Rating: 
Summary: Blech.
Review: Well...I've been a Barker fan for years and years. And until this point, not a thing has come out that I have not enjoyed. Until now. I have defended his work in the past maybe sometimes when I should not have. I will not defend this. It was garbage. It seemed like just an excuse to put as much sex as you could in a novel without the novel going anywhere. It just kind of ended...and poorly. There was no emotion or feeling for me. The only reason why I give it two stars is because...well...I'm retarded and I like him too much not to.
Rating:
Summary: How I wanted to like this, but...
Review: Coldheart Canyon has everything: an atmospheric setting, a house with a past, an artwork that seems imbued with a life of its own, a woman of mystery who couldn't possibly be who she says she is, a gallant if vain and self-absorbed protagonist -- and it's all happening in the Hollywood Hills just out of the bustle of L.A.And therein lies its flaw: in its efforts to have everything the book loses its ability to chill to the marrow, and instead becomes a catalog of every stock situation that could possibly be conjured up with little regard to continuity and focus. This becomes painfully obvious in the spoken format. Characters are established and then almost obstinately behave completely out of character, so much so that you wonder if Barker himself actually read the beginning of his book. Situations are set up as set pieces, often not actually moving the plot along. One incident is simply not sequenced properly, and implies character knowledge that we know the characters couldn't have. This all culminates into a rather ghastly denouement with a number of dead and injured, and a stirring ending. Except it doesn't end -- the book proceeds into a second ending, which is nearly laughable. And it DOESN'T END! There is yet further ending material and it just serves to flatten the power of the previous narrative. I listened to the book because I'm a long-time Frank Muller fan, and his portrayals do not disappoint. Unfortunately the material does, and I found that at some point I stopped listening to find out what happened next, and instead listened for how bad it could get. Ultimately, this is a book about movies that can't decide which movie it wants to be. It begins like a Christopher Lee horror flick, tumbles into being a Nicholas Cage angst story, segues to a dishy Dinner at Eight sequence, suddenly caroms into Debbie Does Dallas, takes a brief turn as a classic Dynasty episode, reverts to a Friday the 13th stint, recalls Star Trek (keep an eye on the newbie in the plain uniform), and then, when it should be satisfied being The Fall of the House of Usher, instead becomes a lesser episode of Touched by an Angel. Where are editors when you need them?
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Clive Read the Galleys?
Review: I admit I'm a big Clive Barker, but the first hardcover edition of this book appears to have been rushed to print without anyone reading the galleys, including the author. And the bottom line is that the buck stops with Mr. Barker, since it is, after all, HIS work. This book, beyond any doubt, has more copy-editing and typesetting errors than any book I have read in print. Ever! At one point, I decided to take notes and filled two pages by the time I was done with the book. Most of the spelling errors were easy to correct, but took a human to do it -- not an automatic spell-checker. For example, during one of the orgy sequences, "Roman" is substituted for "Ramon" (when the author obviously intends a reference to Ramon Navarro and not Roman Polanski). A more serious error involves how the actor Todd Pickett came to hook up with the surgeon who performed botched plastic surgery. There are two divergent accounts with screwed-up time frames regarding appointments, one that seems to take place before and one after the death of a beloved pet. Obviously, Mr. Barker had done some rewriting here and had forgotten to change what came earlier. No one else seemed to pick up on this. The story is enjoyable, with certain similarities to "Weaveworld," but the constant errors are annoying and would deserve a better rating than I have given it if someone (the author? the editor? the copy editor?) had shown enough concern to read through the galleys with a red pencil BEFORE the book was published.
Rating: 
Summary: A Hollywood Ghost Story
Review: So many reviews of Coldheart Canyon are quick to point out plot inconsistencies and a rushed ending, which are valid issues, but it is nonetheless a strong return to the fabulist literature so familiar to Barker's writings of the late eighties. Committed readers of Clive Barker's novels will buy and read this book regardless of the reviews because they will yearn for a return to those places experienced in his earlier works where the phantasmagorical is shown to be alive and well in fiction. Coldheart Canyon certainly presents one with the roadmap back.
Rating:
Summary: A Tremondous Effort of the Supernatural
Review: This book was everything...the occult; bizarre, fleshy, bloody, and full of unreality, or is it unreality? However, it was these things that kept me at the edge of the bed each night I picked it up. Mr. Barker, you are one of the most creative writers I have ever come across. It would be an exhibit indeed just to draw the things you have described, especially the peacock. A real accomplishment after your father's death. You write and you write, and the story just took me away. My best to your future endeavors. A good night's read....
Rating: 
Summary: The book was not what it was expected to be...
Review: Being a great fan of Clive Barker, I purchased his newest book as soon as I had a chance. I had high expectations, but this book was somewhat a disappointment to me. I have to agree with people who have written reviews before me. This novel will stay in the shadow of his earlier masterpieces - Imajica, Weaveworld, Galilee, even Sacrament. Why? Here is a list of reasons: 1. it lacks the depth his previous books posessed: no brilliant quotes revealing the veiled philosophy, no signs of his perfect knowledge of ancient mystical knowledge he has used so perfectly in Imajica and Weaveworld.
2. it is too emotional: his approach is too personal and emotional this time. Considering his close ties with Hollywood, perhaps he should not have chosen this topic for his book. The death of his dog was of course a tragic event in the writer's life, but he shouldn't have let this tragedy to influence the story line to the limit it has.
3. errors of logic: there are some, at least two occasions where there seems to be a hole in the story line - people seem to have vital information that was not told to them before. Probably the book has been not reviewed very thoroughly by the author and the editors.
4. it is too long: although Imajica is even closer to reminding the Bible, I never got the feeling that it could end sooner as it did. With Coldheart Canyon, though, I felt that around page 400 it could have been ended. At the same time this book is without any doubt a classical "Barkerian" book in style. Although some passages seem to irritate and even bore a little bit, the way story is told in general, is forcing you to read further. Too much sex should not be a problem, for his other books are pretty sexual too and Sacrament contains much more fragments of gay sex than this book. I read the HarperCollins special overseas edition (2002) and the quality of the content and binding were pretty much the same - I have never in my life managed to break the back of a book - and I have read a huge amount of paperback books - but I did it in this occasion. Believe me, it was quite accidental and happened because of the quality of the binding. Anyway, I will be looking forward to the publishing of "Abarat" and the return of Clive Barker in his glory. I really would not like to believe his decline as a writer has begun. After all, even one of the worst among his books, Coldheart Canyon is still better than most of mystic and horror books on the market today. And we must respect Clive's honest statement that "it was a devil of a book to write". It seems it really was. I gave it four stars in comparison with the book market in general; comparing with other books from Clive only, it would have received 3 stars a maximum.
Rating:
Summary: You've Changed, Man
Review: As a long-time fan of Clive Barker's work, I have to say this book really disappointed me. The story is not so much "A Hollywood Ghost Story" as it is a touchy-feely expression of emotions......in a word, gay. I mean, I liked Galilee and Sacrament even though they were somewhat of a departure from his usual works, but this was too much. This story is sappy. This story is cliche. This book is admittedly based largely on Mr. Barker's homosexual lifestyle, and I just couldn't enjoy the so-called story that seemed to have taken a back-seat to pushing gays. If you're a fan of Hellraiser and Nightbreed and the Books of Blood, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book... Some of these reviews are so cruel.
Review: This book was creative, imaginative, and created an entirely new world to imagine yourself in.
It is well written and exciting to read.
He created lifelike characters and made the totally unbelievable, somehow believable.
Some of these reviews are so quick to judge, and so cruel.
Well I am a fan, Clive. And I think you did wonderful job. You should be proud of yourself!!
Rating: 
Summary: Coldheart belongs in the deep freeze
Review: This is one of the dumbest and sloppiest books I have ever read. I was rolling my eyes throughout and at one point I put the book down and said outloud, "Geeez, this is bad." A shame because WeaveWorld was brilliant. Money down the drain. Barker should have taken a long vacation before he wrote this one.
Rating:
Summary: a waste of time
Review: I like some of barker's work but this one was so unlike his other work that it was as though someone else had written it. It was too long and drawn out with chapters that served no real purpose in getting the main story across. there was too much emotion put into it. blah blah blah. don't waste your time with this worthless book.
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