The Spirit by Thomas Page A Paperbacks from Hell review by Richard Martin Publisher : Valancourt Books (6 Aug. 2019) Language : English Paperback : 242 pages ISBN-10 : 1948405334 ISBN-13 : 978-1948405331 introduction to the paperbacks from hell seriesHorror was doing big business in the bookstores in the 1960s. This was largely thanks to gothic literature which promised gentle tales of haunted manors and melancholy spirits on their covers. Things took a more devilish turn towards the end of the decade with the release of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ in 1967, followed by William Peter Blatty’s ‘The Exorcist’ and Thomas Tryon’s ‘The Other in 1971, but the real fun began in 1974 with the release of two books that would open the floodgate for pulp horror. Jaws (Peter Benchley) and The Rats (James Herbert) proved that there was an appetite out there for books that weren’t ashamed to be all-out horror. The publishing industry took note and throughout the 1970s and 1980s, companies such as Zebra, Tor and Pinnacle published a seemingly endless supply of books promising unspeakable terrors and sporting covers that had to be seen to be believed. Sometimes the content was great, other times… not so much, but one thing that you could always be guaranteed was a fun and entertaining read. By the mid-90s, horror paperbacks were seemingly out, and thrillers were in. Gone were the lurid covers of skeletons, evil dolls, creepy kids and flesh hungry critters. The horror was still there, it just wasn’t marketed as such, treated like a shameful secret. As titles fell quickly out of print, many of the horror authors and their work became increasingly forgotten by all but the most avid fans and collectors. Enter Will Errickson, Grady Hendrix and ‘Paperbacks From Hell’. In 2017 Hendrix and Errickson released their seminal love letter to the horror paperbacks of a bygone era, shining a light on some long-forgotten classics and renewing interest in the mass market horror paperbacks of the 1970s and 80s. Not content to simply share their passion for these oft maligned but much missed books, thanks to their partnership with Valancourt Books, we are being treated to new reprints of the best of these decades-old, forgotten gems. To date, thirteen reprints have been published (with a fourteenth on the way), retaining the original cover art and boasting brand new and insightful introductions from Hendrix and Errickson. In this series I’ll be reading each and every one and posting articles at Ginger Nuts of Horror looking back at the best books two decades of horror has to offer. the spirit reviewFirst published in hardcover in 1977, ‘The Spirit’ was Thomas Page’s follow up to his massively successful 1972 debut, ‘The Hephaestus Plague’, a man versus nature offering which mixes sci-fi and horror to tell a story about genetically mutated beetles that set fires. Following up this admittedly ridiculous-sounding story with a book about Bigfoot you would, not unreasonably, expect ‘The Spirit’ to be chock full of pulpy goodness, sex and violence. The mass market paperback put out by Ballantine in 1978 certainly leans into that expectation, with its Mills and Boon style cover that promises plenty of under the sheets action, and a back cover copy that suggests we’re in for some truly nightmarish, mid bending terrors between its pages. ‘The Spirit’ doesn’t really deliver on either count (it’s entirely sex free and while it has some great action set pieces, Page doesn’t appear to be going for scary) but it does offer is a surprisingly engrossing tale that weaves Native American lore into a story about two men’s obsessions that bring them together and ultimately pit them against each other. The book follows both John Moon and Raymond Jason. John is a member of the Flathead Indian tribe who has recently returned from a tour in Vietnam. He is undertaking a quest to learn his true name and he believes he will learn it from his spirit guide; a seven-foot monster that walks like a man. His journey and this unlikely partnership will test his resolve and make him question just how far he is willing to go to discover who he is. When Raymond crosses paths with John and his spirit, the encounter ends in bloodshed and tragedy. Raymond becomes obsessed with hunting the creature down, no matter the cost. What surprised me most about ‘The Spirit’ is both how the monster was portrayed, and how little Page was interested in it when compared to his human cast. It’s fair to say that the Bigfoot isn’t really the books focus. I’d go so far as to say that you could probably lift it out of the story entirely and the story would still work fine without it and play out basically the same way. The monster isn’t portrayed as a violent man-eater, but rather a reclusive, wild animal, and while the book does rack up a bit of a body count, it also takes pains to justify and explain it, rather than just go with a blanket ‘bigfoot = bad’ mentality and expect the reader to just roll with it. In either case, John Moon absolutely steals the show from his sasquatch spirit guide. He’s a likeable and complex character with a rich and complex backstory. It’s a shame that he has to compete so much for page time with Raymond Jason, who is bad-tempered and generally unpleasant. They make such an odd duo as joint protagonists and this is probably the big reason why the book works so well. Raymond's alpha male, domineering personality screams ‘80s pulp hero’ (think Cliff Davenport from ‘Night of the Crabs’, but angrier), but he’s increasingly shown to be something else entirely. A lazier book would have had it's Native American character be the book's villain, and John Moon certainly does some questionable things throughout the book, but his motivation is a pure one and his morals never waver, even if they do lead him astray at times. There aren’t any clear-cut heroes and villains in The Spirit and I loved that about it. If there is one thing holding the book back, it's that it throws so many good ideas out there, but doesn’t always make the most of them. Raymond Jason begins as a potential hero of the story (albeit not the most likeable one) and as the book progresses, it becomes increasingly clear how alike he and John Moon are, and how their own personal obsessions have clouded their judgement and all but ruined their lives. It’s a really interesting take, and one that pays off in the closing sequence, but I couldn’t help but feel more could have been made from it in the build-up to really earn that ending. John Moon has a similar, very intriguing backstory hinted at and briefly mentioned, detailing his time in Vietnam. I got strong ‘Rambo’ vibes from the little detail we do get, and I’d have loved to hear more. His mental illness, a direct result of his time at war, may inform some of his decisions throughout the book, but I couldn’t help but wish Page had delved a little deeper here as well. The Spirit isn’t the ‘nature gone wild’ Bigfoot bloodbath you may be expecting, and it’s a stronger book for it. The action set pieces are thrilling and the finale delivers the man versus nature showdown you came for, but there’s a lot more going on that makes this one a more unique and memorable book than your standard ‘animal rampage’ pulp offering. Page clearly has a great deal of affection for his characters, John Moon in particular, and it shows in the finished product. Its unpredictable narrative and abundance of depth and creativity make it a memorable and engaging read that stands apart from a lot of creature features of the time. Join me next time when I’ll be sharing my thoughts on Black Ambrosia by Elizabeth Engstrom. If you’d like to read along with this series and want to pick up copies of the books, or learn more about Valancourts’ Paperbacks From Hell line, visit their site at www.valancourtbooks.com/paperbacksfromhell The Spirit (Paperbacks from Hell) |
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