thrives on creating a puzzling mystery with ties to Judeo-Christian beliefs and ages-old legends of cabals and conspiracies.The result is an intelligent modern day novel of suspense.

PACT OF THE FATHERS is a wonderful example of Campbell teasing the reader with a premise that promises to be entrenched deeply in the supernatural but whose power resides more in the solving of a clever mystery.I am reminded of his wonderful (and stronger) novel, ANCIENT IMAGES here.Both books feature interesting heroines digging into the past in order to see how it has come to level gloom and doom on the present and their social circles.However, while ANCIENT IMAGES delivers the supernatural goods more strongly, PACT OF THE FATHERS teeters between psychological horror and supernatural horror.I won't give away the victor (and I wonder if the author really does, in the end) but the book delivers the goods.More than anything else, this is best labeled a terrific suspense novel from a master concocter of such - Ramsey Campbell.

flat and uninvolving
This novel never really shifted into second gear.There were few surprises, much of the plot was painfully obvious, and there were far too many descriptions of insignificant things.There was not much sense of menace or suspense in this so-called horror novel, and the climax felt rushed and tacked on.A major disappointment from this usually stellar author.

Not a review, just a caution
I'm not usually so restrained in my vitriol as I will be today, for I admit I haven't read the entire book. In fact, I couldn't get past the prologue.

The second page features the phrase "...the inside of her skull...", the fourth "...stabilized the contents of her skull...", and the sixth, "...The contents of her skull had almost..."

In amongst this repetitive prose is a fair amount of overwriting. Sentences run-on like an excited child recounting playground exploits. Imagery is too gravid by far. Simply, I couldn't continue any further. There is little to suggest that this is more than a first draft, rushed into circulation to capitalize on the author's name.

Even the opening sentence "...lost count of how many times she'd stopped herself wishing she were somewhere else..." has escaped much-needed editing.

Fans of the author and those new to his work have a right to be suspicious, for it seems they have been treated without resepect: "Give 'em muck" (often credited as a quote from Dame Nellie Melba) seems to have been taken to heart by publisher and author alike.

So I'd suggest being very cautious, and read a good 20 to 50 pages prior to purchasing this book. It may pick up after this, but I am unwilling to bet the rent money on it. I was taught, y'see, that you need to grab hold of the reader's imagination immediately and there should be your best writing.

Quite clearly, if this is the case, and the book goes downhill from here, I used my time wisely, by moving to more proefssional, skilled authors.

Not bad...execrable!
I'm sure glad I got this book from the library instead of spending money on it.Too bad I wasted time reading it.

The premise of the story has a great deal of promise, but the heroine is rude, snotty, apparently not too bright and doesn't learn very fast.If she's becoming paranoid, why is it that she trusts just about everyone she meets?

The characterization is so poorly done that I felt no loathng for the bad guys and didn't really care that the good guys won.

There's no suspense in any of the book and the story lacks gradual buildup to the final climax.

I have read that Campbell is a master at his craft, but I wouldn't read anything else of his based on this work.

Schlocksmith
I'd like my five hours back.Stilted dialogue, poor characterization and the abovementioned total lack of any surprise thanks to the jacket notes make this the least entertaining novel I've read this year.I wanted to cringe every time Mr. Campbell mentions the main character looking into a mirror.I wanted to vomit when she gets "physical" with the love interest.I was amazed at the number of people in this book's universe who wear t-shirts, and shocked that the author might think that we care about such a thing.Or the minute details of a character's bathing habits.Or the way every thing seems to stab the eyes like a knife.Tired imagery, yes, and cliched and undeveloped supporting characters throughout.Must the author describe the orientation of every female character's breasts?

A novel is about character development in a protagonist.This lacks even that -- Daniella throughout the book is by turns bereaved, confused, apologetic and self-righteous, but never seems to grow out of these things.She remains a caricature of a whiny extra from the set of "Trainspotting" or "Sliding Doors" who is caught up in a conspiracy that she can't hope to expose because she clearly is incapable of understanding it.As is the reader at the end of the novel.

The one plot twist (which would have made O. Henryor Hitchcock cringe) is so blantant by the midpoint of the book that the reader is left waiting for the other shoe to drop.I would expect this sort of unvarnished story-telling in a cartoon spinoff for an action figure, or from a TV movie on a third-rate cable channel.Far from being a great novel, or even a good novel, this is not even a moderately well-crafted novel.Perhaps the most frightening aspect of it comes in the "Acknowledgements," in which Mr. Campbell states that "the greatest strengths of [this book] are the work of my editor," who has clearly been paid far too much. ... Read more

Book Description
For decades the lives of the Price family have been snarled with the fate of the ancient forest of Goodmanswood. There, Dr. Lennox Price discovered an hallucinogenic moss which quickly became the focus of a cult. Though the moss is long gone, the whole forest can now affect the minds of visitors. After Lennox is killed trying to return to his beloved wood, his widow sees and hears him in the trees-or is it a dark version of the Green Man that caresses her with leafy hands? Lennox's grandson heeds a call to lie in his lover's arms in the very heart of the forest-and cannot help but wonder what the fruit of that love will be. And Heather, Lennox's daughter, who turned her back on her father's mysteries and sought sanctuary in the world of facts and history? Goodmanswood summons her as well . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Methodical, creeping horror
I can separate horror stories into two broad categories: action and atmosphere.All stories contain varying degrees of each.With the non-stop action of a thrilling, apocalyptic zombie adventure lying near one end of the scale and the creeping and unsettling menace of the traditional ghost story lying near the other end.The Darkest Part of the Woods typifies the idea of atmospheric horror.Campbell's account of a family's interconnection with a particularly sinister forest succeeds in slowly building a sense of unease, culminating in some exceptionally horrific revelations.

While only felt in the beginning, the presence of otherworldly forces at work in the woods is made more apparent by the discovery of connections to certain Lovecraftian creations.While these references are minimal and not necessary for the story, they seem to strengthen, if not confirm, that the mythology of the forest is rooted in some of the same general ideas from Lovecraft's own.The story is highlighted by the trips into these woods, which become more unsettling as the story progresses, before yielding to the more nightmarish scenes later in the book.

As in much of Campbell's fiction, the psychological state of the characters plays a significant role.With one family member already receiving psychological treatment for previous experiences in the woods, the mental state of the remainder of the family is the focus now with their behavior becoming increasingly more erratic as the story unfolds.While certainly possible (and even hinted at), I am not convinced that mental instability was an intended explanation for the events of the novel, only a source of misdirection.At best, I would concede to the existence of some amount of ambiguity in the author's intentions.

It seems there is some division among the reviews at Amazon.com, I can only make assumptions as to the cause of some of the negative opinions.I thought very highly of the story, however I would not recommend it to someone looking for a non-stop, action-packed thriller.While there are certainly some page-turning moments, I was content with the lingering comfort of a slowly unfolding nightmare.

open mind
Books should be approached with an open mind, I've always believed. Darkest/Woods is one of those novels that is more atmosphere than adventure. If you allow it to proceed at its own pace, it will weave its web around your mind. Subtle - no Stephen King antics here - but effective, it's sense of threat and menace grows a bit with every chapter. It's not Nightmare on Elm St, but I'll tell you, I sure wouldn't set foot in that woods. Campbell is a capable writer.

Beware the Fine Print
Ramsey Campbell is a bit of an aquired taste. This most literate of horror writers is not out to race your pulse or gross you out. Thrill seekers should search elsewhere. But for those of you able to settle into moody, carefully crafted prose, the subtle delights set him apart from his run-and-gun contemporaries. If most horror fiction is beer to be guzzled, this is cognac to be savored.

Ramsey Campbell has obviously had some experience with psychedelics. Any knowledge you may have in this realm will add to the verisimilitude. If you've read H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, and/or Robert Aikman you can better appreciate the literary traditions Campbell draws upon.

I have little to add to the story descriptions ably discussed in other reviews. One additional warning, the paperback version is printed in the smallest type I've ever seen (or not seen). Unless you have excellent vision, buy a new or used hardback copy. And sip s-l-o-w-l-y.

The horror of Airport book purchases...
I was given this book by a friend with great taste in books, so I eagerly started it.

After the first few chapters, I could not wait for it to end. The ultimate horror of this book is reserved for those compelled to finish any book they start.

As has been mentioned in other reviews. WE GET IT. The woods are "SCARY" and their presence is pervasive. The characters themselves, despite the author's intent, are also wooden, and if the reader experiences any fear, it is the fear of being infected by the banality and possible mental retardation of Heather Price and her insufferable family.

The best way to describe the story for me is this: It's a fairy tale. Its simplistic writing style and unsophisticated fear-factor could have very easily been told in 5 or 6 pages, and inserted invisibly into a volume of Grimm's. As such, it would have been a much better tale with at least the healthy moral about the hazards in spending too much time with your crazy Aunt.

As a novel, it is pure water torture. If the trees ever do revolt, useless wastes of paper such as this piece will most certainly be causative.

I asked my friend about it after I finished. He admitted it was a joke... a book he bought on a flight out to visit me, and in his words "I was praying my plane would crash after the first 2 chapters."

Indeed.

A slow walk to nowhere.
That is what this book should have been called. Reading it is like a very slow walk to nowhere. ... Read more

Book Description
Don't answer the phone...it might be for you!
Geoff is happily married with a young son who is the delight of his life. A famous, successful investigative journalist, he is in the middle of a publicity tour when a voice on the phone plunges him into the darkest part of his past, and into a deadly present.

The voice is that of Geoff's long-missing brother, Ben. When they were children, Ben was blamed for every trouble, large or small. And Ben was not always innocent--he performed acts of vandalism; he stole; sometimes he seemed, even as a child, to be a borderline sociopath. He was also abused, emotionally and physically, by their father. Without that abuse, what might Ben have become? With it, was has he become?

When they were small, Ben devised tortured puzzles for his brother to solve. New Ben offers Geoff a new set of clues with a terrible secret at their core. Someone is killing happily married couples. Ben challenges Geoff to solve the murders...and warns him that his own family may be in danger if he does not. If Geoff fails, his son may pay the price--but if he succeeds, will he find that is brother has become a killer? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Super Suspense!
Ramsey Campbell's specialty is families: some good, beautiful, and loving; some cold, terrifying, and detestable.He doesn't allow any faceless victims; you know them all too well and suffer accordingly.

Geoffrey Davenport is a moderately famous investigative TV journalist who appears to have it all:an attractive business-partner wife and a delightful four-year old son.For no particularly good reason that I can see, Geoff chooses to keep a big chunk of his life a secret-his older half-brother Ben who he has not seen or heard from since Ben left home for good at age 18.

Geoff begins getting anonymous phone calls that he fears are from Ben.He gradually comes to realize that Ben is a serial killer who claims Geoff can stop the killing if he wins a tortuous "game" of clues, a surreal Treasure Hunt.Unfortunately, for the reader's peace of mind, we get to know Ben and have a certain amount of sympathy for him.The parents loved, cosseted, and supported Geoff; yet treated Ben with Dickensonian cruelty.As the "game" continues, Geoff realizes the danger is coming closer and closer to home and the tension and suspense ratchet up accordingly.The finale is slam bang with touches of Dali surrealism, and the imagery is remarkable.

I had a few minor irritations with the book.I think the son's age should have been two at the most, rather than four.Four-year olds use complete sentences and don't toddle.I never could satisfactorily figure out why the parents treated Geoff and Ben so differently.But these were very minor annoyances.The book has beautiful characterizations, concise but perfect.Nothing slows down the pace, ever-increasing dread and tension of the story.For all but the faint-hearted, I highly recommend the book.

Cambell is at the top of his game
Investigative reporter Geoff Davenport is happy with both his personal and professional lives.He loves his wife and his job.He is currently on an enjoyable publicity tour of Britain, trying to sell his newly released book.For Geoff, life is good.

However, one phone call in the middle of the night abruptly turns everything upside down for Geoff.The voice on the other end apparently is his brother Ben, who accuses Geoff of letting it happen.

At about the same time, a serial killer is murdering happily married couples.Goeff thinks the culprit is Ben.He decides to investigate the killings in an effort to stop them in case it is a family affair.

Ramsey Campbell has a richly deserved reputation for his quality novels outlining the strengths and weaknesses of families (see ONE SAFE PLACE and NAZARETH HILL).His latest book, THE LAST VOICE THEY HEAR, is a brilliant thriller that emphasizes the down side of familial rellationships.Geoff is a wonderful amateur sleuth, and his investigation and fears ring true.Mr. Campbell has written a shocker that is most people's worst nightmare.

.Harriet Klausner

A stunning piece of suspense horror from the master
I read an advanced proof of this book and can tell you it is Campbell at the top of his form. Geoff Davenport is a successful investigative journalist working on a high profile TV series. His wife works in TV too, and they have a young son, Paul. Someone has been quietly killing couples in the Windsor area for a number of years but the police have no leads. A telephone call taken by Geoff on a publicity tour brings his childhood roaring back to haunt him. And the killer might be a part of that past, Geoff's half brother Ben. Campbell has here written an intense and emotional thriller with enough suspense to keep us turning the pages long after lights out. The climax of the book is one of the most tense I have ever read and did my fingernails no favours at all! Highly, highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

One of the best ever written!
This was the book that really got me hooked on reading horror novels when it came out.It is a pretty strange story about ancient evil tied up with an old supressed Bela Logosi/ Boris Karloff movie.Ramsey Campbell is such a wonderful writer that I was hooked from the beginning all the way to the end!

Ramsey Campbell's Finest Novel
ANCIENT IMAGES IS A brilliantly creepy novel that fully lives up the claustrophobic terror of Campbell's short fiction. Campbells' ability to create a scene of terror in broad daylight is unparalelled. I would certainly recommend this book highly to readers of intelligent, cerebral horror.

A work of deliciously atmospheric psychological horror
Ancient Images is a wonderful horror novel, more than making up for a few plot flaws with an incredible atmosphere which slowly pulls you further and further into the story.The novel offers a terrific "hook" that many horror aficionados such as myself are almost powerless to resist: the search for a lost, almost mythical horror movie starring both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.The film, Tower of Fear, has never been seen, and the rumors surrounding its filming speak of strange happenings and almost ghostly events which supposedly frightened many of the crew and cast so badly that no one even cared that the final product essentially disappeared from the face of the earth before anyone could see it.Now, however, one professional movie buff (Graham) has found a copy after years of searching for it.He invites his friend, film editor Sandy Allan, to see its unveiling at his apartment, but when Sandy arrives, the film is gone.She is then horrified to see her friend jump from the roof of the adjacent building and plunge to his death.When a pompous film critic derides her late friend's quest for a movie that he says never existed, Sandy sets herself the task of finding the movie and vindicating her friend's claims.All she has to go on is a list of contacts Graham made in his search, consisting mainly of men who worked on the film in some capacity.She travels all over the countryside trying to speak to these contacts, finding herself rebuffed by some but increasingly finding more and more evidence of the fear that still haunts the minds of the cast and crew 50 years after the film was made.Her search eventually leads her to the town of Redfield, and it is in this much too idyllic town that Campbell paints his most masterful strokes, invoking an intense atmosphere of slowly growing, insidious terror that is almost Lovecraftian in its pervasive effect on both protagonist and reader.

The conclusion was not wholly satisfying, but it would have been almost impossible for it to achieve the explosiveness the increasingly compelling storyline seemed to beg for.One thing I didn't like about the novel is Campbell's relentless description of all the creepy things Sandy kept telling herself she wasn't seeing.She didn't see this in the field, the thing in the bushes couldn't have been real, the shadow of an impossibly thin man was not in the corner after all, something was making noise outside her room but the corridor was empty, etc.These comments are crammed throughout the narrative from the very start; the fact that Campbell can still captivate the reader and wrap a shroud of unseen horror around him/her when it really comes time to get creepy says a lot about the power this author holds over words.When Campbell is clicking, he can absorb you completely into the tale.The scarecrow images Campbell populates the fields of northern England with become frightening visions, but the scene inside the huge old tower in Redfield stands above the pack in terms of the fear factor associated with this tale.

I would describe Ancient Images as deliciously creepy but not frightening or horrifying.Campbell is one of the true masters of psychological horror, and he puts his skills to good use in these pages.A couple of minor issues I had with the plot compel me to give the book only four stars, but the atmosphere of the novel is really quite impressive.It was a pleasure to allow Ramsey Campbell inside my mind for the course of this gripping novel.

Atmospheric, involving, mysterious, frightening
With a remarkable body of work spanning the last 30 or so years, Ramsey Campbell has distinguished himself as one of the greatest horror writers of the 20th century. His is a rare distinctive voice in modern horror fiction, one that has consistently lived up to the dauntingly high standards of horror storytelling set by accepted masters of the field such as M.R. James, while remaining as cutting edge and relevant as any of his contemporariesý.

ANCIENT IMAGES, a typically excellent horror novel from Campbell, further reinforces this perspective on his career. The story, abetted by Campbellýs ever-vivid and suggestive prose, echoes the form and content of the classic Jamesian ghost story. We are presented first with an intriguing & quite plausible mystery in the form of an old horror film that apparently disappeared from the public eye shortly after release. Things take a deeply sinister turn when the mystery is linked to a remote, rural English village and its generations-old secrets. As the mystery unravels, the supernatural dread begins to mount, for there are hideous things lurking in the shadows or waiting, standing eerily still in distant fields (hence the resemblance to scarecrows), that will strike swiftly and kill mercilessly to protect those secrets.

Apart from certain elements I felt the plot would have been stronger without (specifically, the ýferalý travellers, whose role in the book was never quite convincing), this is, in my view, a virtually flawless horror novel. Perfectly structured, deliberately paced, chillingly atmospheric, mysterious, frighteningýbut never sacrificing credibility for a quick, cheap shock. And all wrapped up with one of Campbellýs wonderful, darkly ironic stings at the end of the tale. Vital modern horror reading.

Great premise, but chill factor a bit low
This one is worth reading just for the Lost Film plot and the examination of horror film's history in England.It also has scarecrows, one of my personal favorite beasties.It's just is not THAT scary.Still a nearmiss from Campbell is better than most other writer's home runs. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Stephen King on Ramsey Campbell: "He is literate in a field that has attracted too many comic book intellects, cool in a field that tends toward panting melodrama by virtue of its subject matter, fluid in a field where many of the best practitioners fall prey to cant." You can't find a better introduction to Campbell's work than this attractive collection of 39 tales spanning 30 years, with photomontage illustrations by the award-winning J. K. Potter. Modern paranoia and identity confusion, wasted urban landscapes, surreal transitions between inner fears and real-life horrors--all in a terrifyingly enigmatic style.Book Description
amsey Campbell is the world's most honored living horror writer. He has won four World Fantasy Awards, nine British Fantasy Awards, three Bram Stoker Awards, and numerous awards, including the Horror Writers' Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, for his lifetime body of work. That body of work began to appear in 1961. Thirty years later, Campbell compiled Alone with the Horrors, a selection of the best of his short fiction to that point. The collection is crowned with a lengthy Preface wherein Campbell traces his early publication history and gives his personal account of the creation of the stories and his assessment of their flaws and achievements. For Tor's publication, Campbell has updated that Pre-face and added a story. Alone with the Horrors is a wonderful, hair-raising overview of a master writer's career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Not Free SF Reader
A lot of stories in here for a collection, 39 all told.When it says it is a collection of his short fiction, they really mean it.Most of the tales here are of around the ten page variety.The majority are done in a similar style and structure, barring his Mythos story to start.

He definitely goes in for succinct titles.

A lot of school stories and book industry related, as well, so obviously that is on his mind a lot.Apparently we can thank the horrors of those toffy pommie schools for some of this stuff.

Alone with the Horrors : The Room In the Castle - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Cold Print - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Scar - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Interloper - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Guy - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The End of a Summer's Day - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Man in the Underpass - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Companion - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Call First - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Heading Home - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : In the Bag - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Baby - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Chimney - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Stages - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Brood - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Loveman's Comeback - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Gap - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Voice of the Beach - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Out of Copyright - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Above the World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Mackintosh Willy - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Show Goes On - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Ferries - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Midnight Hobo - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Depths - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Down There - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Fit - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Hearing Is Believing - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Hands - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Again - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Just Waiting - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Seeing the World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Old Clothes - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Apples - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Other Side - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Where the Heart Is - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Boiled Alive - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Another World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : End of the Line - Ramsey Campbell


Byatis is bloody big.

3.5 out of 5


Whacker Revelations.

4 out of 5


Bricked.

3 out of 5


Poetry boy punishment.

3.5 out of 5


That's no dummy?

4 out of 5


Lost hubbie.

3.5 out of 5


Mouse sacrifice.

3.5 out of 5


Ghost train surprise.

3.5 out of 5


Skeletal nailer woman.

3 out of 5


Where's me noggin, then?

4 out of 5


Plastic stranger.

3.5 out of 5


Pram devil.

3 out of 5


Santa scare.

3.5 out of 5


It's a trip to not do it by myself.

3.5 out of 5


Moth problem.

3.5 out of 5


S3xual summoning.

4 out of 5


Blind alley.

3 out of 5


Transformation not looked forward to.

3.5 out of 5


Editorial summoning.

4 out of 5


Prefer indoors.

3 out of 5


No shelter left.

3.5 out of 5


Own advice no use.

3.5 out of 5


Very wet message in a bottle.

4 out of 5


Radio echo.

3 out of 5


True crime.

3 out of 5


Rattypuffs.

3.5 out of 5


Nekkid aunt will put you off for life.

3.5 out of 5


Greek daydream scare.

2.5 out of 5


Nun not handy.

3 out of 5


Flyblown Bungalow punishment.

4 out of 5


Wish the olds were gone.

3.5 out of 5


Sunken entertainment.

3 out of 5


Get jewellery with no appendages.

3.5 out of 5


Bobbing with the wrong crowd.

3.5 out of 5


Clown double axed.

4 out of 5


Home memories.

3 out of 5


Movie phone number pain.

3 out of 5


No Kingdom of God.

3 out of 5


Many voices.

2.5 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

Best Horror Anthology Ever!!!!
This is my all time favorite book. It is an anthology of several stories written by Ramsey Campbell from the sixties up to 1991. All of the stories are good but ones like Down There, Just Waiting, The Voice of the Beach, The Scar, and The Brood are truly brilliant. Mr. Campbell writes with a very surrealistic dream-like quality that is unique and compelling. There are Lovecraftian tales, ghost stories, and many that can't be put into any category but there own. Ramsey Campbell should be considered amoung the all time greats in horror fiction history, along with the likes of M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood. You can't go wrong with this book if you like horror.

Some of the best ever
Ramsey Campbell has produced some of the greatest short horror stories ever written. Most of them are in this volumn.
Mostly Campbell is influenced by H P Lovecraft rather than explicit gore or gratuitous violence - although there are always exceptions! So his writing style is completely different from say Stephen King, but both are masters of short horror fiction in their different ways.

The stories within are as scary as horror fiction can get. Amongst my favourites are "In the Bag", and perhaps best of all "The Companion". You know how with some novels (King on occasions is an example) after reading through hundreds of pages you get to the end and think - is that it? I.e. the ending never quite leaves you satisfied despite the brilliance of the story telling before (again King). Well you won't get this with Campbell's short stories, his end with a punch, metaphorically a knock-out one to your head...

Another splendid volumn to get if this one becomes unavailable is Dark Companions which contains many of the same stories. You'll probably only get this 2nd hand but its worth searching out.

Campbell outdoes even King & Barker in my opinion!
I bought this book on a whim, never having read anything by Ramsey Campbell before, and I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY with his writing style.

Campbell has a way of penning each of his stories in such a way that you literally feel like you're trapped in the story--trapped in a terrible nightmare that you can't wake up from! There is not a bad story in this book, and I soon found that I preferred Campbell over King and other hack-and-slash writers for two reasons: 1) There is not a lot of blood-and-guts gore in any of these stories, in most cases none at all, and 2) Campbell does not use a lot of four-letter words in his writings, something I found very appealing and refreshing. And yet every story is absolutely terrifying!

This collection is an absolute must for any serious horror fan. I highly recommend it to anyone who has never read Campbell before.

vVERY CREEPY
I love these types of horrors, this book is wonderfully written and provides page after page of chilling accounts. a horror I could really get into from first page to the last.I found to be very chilling and creepy and in likness to "12345 Are You Dead Or Still Alive?" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I just didn't get it
After reading three other books of this author which I liked a lot, this was a disappointment. I must admit that I just didn't get the plot. For example what did Molly do to the policeman which made him confess the murder? And who or what was the always sleeping old women at Joyces' appartment. And so on... After 500 pages I'm still as unknown as after the first 100 pages. I give it two stars because it's nicely written. Some explicit and emotional scenes I liked a lot.

Too Bad It's Out of Print
It's really too bad that Incarnate, as well as many other Ramsey Campbelltitles, are out of print.This guy is good.I've read a handful of hiswork, and have never failed to be impressed.Now, he is not for everyone. He has sort of a dense way of saying things sometimes, and you'll findyourself having to reread a sentence to make sense of it.Some of this isthe fact that he's British (I'm American), but that's not all of it.It'slike HE knows what he means, but he doesn't say it clearly.That is hisone downfall, but by no means a showstopper.While it was once anannoyance for me, now I just see it as a Ramsey Campbell quirk.Thatwarning aside, this author is well worth reading.His novels are unique,eerie, and always contain twists and turns.You will not find a"typical" horror story by Campbell; it will be fresh and new. Incarnate got off to a slow start, but I knew from previous experience thatthe action would probably be worth waiting for, and it was.It starts witha flashback to a research experiment where 5 people who can "dream thefuture" are brought together.You're not real sure at the beginningwhat exactly is going on, or what significance any event has.But as thestory unravels, bit by eerie bit, you find yourself drawn into the livesand fears of each character.By about 3/4 of the way through the book, youwill have worked yourself into such a sense of doom and foreboding, thatyou may have trouble sleeping (I did)!I don't want to give anything away,because this book is worth reading all the way through so you get the fullsense - and shock - of the surprises.The only reason I give this a 4instead of a 5 is because of the previously-mentioned language style. Highly recommended!

Campbell is the master of creeping, psychological horror.
Being already a fan of Ramsey Campbell, I went into this book with high expectations. It's by no means a recent book of his, but I just now discovered it. Campbell does NOT disappoint. The story centers on five people brought together for an experiment in precognative dreaming. During the course of the experiment, they share a common, horrifying vision. The story then skips ahead eleven years to find all five of the subjects are beginning to dream the future again after years of suppressing their visions. Campbell's style is such that he can make the most fantastical things that happen to his characters seem perfectly common place. I found myself stopping and re-reading passages because I read right through them and then said to myself, "What did he just say?" and realize that something insane happened and Campbell never changed his tone. It can be unsettling sometimes, which is why I like Ramsey Campbell so much. All his books are like that. Incarnate ranks r! ight up there with his brilliant The Parasite and The Doll Who Ate His Mother. A good introduction to Campbell's style and a great story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Hands-Down The Best Campbell Collection
Though it lacks the career-defining arc of ALONE WITH HORRORS, I really feel like this is the strongest collection of Campbell's stories, and thereby one of the strongest horror collections period.This can sit on the shelf beside GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY, easy.

When I reach the conclusion of any given Campbell story's, I find myself re-reading the tale immediately, to catch all the little hints and bits of foreshadowing that he'd been dangling my your face all along.These are especially strong in that regard.Better every time you read them--there's always something more waiting for you.

A Supernatural Fiction Masterpiece
Quite simply, this is one of the best collections of ghost stories ever written, worthy to stand on the shelf beside the work of M.R. James, Henry James, Robert Aickman, Edgar Allan Poe and whomever else you place in your horror pantheon. It is regrettable that the U.S. edition lacks the terrifying "The Trick," which appeared later in WAKING NIGHTMARES - the U.K. and U.S. editions of DARK COMPANIONS differ by 4 tales - but this is made up for by the presence of the quite different, but equally terrifying "The Pattern". How was this excellent book ever allowed to lapse out of print?

Stories that will give you nightmares
Few writers can even come close to the strange, nightmarish stories of Ramsey Campbell and, in this collection, he is in top form.Several of these tales will keep you up late at night, looking in the shadows,listening to those stranges noise that keep getting louder, as if they weregetting closer.Don't read it alone. ... Read more