MAYNARD & SIMS |
|
|
|
|
|
Our second supernatural horror novel was Leisure Books November 2007 . NOW Amazon Publishing 2013 Emma Porter had just started her new job as personal assistant to Alex Keltner, the charismatic and powerful head of Keltner Industries. So when he asked her to attend a party he was throwing that weekend at his secluded estate, she knew better than to refuse. It would be her first party amid the extremely wealthy and powerful elite. It will be a party she will never forget - if she survives. At first it will be simply odd. Mysterious warnings. Strange, seductive guests. An atmosphere of seduction and sexuality. Video cameras in the rooms. But as the weekend progresses, Emma will slowly learn the true nature of the guests and her mysterious host and the real, grotesque purpose of the party.
Now available
in electronic form at |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Case notes PETER TENNANT / BLACK STATIC 3 2008 published by Andy Cox & TTA Press DEMON EYES BY L.H. MAYNARD & M.P.N. SIMS (Leisure paperback, 338pp, $7.99) Emma Porter gets the chance to become personal assistant to Alex, the dynamic and charismatic head of the Keltner organisation, but her promotion is tainted with sadness as Emma’s lover Helen has just been killed in a tragic accident at her riding stables. Still, Emma throws herself into her new job, attending a weekend retreat her boss has organised at an isolated country house for his wealthy friends and business associates and it’s here that she gets the first inkling not everything is kosher, as the guests engage in sexual shenanigans with various members of staff and sinister undercurrents become apparent. Meanwhile Helen’s brother, Tony has been looking into her death and finds a connection with Erik Keltner, Alex’s unsavoury younger brother. As he looks closer at the Keltners the more wary Tony becomes, suspecting that they might be involved in the white slave trade, but the Keltner’s secret and the plan they have for Emma is far worse. This is old style horror, a tale that builds gradually to a crescendo, with dashes of sex and perversion added to the mix for flavour. Beautifully constructed, with Maynard and Sims neatly slotting each piece into place, it delivers its chills and surprises in a quite deliberate way, so that the reader is primed to accept each shock to the system by what has gone before, instead of having to cope with a gore overload from the outset. The back story of a demonic race co-existing with and preying on humans, so cunningly revealed, convinces totally, even allowing for the fact that it does sound slightly like vampires by any other name. The way in which these ‘outsiders’ practice their dark arts is disturbing, with more than a hint of Society in some of the scenes, and the story is further enriched by rivalry between the various demon factions, each resentful and scheming to bring down Keltner patriarch Louis, even his own family, with Emma pivotal to the plot. Emma is an appealing heroine, both vulnerable and yet capable when pushed, with a climactic worm turning scene at the end. Tony and the parties who come to his aid, including a powerful magician with an agenda of his own concerning Emma and the Keltners, are equally well drawn, bringing to mind Wheatley’s Richelieu and cronies as they prepare to go into battle. The Keltners and their demonic allies are also strongly characterised, evil with a very human face rather than some ancient stereotype, each one of them given individual characteristics, in some cases even an empathy with those who should simply be their victims. In many ways Erik, the least powerful, is the most gripping, in that he is the one with something to prove and this is seen in acts of malice and casual brutality beneath his more assured brothers and sisters.
The only bum
note is struck by the inconclusive ending, but I took that as a sign a
sequel may well be in the works, and if so it’s very welcome. This is the
best of the long works I have seen by this talented duo, a finely crafted
novel that hints at their roots in traditional horror while being
thoroughly modern, and which can only enhance their growing reputation.
For reviews of the novel follow the hyperlinks below. http://www.laurahird.com/newreview/demoneyes http://www.dondammassa.com/r3.htm http://www.authorlink.com/bookreviews/detail/254 http://www.reviewcentre.com/review268188.html http://harrietklausner.wwwi.com/review/demon_eyes_sims http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6266 http://www.horrorreview.com/2007/demoneyes2007book.html |
|
|
Copyright © 2012 L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims |
|
