Peter Tremayne – Zombie!

Peter Tremayne – Zombie! (Sphere, 1981)

The blood-freezing chiller sensation!

Blurb:

LET THE LIVING DEAD RISE UP AND WALK …

When June arrives in St Miquelon, the Caribbean island is far removed from the tropical idyll she imagined. The exotic estate owned by her grandmother has become a barren ruin. And Marie Lasneque, the grandmother she never knew, is rumoured to be dead.

But within the heart of that lonely house, a legacy of living death is waiting for nightfall. And the moment when June will learn the horrifying truth about the voodoo island and its hideous cult of bloody sacrifice to their black magic woman … Marie Lasneque.

Peter Tremayne – The Morgow Rises

Peter Tremayne – The Morgow Rises (Sphere, 1982)

Review by Killercrab.

Beware when the Morgow rises:
Lament for the living.
Lament for the unborn.
All things end!

The idyllic Cornish village of Bosbradoe is suitably populated by eccentrics – none more so than 72 year old retired mining expert Henry Archibold Penrose , known as *Happy* to the locals. Owning a crumbling old mansion Tybronbucca ( meaning House on Goblin Hill) – Happy likes nothing better than to pack a thermos and sandwiches and explore the disused Tom Wheal tin mine he owns , adjoining the property , in the hopes of finding a new vein of Malachite that will re-energise the town’s economy.

However the dank and fetid undersea caverns hold something far more deadly than tin , as Happy finds out to his peril…

Meanwhile his visiting neice Claire breaks down on a lonely stretch of the Bodmin moor ( in the best Hammer Horrible tradition). Local fortune teller and witch , cackling Mother Polruan accosts her – fortelling of her *doom* in no uncertain terms – echoes of a village CURSED reverberating across the desolute moors ! Claire is *rescued* by Willian Neville – thriller writer , car expert and all round handsome chap and together their twin fates spiral intextricably towards the slavering jaws of the Morgow !!…

Peter Tremayne’s knowledge of Cornish lore embues the story with a delicious superstitous aura – is the Morgow a monster of myth or something of a more recent vintage?! The local pub The Morvren Arms is no doub’t a derivation of Morveran – the name of the mermaid from Cornish folklore and certainly befits the drinking hole of the local fisherfolk like old Billy Scalwen and Jack Trenaglos – overseen by the moon-faced landlord Noall. The actual legend of the Morgow though seems more a fiction dreamed up by Tremayne – possibly the name inspired by the character of the same name in LORD OF THE RINGS ? – no matter – Tremayne makes you believe that Mother Polruan’s fortellings of the mythical beast returning are dangerously real enough. Mix into this potent brew journalistic rivalries and Harrier jump-jets and you’ve a cracker of a tale!

Whilst the book boasts a salaciously saliva-drippingly lurid delineation of red head siren Sheila Fahy ( of the too full breasts she opines!) , getting scoffed alive by the slithering Morgow – Tremayne opts to concentrate more on building suspense initially , rather than outright explicit sex and gore – but let’s fly as the reader rounds on the final bend of the book The story is exuberantly kinetic and easy on the eye – a couple of hours should suffice the average reader. Tremayne’s real strentgh lies in his ability to forge folklore and reality convincingly without the story getting bogged down in too much detail – highly recommended!

Killercrab click rating 4/5

Thanks to H. P. Saucecraft who kindly provided the cover scan.

Peter Tremayne – The Ants

Peter Tremayne – The Ants (1978)

 

THE HUNGRY HORDES ARE ON THE MARCH…

When Jane Sewell returns to the Brazilian jungle to help her anthropologist father in his work, it is not the happy reunion she is expecting. She doesn’t find the thriving village she remembers. Just a pile of bones. Human bones. Picked clean.

And then the ancient steamboat Falcão chugs cheerfully into sight, carrying a ghastly cargo of grisly death. And, for Jane, the horror really begins.

Somewhere, out in the seething jungle, a remorseless army is on the move. And it seems as though nothing can stop its savage, merciless drive.

Relentlessly, inexorably, tearing, rending and consuming everything in their path

…THE ANTS ARE COMING!

A bibliography of Peter Tremayne’s  Horror & Fantasy Paperbacks compiled by compiled by Justin Marriott for Paperback Fanatic #9, February 2009 is available online at Vault Of Evil. Many thanks to Mr. Marriott for granting us permission to reproduce it!

Peter Tremayne – The Curse of Loch Ness

Peter Tremayne – The Curse of Loch Ness (Sphere, 1979)

 

A bibliography of Peter Tremayne’s  Horror & Fantasy Paperbacks compiled by compiled by Justin Marriott for Paperback Fanatic #9, February 2009 is available online at Vault Of Evil. Many thanks to Mr. Marriott for granting us permission to reproduce it!

Peter Tremayne – The Vengeance Of She

Peter Tremayne – The Vengeance Of She (Sphere, 1978)

They called her “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed” – priestess of the ancient Mother of Mysteries, whose story had become a terrifying legend. Her body had perished thousands of years ago, but her spirit was immortal, and she had sworn one day to return and wreak havoc on those who had destroyed her.

Dr Hugh Strickland didn’t believe in dusty old legends. But when pretty young Noreen Pemberton was entrusted to his psychiatric care, he was forced to rethink all his long-held beliefs. For another personality was fighting for possession of Noreen’s body.

As the invading spirit grew stronger, Strickland realized that he was dealing with something monstrous and beyond his control – and that knowledge put him in mortal danger. For, fuelled by the fires of a long forgotten age, Ayesha was rising – to fulfil her legend and live again!

Thanks to killercrab of Vault for providing the scan!