Trick Or Treat! That’s right, I am sneaking in a bonus spooky update to this year’s countdown to Halloween. This one will be our first “ The Dusty Paperback Rack” update where I will be talking about a paperback Horror Novel that I have read and wanted to share with you readers. This will be a very fast update read, just like last year’s surprise where we did a countdown of the 1993 trading card for the haunted hayride attraction Jason’s Woods read HERE if you missed it. So with that, let’s walk on to the Rotten Ink Paperback Library and find a spooky book to read.
So I am walking through the Rotten Ink paperback book library that is always growing and have grabbed a book off the first dusty old shelf that I decided to read for this update, I want to also stress that this is the first time I have read this book and it has been chosen because it peeked my interest with its covers as well as story. My friend The Rotten Book Worm who will be along with me for the ride of this update wanted me to remind you all that just like the comics, I am grading these on a 1-4 star scale and am looking for how well the novel stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its characters and story. So let’s bust out our reading glasses as it’s time to crack open this book and see what horrors await us! Also warning, there will be spoilers in this review.
The Devil’s Breath ***
Written By Robert Irvine Cover Price $2.75 Pinnacle Books 1982 280 Pages
Jack Graham is an artist who was in a terrible accident that left him minus a hand as well broke up his marriage as he became bitter about feeling like a freak and getting pity from others. He decides to move to Moondance, Utah and to the home his deceased uncle left to him and meets Harriet Wilcox, the local press who picks him up and drives him into town where he meets Mayor Benyon, Sheriff Fisk and councilman Timmons all of whom are at the site of a brutal murder of three TV crew members that they swear was a bear attack and force Jack and Harriet to keep quiet about the deaths. Once in town, he finds out that the townspeople are all churchgoing people who like to gossip and finds that they want his land so they can have a hunting ground to bring in big time late night TV personality Jimmy Keene to film his big hunt. After falling in love with Harriet and rescuing an abused dog he calls Shotgun, he finally agrees to allow them to hunt on his land with one stipulation; they have to take him along as he has been inspired to make art again! Before the big hunt many members of the city council are being killed off by strange ways, and the local Native American Yeba Kah is thought to be dead is soon found alive and is blamed for all the murders and is captured while on the hunt. Worse Jack Graham is stuck in a fight for survival when the spirit of an angry Native American God named Koshari starts to kill off members of the hunting party by using their own fears against them! In the end Jack Graham returns home a changed man and his paintings soon show the sinister ways the hunting party died as well as his own fate, and it’s up to Harriet and Shotgun to save him from it!
I have to lead off by saying that I really liked the atmosphere of this book as I found Moondance to be a small town filled with sinister secrets and the townsfolk will do what they can to try and survive and that includes allowing people to hunt in their woods that are clearly haunted by an evil vengeful God and his protection is something very sinister. I also liked the fact they added in lots of Native American folklore and even spice up the story with romance as our main character Jack finds love again with Harriet. One aspect that I really like about this book was that the last few chapters, when all the bad really starts going down, had a real Tales From The Darkside feel to it. Let’s talk about the characters as my favorite in the book was Jack Graham. While he is very self doubting and sometimes comes off as an ass, he still is a very likable character who cares about nature, animals and people he loves. I like that he has inner drama and that he loses faith in his painting abilities because he lost a hand in a accident as this makes him feel like a real person who has lost himself in self pity. Another reason I like Jack is that he clearly has respect for animals as he not only saves and adopts an abused dog but also the three burros that helped get him off the mountain alive when the rest of his party had died. I should also note that I also really liked Harriet Wilcox as she has a warm heart and reminds me of a classic news reporter who is battling with the town’s government over what she can write about. My least favorite character was a tie between Del Timmons, the a-hole councilman who is cruel to animals, killed his wife and was going to kill Jack and the cocky and rude TV Star Jimmy Keene as he was just a jerk to everyone in the hunting party and clearly had an ego problem! Koshari is the book’s main bad guy and this God wants revenge on those who disrespect his land and kill animals for sport, and I love the fact he uses peoples own fear to lead them to their untimely deaths. While none of our characters ever see Koshari in his spirit appearance they do see what he wants them to and this makes him very dangerous. This book had great characters, a cool villain, likable characters and made me want to see what other books author Robert Irvine has written, I would say Horror Novel Readers who like vengeful spirits should check this one out.
Bought From: Half Price Books
What a great read as I have always been a sucker for a good evil spirit in the woods kind of story and The Devil’s Breath delivers on this factor and in fact just is a good Horror Novel that I suggest you checkout as I am happy I did. And those wondering, the website Good Reads has this book rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and Amazon has it rated 4.6 out of 5 stars as of this updates posting showing that I was not the only one who enjoyed it. And I think that “The Dusty Paperback Rack” will be a new themed update that will pop up from time to time and of course will be a way to cover Horror Paperback Novels. But do not worry for those looking for the update for Sharknado 3 as it is coming up next in just a few days. So until next time, read a Horror Novel or three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update as it looks like we are in for some nasty weather as they are calling for sharks!
