William H. Hallahan – Keeper of the Children (Sphere, 1980)

William H. Hallahan – Keeper of the Children  (Sphere, 1980)

Blurb:

THE MASTER HAD TAKEN THEIR CHILDREN – ONE BY ONE BY ONE ….

Alone in a child‘s bedroom in a suburban Philadelphia home, Eddie Benson listens for footsteps on the stairs.
The footfall Eddie is waiting for will not be human. lt could be someone’s pet cat, or a stuffed toy, or even a smiling marionette doll.
But whatever it is that comes creeping up the stairs it will have only one intention — murder.
If Eddie Benson wants his daughter back he will have to fight a battle no human has ever fought before. And he must win. For only the victor can return with his life — and soul — from the realms of such dark, unnatural evil.

Jessica Hamilton – Baxter (1981, 2nd Sphere edition)

 Jessica Hamilton – Baxter (Sphere, 1981)

Blurb;
BEWARE OF THE ….

`The child was even weaker than I thought, and I acted quickly. I was careful not to touch its delicate skin with my teeth. It was a simple matter to grasp its clothing and drag it to the water. It cried out only briefly before I forced it under. It quickly went limp, and I stood back and watched it until I knew its feeble hold on life was broken.’
…. BAXTER
HE LOOKS LIKE A PET DOG, ONE OF MILLIONS. HE EVEN BEHAVES LIKE ONE – MOST OF THE TIME. BUT HE’S EVIL. INHUMANLY EVIL. AFTER YOU HAVE READ THIS NOVEL, YOU WILL NEVER, EVER, LOOK AT YOUR FAMILY’S PET QUITE LIKE YOU USED TO… 

Bernard King – Witch Beast

Bernard King – Witch Beast  (Sphere, 1989)

Alun Hood

Blurb:
Uptown, the depressed Victorian slum area of Monkhampton, long overdue for development, is dying: its shopping precinct boarded up, its church abandoned, its people moved away – apparently into thin air …

At the heart of Uptown, in Salvation, an affectionate snow-white Newfoundland recovers slowly from the vicious maltreatment of his previous owner. And as Leader regains his strength, his coat starts to change colour, and he grows – and grows …

Detective Chief Inspector Ben Wilson, investigating a strange case of arson in Uptown, is attacked by a pack of dogs turned feral, a pack that behaves like a disciplined army …

Then the murders start. And Wilson begins to see a hideous connection; a link that shatters all our comfortable preconceptions about domestic pets. If he and the eccentric Professor Harker are right, man’s best friend is man’s most dangerous enemy – an enemy beyond human control.

Lisa Tuttle – Gabriel

Lisa Tuttle – Gabriel (Sphere 1987)

Lisa Tuttle Gabriel

“His name was Gabriel Archer, and he was my husband for eleven months. He died at twenty-three, a few days before my nineteenth birthday. Ten years later, on my twenty-ninth, he came hack to haunt me…
Gabriel swore he would always love her. And then he died. A decade later, when Dinah meets Ben, she is amazed to find Gabriel’s penetrating eyes, his knowing smile, in a ten year old boy. When Ben says he loves her, Dinah is amused – and then frightened. Ben means what he says. He loves her – exactly the way Gabriel once loved her…. “I came back for you.” He smiled. It was not the smile of a ten-year-old child. It was Gabriel’s smile, adult, full of knowing. Dinah wanted to scream”