BOOK REVIEW: THE SOUL STEALER BY GRAHAM MASTERTON

15/3/2022

Gruesome Hollywood horror which forgets the ‘Me Too’ movement

In recent years Scottish horror legend has been on a fine run of form with The House of a Hundred Whispers (2020) and the supernatural crime trilogy which stars London detectives Jerry Pardoe and Jamila Patel, opening with Ghost Virus (2018). Whilst most authors who have been in the horror game since the mid-1970s might be thinking of slowing down and pulling out the pipe, slippers and whiskey bottle, Masterton remains as prolific as ever releasing two books in 2022, The Soul Stealer and next October The House at Phantom Park. After so many years writing horror I am constantly amazed he can dream up such outlandish plots, and although his latest is unlikely to be rated alongside his best work it was a very easy to read page-turner aimed at those who enjoy trashy horror. I sped through this romp over a couple of easy reading days, eating up the near 400-pages with little lull in the ridiculous, often sleazy, action.

Masterton’s longevity comes from the fact that he has the ability to both dish out crazy plots and seamlessly move between the various subgenres, ranging from haunted houses, body horror, police procedurals and everything else in between. The Soul Stealer finds the great Scotsman in solid b-movie territory and if this was published in the eighties, an era it harks back to, trash horror film merchants such as Fred Olen Ray would have been queueing up to direct it, with his famous Scream Queen actresses taking centre stage and bearing the flesh.

The action opens with main character Trinity Fox (sounds like a porn star name!) receiving a phone call from an old school friend whom she has not seen in a while, then plans to meet her. Trinity’s home circumstances is also pretty tough, after the recent death of her mother she has to look after her two younger siblings, whilst holding down a cleaning job, meantime their father disappears into the bottle. After arriving at the bar where she has arranged to meet Margo, realising her friend is in the restroom follows her in, only to find her alight in flames and burning to death. When the police arrive, she is told it was a probable suicide and although she finds this unlikely takes the LAPD for their word.

Shortly after the incident Trinity meets part-time private investigator Nemo Frisby, another main character, who also suspects foul play and the pair double up to continue their investigation, even though they are warned off by other shifty characters. Trinity and Nemo (she is half his age) make a very entertaining buddy act which takes them to the super rich of Hollywood (the story is set in LA) whilst her personal family problems are never too far in the background, with both her siblings Rosa and Buddy also appearing in some of the subplots.

It was just as well Trinity and Nemo made a fun detective duo as plenty of the other characters in The Soul Stealer are sheer filth and will have you wanting to have a bath to wash their stench from your skin. Although it is my no means Masterton’s most violent book, some scenes are very strong featuring tongues being cut out, children being burned alive and one guy being forced to eat his own testicles immediately after removal. The sexual violence is also unpleasant and rather gloating, featuring date rape and worse, including a woman being raped by a scorpion monster demon. If this type of horror is not your thing, then stay well aware from The Soul Stealer which is built around fast pace and shocking over-the-top set pieces rather than scares or tension.

If this novel is anything to go by then the ‘Me Too’ movement in America, in which Hollywood was the king of sleaze, either never happened or was totally ignored by the men in the seat of power. Putting a supernatural and very sleazy spin on the infamous ‘casting couch’ scenario will not be everybody’s cut of tea and some readers may feel it makes light of serious topics regarding women’s self-empowerment. However, in the end of the day this is exploitation horror and if you are after something more serious then look elsewhere, especially if you are of a sensitive disposition as the violence is hard-hitting and particularly unrelenting on women.

You will have to suspend your disbelief for large parts of the story, which is built around Native American mythology (a tribe from the California area). I am not sure whether any of this was based on fact (I think the tribe ‘Tongva’ was real) and I wonder how living descendants of the tribe will take Masterton’s portrayal of them in this story. However, you could argue they are just as exploited in this novel as their race was in actual history. The second Native American story strand was totally bizarre, the ability to make others think you are somebody else (a bit like Clint Eastwood for example!) and was put to cool use by the highly unorthodox investigative duo.

Although I raced through The Soul Stealer I could not help feeling that some of the plot was a mere excuse to link together very gory scenes and some of the most explicit sequences failed to have the impact something built around atmosphere might have had. Although the characters were sketchily drawn and could have done with more detail hardcore fans of Masterton should still lap up this latest release. However, if you have never tried him before he has much stronger novels than this to get you started in his vast and impressive back catalogue.

Tony Jones

The Soul Stealer
by Graham Masterton

'God, he's good.' Stephen King

An American Indian demon is unearthed in the present day. Original, disturbing and utterly terrifying, this is the new standalone from master of horror, and author of The Manitou, Graham Masterton.

Nemo Frisby used to be a detective. Now he drives an Uber between billionaire mansions in California. But he never lost the nose for the case – and when his housecleaner Trinity Fox discovers a young woman lying dead in her neighborhood, she persuades him to help her prove it wasn't suicide.

Their investigation leads them to the Bel Air home of a wealthy movie producer, who built his mansion over an American Indian burial site. Ancient mythology tells of a demon who, if unearthed, can imbue evil men with terrible power. But only if the demon is fed by the sacrifice of innocent lives...

Graham Masterton is a true master of his genre, famous for his original, disturbing, and utterly terrifying novels. The Soul Stealer will stand alongside The Manitou as one of horror's most chiling explorations of the native magic of the ancients.

Praise for Graham Masterton:

'One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time' Peter James
'Suspenseful and tension-filled... all the finesse of a master storyteller' Guardian
'One of Britain's finest horror writers' Daily Mail
'You are in for a hell of a ride' Grimdark Magazine