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xterminal's review
4.0
Charlee Jacob, This Symbiotic Fascination (Leisure Books, 1997)
Whatever else This Symbiotic Fascination is (and it is many things), one word I see applied to it many times that it really isn't is "original." Fans of extreme horror (the term "splatterpunk" is far too overused and far too inaccurate; this is more Guinea Pig than Neuromancer) who have been reading Bob Deveraux's stuff for the past decade will be well-enough acquainted with Jacob's style to have recognized this. Fans of extreme horror who have not yet read Bob Devereaux's classic Deadweight need to get their heads out of the necks of their victims long enough to read the best extreme horror novel on the planet.
What This Symbiotic Fascination is, however, is a whole lot of fun. Tawne, a largely-built and relatively unattractive girl (by her own admission), finds herself drawn into the mystery of the local serial killer when one of her few friends pops off with the guy one day after work; a guy who is, to say the least, stunningly ugly. Add to this plotline that another of her co-workers is a serial rapist possessed by animal demons, and, well, you've got yourself a whole brew of nastiness jut waiting to be chugged.
The one thing that didn't really ring true (in the "logic-inside-the-suspension-of-disbelief" way that these things do) is Tawne's pure, complete loneliness, her ability to find even a single human being who finds her attractive. Especially given the qualities Jacob invests her with. A six-foot-two, large-built redhead who lifts crates for a living? Try a personal ad, watch the responses come rocketing in.
Other than that, though, I can't stress how much good, clean, gore-spouting fun this book is. Most everyone who has something coming gets it, in spades, along with a few people who don't deserve it but get it anyway. (I will leave it to you, dear reader, to decide who's who.) Jacob's blood-gouting bile-spraying intestine-hurling(-for-distance) descriptions never stray into the juvenile, as these things sometimes do. The characters are well-presented (aside from the niggle above), the pace is cranked, the anger is righteous, and the blood never stops flowing. What more could you possibly want from extreme horror? *** ½
Whatever else This Symbiotic Fascination is (and it is many things), one word I see applied to it many times that it really isn't is "original." Fans of extreme horror (the term "splatterpunk" is far too overused and far too inaccurate; this is more Guinea Pig than Neuromancer) who have been reading Bob Deveraux's stuff for the past decade will be well-enough acquainted with Jacob's style to have recognized this. Fans of extreme horror who have not yet read Bob Devereaux's classic Deadweight need to get their heads out of the necks of their victims long enough to read the best extreme horror novel on the planet.
What This Symbiotic Fascination is, however, is a whole lot of fun. Tawne, a largely-built and relatively unattractive girl (by her own admission), finds herself drawn into the mystery of the local serial killer when one of her few friends pops off with the guy one day after work; a guy who is, to say the least, stunningly ugly. Add to this plotline that another of her co-workers is a serial rapist possessed by animal demons, and, well, you've got yourself a whole brew of nastiness jut waiting to be chugged.
The one thing that didn't really ring true (in the "logic-inside-the-suspension-of-disbelief" way that these things do) is Tawne's pure, complete loneliness, her ability to find even a single human being who finds her attractive. Especially given the qualities Jacob invests her with. A six-foot-two, large-built redhead who lifts crates for a living? Try a personal ad, watch the responses come rocketing in.
Other than that, though, I can't stress how much good, clean, gore-spouting fun this book is. Most everyone who has something coming gets it, in spades, along with a few people who don't deserve it but get it anyway. (I will leave it to you, dear reader, to decide who's who.) Jacob's blood-gouting bile-spraying intestine-hurling(-for-distance) descriptions never stray into the juvenile, as these things sometimes do. The characters are well-presented (aside from the niggle above), the pace is cranked, the anger is righteous, and the blood never stops flowing. What more could you possibly want from extreme horror? *** ½
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