Genre: Horror
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Publication Date: 3rd Nov 2015
Pages: 119
MY REVIEW:
I received an advance copy of Greasepaint by David C. Hayes from Netgalley in exchange for an
honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Samhain.
Never read anything by David C. Hayes before but this
came out with a bevy of books from Samhain on NetGalley so decided to give it a
go along with the others. Novellas are good when it’s an author you have never
read before. Being short, they tend to give you a general feel for the authors
work in a short space of time. I got my general feeling on this one fairly
quickly.
Michael is the only survivor after serial killer Reginald
Bent, otherwise known as TV star, Orzo the Clown, is finally caught and killed
by the police.
Many years later, the son of Orzo’s sidekick, Dumpy Dan,
decides to release a DVD special of all the Orzo the Clown shows ever made.
When this happens, people start to die. Michael is plagued by the memory of
Orzo. Worse than that, he has seen Orzo again. He has seen him kill again. He
knows he is after him. Again.
OK this is probably going to be a short review of a short
book. I didn’t like it. I wanted to like it but I just couldn’t.
The characters in this story are flat. The initial scenes
with Orzo (before he was killed) were entertaining. He was well written and evil
and everything someone like me who is scared of clowns, finds scary. After that
it all fell down for me. Michael and his girlfriend Mona and his friends in his
band Ricky and Skeezer are the main characters. All pretty plain and non-exciting.
There are a few other characters that come to the fore but to be honest I can’t
even remember the names of most.
The plot is straight forward. Killer dies, one victim
left. Year’s later killer supposedly comes back and survivor runs away very
fast. But not fast enough. Loads of people die.
The thing that killed this book for me was the writing
style. This felt so disjointed and unnatural to me. It was almost written like
a screenplay or a script for a film. It was more descriptive rather than free
flowing and it never allowed the story to get into a groove for me. It was full
of very short sentences and read more as instructions for what actors needed to
do rather than telling a story. For example (not actual text from the story) “Michael
turns around. Michael walks to Mona. Michael hugs Mona.” Whereas I would rather
have read “Michael turned around and walked over to Mona. After giving each
other a warm smile, they hugged”.
Get my drift? Didn’t flow. Didn’t gel. As a story. The
over use of the character names as well drove me nuts. I counted on one page in
which Michael was the only character involved in the scene and his name was
used twenty one times. No need for it. Not in a book anyway. Maybe in a script.
To summarise: didn’t like this at all. There is some
horror and there is plenty of blood and guts. It just didn’t flow for me as a
story should. I was very disappointed. Like I always say though - just because it didn't do it for me, doesn't mean it won't for you.
General rating:
★★ didn't do it for me.
Horror rating:
★★ nope, not scary.
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Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
He has lots of fun in store for you!
Michael is the only survivor of serial killer Reginald
Bent, better known as the nationally syndicated TV star Orzo the Clown. Having
his own rock band has helped Michael cope. He loses himself in the music and
doesn’t think of Orzo or the way the demented clown died right in front of him.
Now a new DVD release of the Orzo the Clown Show brings
all the memories back to the surface. It has also drawn out either Orzo
himself, back from the grave, or a copycat just as insane. Anyone Michael knows
is a potential victim as the crazed clown slashes his way through another
three-ring circus of terror, hell bent on finishing what was started.
David C. Hayes...
the court jester of horror! David is an award winning writer actor/filmmaker/college professor/pro wrestler and all around hack!
"Hayes
is fast establishing himself as the new top-drawer of hard-core horror!" -
Edward Lee
And
for more about David, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website - Facebook - Goodreads - Amazon Page
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