Rating: 
Summary: A Combination of Horrors
Review: I understand that Clive Barker calls Hollywood/LA as his home now and after reading Coldheart Canyon, I'm left wondering how he stands it. His latest offering attempts to combine the horrors of Hollywood (the glitz, massive egos, money, and lack of humanity behind movie-making) and the horrors of hell itself. Kind of like New vs. Old World horror. It revolves around Todd Picket, once at the top of the Hollywood heap but now faced with bad reviews and bad sag, who resorts to a major face lift. Needing a place to convalesce, he is referred to a mansion once owned by a former 30's silver screen star named Katya Lupi. Unknown to him, Katya was well...one perverted Gloria Swanson-type who reveled in debauchery of all kinds. Her piece de resistance is a room covered in hand-painted tiles depicting an everlasting hunt in a magical yet dark forest involving a Romanian noble and Lillith, Satan's favorite wife. Back in the 30's the tiled room was transported in its entirety to Katya's house in Coldheart Canyon. Once there those who visit the room are transported into the actual hunt and subjected to the perverse pleasures that the forest has to offer. Jump back to present day where Todd encounters Katya and her hordes of silver screen stars long dead but quite alive as ghosts along with scores of mutations. Clive Barker does a nice job of giving us a peek behind stardom and the trials and tribulations of being a big screen star. One can only imagine that he himself has experienced the coldness, ephemeral idolatry, and lack of sincerity in Hollywood first hand. Clearly he has not been impressed by the human condition in Hollywood. What I found much more enthralling was the story behind the Romanian noble, the hunt & magical forest, and Lillith. Recently there has been a lot of talk about Lillith who many see as an extension of Eve from the Garden of Eden. Sometimes, she's portrayed as a loving, maternal influence while other times as a succubus, vampire, a malevolent entity bent on man's destruction. There's no doubt that our predominantly patriarchal society was responsible for the negative portrayal. Feminists see her in quite a different light. I have always been interested in such ancient legends and found Clive Barker's Lillith fascinating. Mr. Barker if you're reading this, how about devoting a whole novel to Lillith from a historical perspective, her origins and influence on the modern world? If what you've read so far piques your curiosity and if you enjoy some gore and gratuitous sex, then I think that you'll enjoy Coldheart Canyon. The pacing is quick and rarely does it get bogged down. All comparisons aside, Clive Barker like Stephen King has the talent of effortless horror writing which contributes to a gruesome yet smooth read perfect for vacation reading or those long commutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Chilling
Review: I couldn't put this book down once I started it! Whilst it is not my favourite of Barker's works (Imajica still tops the list) it definetely shows that Barker is right there in top form. It does get a little dragging at times but it is still an excellent work. Barker fans will not fail to miss the references to Weaveworld and Imajica in the story.
Rating: 
Summary: A great one from Clive.
Review: The past two releases from Clive were kind of a let down for me.
Galilee just sort of dragged on and sacrament had much of the same ending. I've been a Clive fan scince the middle eighties and read everything,so it was nice to see a return to old form in my eye's.
Cold heart canyon was a haunting ghost story set in the Hollywood hills,lots of spooky characters,sexy scenes,and lots of grisly horror! It mixed elements of weaveworld-the tile room- with a fireside ghost tale. Fast paced action and maybe a realistic view into the lives of Hollywood's rich and famous?
Rating:
Summary: OK
Review: I'm not much of a big Clive Barker fan but having heard a lot about him I decided to pick up this novel.
But before I did, I have seen one of his hellraiser films and I was unimpressed. Also I have read his blood books and again was unimpressed with the exception of one story titled "the midnight meat train".
So I decided to give one of his novels a real chance and picked up "cold heart canyon". Overall, I will say that I'm ok with the book. It had its weak moments particularly at the end but I was intrigued by the story and felt it was not pointless. It's great to see a book poke some fun at Hollywood and its superficiality.
Plus the horribly grotesque parts within' the story is quite fascinating I must admit.
All in all, an average book that could've been better in a way but won't disappoint for the most part. I would say it's worth checking out especially if you're a Clive Barker fan.
Rating:
Summary: Steps outside genre without transcending it
Review: In the twenties, the haunted cellar of a Transylvanian castle is dismantled, shipped west, and installed in the basement of an imperious Hollywood vamp. In the nineties, leading man Todd Pickett, after making some bad mistakes trying to come to terms with the impending loss of his king-of-the-box-office looks, decides to go into seclusion. And his worst mistake is to rent out the vamp's long abandoned, but far from uninhabited, mansion. I never felt like putting Coldheart Canyon down, but I found myself wondering several times whether I was still reading the same book I had in my hand a hundred pages ago. It didn't seem able to decide whether it was going to be a satire on Hollywood, or a chilling Old World folktale or a chatty gossip column on the bedroom foibles of the silent screen stars,... or a haunted house story. Ultimately, it's all those things, but not enough of any one of them to fully satisfy, and Barker doesn't succeed in making them all connect convincingly. When Barker fails, though, the result is more worthwhile, and more fun to read, than the polished heights reached by most other "horror" writers. One thing you can be sure of is that he will never repeat himself, never lapse into repeating some tired successful formula. He did neither here, and I liked the glimpses I got of the several novels this might have been, so I put it at three and a half stars. Those fans who favor Barker for his mastery of horror, and his unexcelled gore, will be sorely disappointed in this novel. It's only intermittently scary. Those who follow him for his breadth of imagination and capacity for surprise, who were at least as pleased by Imagica as by Hellraiser, will find it optional, but enjoyable. For all its arresting supernatural ornamentation, what Barker is really interested in here is obsession with fame, on the part of those who do and those who don't have it. The head of Pickett's fan club plays a major role in the story, beginning as nearly a cartoon, and developing into the book's most interesting character. And it becomes clear early on that, for all the nasties Todd has to face down, his real nightmare is of being no longer adored.
Rating:
Summary: The best Clive Barker so far
Review: I first Read Weave World, the book with Cabal, etc. and the Theif of always and fell in love with Clive Barkers Writing. But after reading The Great and Secret Show (semi-boring and very long) I began to get bored with his writing (like Stephen King, long and tedious). But then I Read Coldheart Canyon. My faith has now been restored. Not only is this a book filled with descriptions that fall into the imagination, but the Main and supporting Characters are easy to understand and identify with. I highly recomend this book if you are looking for an intelligent and yet imaginative read along with a strong step away from the reality we know.
Rating:
Summary: Flickering Images On the Island of Lost Souls
Review: Just so no one gets the wrong idea, all the flaws in this book listed by other reviewers are there. It is flawed. But it's fabulous. Hollywood action hero Todd Pickett is leased a mansion called Coldheart Canyon, in which to hide out while his bungled plastic surgery heals. Back in its heyday, during the Silent Era, the mansion was owned by a Romanian actress named Katya Lupi. Katya hosted innumerable wild orgies there, which are still the stuff of legend. Todd's tenure in the Hollywood Hills is about to teach him the truth behind the saying that some legends never die: not only is Katya still residing in Coldheart Canyon, but so are all the other Silver Screen greats of yesteryear - or, at least, some reasonable facsimiles thereof. The dead never leave the Canyon. They can't. They're held prisoner by their own desire, to attain the secret of immortality that can be granted them by a sinister magic of Katya's. Her denial of their desire makes them all more and more twisted and demented, each passing decade. Katya so likes to remain in control, she's successfully held on to her life and youth for three quarters of a century - and, having taken a liking to Todd, she's not about to let him leave. Whether he wants to stay, or not. As with Barker's best works, this one often succeeds in elevating itself to poetry. His imagery is brilliantly memorable, his theme wonderfully realized throughout. Every page of this monster book seethes with human insecurities and vain denials of death - and what better place to set a story about the decadence of vanity than in its most recognizable kingdom? Though there are several smaller flaws in this novel - the editorial mistakes are a petty complaint - the only significant one of note is the concluding 100-page denouement. The plot proper ends a full hundred pages before the book does, the final chapters being an overlong coda that are virtually a sequel to the main story that is frankly unnecessary. However, this bizarre finale still ties in beautifully with Barker's overarching theme, providing a sort of separate movement to it. There are admittedly some unusual character transitions, but then the primary characters in this story are plainly unstable. And for all of these flaws, the story itself is vintage Barker, returning to his original horror roots with a slight overlapping of the fantasy elements he has since become more famous for. It has strong echoes of his own Cabal and Weaveworld, as well as of Stephen King's The Shining and Peter Straub's Ghost Story. It's a rich, full read, as diverse and textured as the enchanted mosaic that makes up its foremost plot device. Barker's usual graphic violence and plentiful use of sex are as much in evidence in this piece as in any of his others. The characters are quite memorable, the heroine especially, who is quite unlike any other found in literature. But don't compare it to Barker's other books. Just dive in, and enjoy. It won't be to everyone's tastes, obviously - as a sampling of the other reviews present here will attest - but this summary should pretty well tell you whether it will be to your own.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Scary
Review: As a fan of modern horror novels, I was excited to pick up this book after hearing so many good things about it. What a disappointment! It had been awhile since I read a Clive Barker book, the last being The Great and Secret Show, which I enjoyed, although it was a difficult read. The best thing I can say about this book is that it is an easier read than his usual. The premise is interesting (following the same general theme as Weaveworld) but after the first chapter or two my interest quickly waned. My major complaint is that it was not scary. Not once did I fear to turn the page. Barker includes his usual perversions, such as humans having sex with non-humans and other over-the-top sexual situations. The characters were two dimensional and by the time the book was over you just didn't care. Come on Clive, you can do better than this!
Rating: 
Summary: Barker - a great story-teller,but enough of the sex already!
Review: Four areas that hit me the hardest...
1. The reader's breathy performance was terribly distracting. I wont pick up another audio book read by him.
2. Barker has a great way of putting emotional states into words.
3. The long, drawn-out, scenes of beastiality and other XXXsex stuff were simply not needed.
4. There wasnt one character who had my sympathy!
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, but disappointing
Review: I've always respected Clive Barker's ability to tell a truly imaginative, vivid tale that brings some dazzling otherworld into the familiar one where I reside. Coldheart Canyon is no exception; I delighted in reading about Devil's Country and Hollywood, both old and new. However, the book was poorly edited, overdrawn, and stuffed unnecessarily with ludicrous sexual perversions. I was surprised to see so much superfluous and inconsistant material, and the book seemed hastily written. I wasn't remotely convinced by some of the sudden "surprises" near the novel's end--they seemed arbitrarily added. This could have been a good book and I'm glad I read it, but I won't pick it up again.
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