Rating: 
Summary: A Ball of Fire that Burns Hotter with Every Page
Review: "Ragged Man" starts out like a ball of fire and that ball just starts burning hotter with every page as we see retired record bootlegger turned off road race car driver Rick Gordon get deeper and deeper in trouble as the story progresses. Rick and his wife Ann are in the middle of a desert race in Australia when they come across two dying Aborigines, who pass away, leaving their spirits behind to sort of meld with them. Later that night they are attacked by a pack of wild dingo dogs and Ann sees the Ragged Man for the first time.
Flash forward to the Northern California town of Tampico, where the Gordons live, and we see a homeless beggar on the beach attack Judy Donovan while her son, little J.P. watches unable to do anything. Then J.P. sees Rick and Ann driving by and shouts for help. Rick runs down the beggar, saving J.P.'s mother, but the stranger was the Ragged Man and his spirit moves to another.
Rick and Ann have become possessed by good spirits from the Dreamtime, however their is a spirit, very evil, very strong, who has followed them from Australia and it's bent on destroying Rick's life. The first to go is his wife, then his friends. All die violently, with much blood and Rick is blamed for the murders, so not only does he have this very bad thing after him, but the cops as well.?
There is a lot going on in this delicious horror story. A whole heck of a lot to cringe at as you wonder if the story will ever lighten up. It doesn't. Action, horror, blood and guts right up till the last page. Brrr. Scary thrills and chills, enough to shake a score of sticks at.
Rating: 
Summary: Please be forewarned....
Review: (...)I had really thought that I would enjoy this book because Priest is an author that I haven't read before, the reviews on Amazon concerning the book were highly praising it, and I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. However, once you start reading the book, my expectations were basically thrown out the window and tumbled down into the trash compactor... right where this book belongs. I read one review saying that this book has something for everyone.... I would honestly say, that in my opinion, this book has absolutely nothing for nobody. If you are a horror fan, think back on those cheezy slasher/horror movies of the 80's.... the ones where the plot line has so many holes in it that you try not to pay attention to it... or openly ridicule it.... Where you have characters that are so shallow that you're just sitting back waiting for them to be whacked... Where nobody in the story (except for J.P., a five year old) has anything even close to human intelligence (I would include the author in this class... (...)... Where the killer inspires more comedy (think of a B movie... it's so bad it's funny) than horror... and you've basically got this book in a nutshell. This is the first book that I've ever wrote a review for on Amazon, and my sole purpose is that hopefully I'll save others from purchasing the book.[...]
Rating: 
Summary: This Book Grabbed Me by My Long Hair and Held On All Night
Review: After reading Mr. Priest's third book NIGHT WITCH, I was hooked, especially after I found out that that soucouyant vampire like creature actually exists in Southern Caribbean folklore. So I could hardly wait to get my hands on RAGGED MAN. And I have to tell you it is an excellent, keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller. However, like I did with that last book of his, I went to Google afterwards to check up on his facts, and I have to say that Mr. Priest plays a little fast and loose with the spooky characters of the Aboriginal religion. He got the Galka right, but the Mokuy and Marangit, I couldn't find any references to them. Great characters, but do they exist in folklore? I don't know. Also, unlike NIGHT WITCH, the book suffers with some typos and one glaring mistake. The child J.P. (named after Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page) is eight years old in the beginning of the book, but suddenly becomes five later on. Mr. Priest's e-mail address is on the back cover, so I dashed off a message to him and to my surprise he got right back to me. To his horror, he said, the Bootleg Press people used the second to last version of his manuscript, when they started printing, and didn't catch it till a couple hundred books got shipped. They redid the run, so most books in print won't have the mistakes. He told me that I had a collector's item and that if I sent it to him, he'd sign it for me. That was nice. And about the Aboriginal folklore thing. He told me that he'd actually talked to a couple old guys out at Aires Rock one night over a couple beers and they spun him the tale. And yes, he'd changed and amplified it. It's fiction, after all, he said. However, he added, that had he it to do over, maybe he would have kept his bad guy monster closer to the folklore. All of that said, I have to say that RAGGED MAN is a book that I couldn't put down. Mr. Priest grabbed me by my long hair and kept pulling at it all through the night. His tale of good and evil, love and love lost is a must read for horror and thriller fans alike. Lots of killing, good sex scenes and great characters. But despite all that, I'm only giving this one four stars. The mistakes I can forgive, especially since they have apparently been taken care of, but I like my supernatural baddies to as accurately drawn as possible, like Mr. Priest did in NIGHT WITCH. Still, the book is a keeper, one that I'll read again. Oh yes, the kid is five. Reviewed by Stephanie Sane
Rating:
Summary: Something Wicked has Left the Dreamtime 2
Review: All right I'm back from the dentist's. I had a long wait in his office, just sitting there afraid of the drill, but I brought RAGGED MAN with me, and passed the time reading the chapter about the boy in the trunk. That is truly one fine piece of horror writing. Five-year-old J.P. Donovan has been kidnapped by Evil Sam Storm. Storm has bound the boy's hands behind his back, taped his mouth with duct tape and tossed him in the trunk with a cat. J.P. is terrified, becasue he knows what waits for him at the end of the ride, but afraid as he is, the boy is a fighter. He roots around the trunk, finds something to cut through the ropes binding his wrists even as Storm is speeding the car toward the books chilling climax. Again, I really liked this story as you can probably tell. Of all the reviews I've done here, this is the first time I've ever done two for the same book. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
Rating:
Summary: Great Story, but a Little too Graphic for Me
Review: I am an avid fan of horror fiction, devouring anything and everything from the likes of Steven King, Dean Koontz and John Saul. So when I came across this book by first time author Jack Priest, I just had to give it a try. And I must admit, Mr. Priest sure knows how to tell a story, but at times he gets a little violent, sort of like the late Richard Laymon and sort of like Mr. Laymon, you'll be reading along and all of a sudden something really bad happens and someone's just lost their head or had their face ripped off. Then, as quickly as he's slammed you with those graphic images, Mr. Priest takes you away to a quiet and peaceful scene, like a little boy letting his pigeons go on a sleepy beach, but before you get a chance to catch your breath, BAM, another quick and chilling death. And there is a lot of that in this book, dying I mean, and except for the first two, who go on quietly to meet their maker in the first chapter, all of the rest of it isn't pretty. Death by car, death by beheading (more than once), death by fright. Still, with all the death, Mr. Priest did manage to squeeze in one tender sex scene and he paints his characters with the brilliant brush of believability. I lost a day reading and did it in one sitting, started at breakfast and stayed at the table, only getting up to refresh my coffee till late in the afternoon. Maybe it's wrong to deduct a star because of the violence, but when the Ragged Man's familiar climbed that tree to get that little girl, well there went that star. I really liked that character, but despite that, I really liked this book. I just don't quite know why, maybe it was because good does eventually win over evil, but that scene where this poor guy gets his face ripped off, brrr. Ms. Mindy Adams
Rating:
Summary: Every Now and Then a Girl Needs a Good Scare
Review: I bought "Ragged Man" used at Powell's in Portland, the largest bookstore in the known world, don't'cha know. I admit it, I picked it up because of the cover, but after I read the first paragraph, I was hooked. Lots of action in this horror-adventure story that moves from Australia to California with a very bad thing on the heels of our heroes. Speaking of heroes, one of the ones in "Ragged Man" is just the most darling, courageous boy to ever grace the pages of a book. His name is J.P. and I must admit that because of all the blood-letting in this story, I kept waiting for him to get his and I'll tell you this, if Mr. Priest would have done to that boy what he did to so many other people in this book, well, I would have had to dash off a nasty e-mail to him. Anyway, I did like the book even though it's not my usual bill of far, but every now and then a girl needs a good scare, don't'cha think?
Rating:
Summary: Blessed or Possessed, It Depends on Your Point of View
Review: I can see from some other reviews posted here that RAGGED MAN kept a couple women up all night. I can certainly understand that. It's fine thriller, a fine horror story and it's told by a fresh new voice. And I can also see from one of those reviews that some copies of this book got loose with a glaring error and some typos in them. Well, I can report that J.P. Donovan is five years old throughout my copy and I didn't find any of those typos reported, so I guess I don't have a collectable version. However I may e-mail the author and see if he'll offer to autograph mine anyway. It only seems fair. I also went to Google to check up on the Aboriginal folklore and as reported, it appears that Mr. Priest played a little loose here, but so what, it's fiction, as he's said. If Dan Brown can get away in his monster bestseller with those zingers he takes with the Christian faith, Jack Priest ought to be allowed to shift the shape of folklore a bit here and there to spin his story. The concept of a Ragged Man, or an evil spirit, that lives forever by moving from its host body to another at the time of death is a fresh attack on the horror story in my opinion. No vampires, werewolves or ghosts here. Possession yes, evil yes, but not satanic. No priest and his prayers can pray the possessed to safety, once taken over, death is the only escape. In RAGGED MAN, Mr. Priest gives us Sam Storm, an aging PI who works for the RIAA, you know the people who want to crucify you for downloading music. Storm has been on the trail of record turned CD bootleggers for years, but he's always been a day late and a dollar short. Then by accident he stumbles across the big fish in the person of Rick Gordon, but he's got a big problem, Gordon has retired. You can't bust somebody if they're not committing the crime. And then the torch of evil is passed as Storm clutches the hand of a dying drunk and all of a sudden he doesn't care anymore about whether Rick Gordon is retired or not. He just wants the man dead. But first he wants everybody Rick cares about to die, including his wife. However, unknown to Storm, there is a spirt of good that has been passing from death to life throughout the eons, and Gordon has been blessed with it, or possessed by it, depending on your point of view. Jeremiah McCain
Rating:
Summary: Ragged book
Review: I have discovered and become a fan of many new writers and their books through the Amazon website as searches for a favorite author have lead me to recommendations of others. So I was as intrigued as usual when I stumbled across the suggestion to try Jack Priest, and the reviews for "Ragged Man" only reinforced my decision to give this book a try. Wow, what a mistake. Only because I hate to waste my money, I literally had to force myself to finish this book. It is one of the worst pieces of horror fiction I've read in a long, long time. With just the base germ of a potentially unique idea, it is then filled with some of the most emotionless, dry, choppy and uninvolving copy I've ever read. The book is loaded with characters, none of whom the reader ever really cares about due to a total lack of any illuminating characterizations. And many characters are suddenly introduced, only to then disappear just as quickly with their relevance completely ignored. Even the core 'evil force from Australia' in the story is just barely fleshed out, with unclear and confusing motivations. There were a number of typos and gramatical errors within too. The story and writing are absolutely full of holes. Unfortunately, I was totally unimpressed - I'll not bother to read any more books by this author, and if you've ever read anything by Stephen King or Dean Koontz or Dan Simmons, to name a few, then I can assure you that you will not be entertained by this book or author either.
Rating: 
Summary: Nail-Biting Thriller, but a Bit Over the Top
Review: I thought the Freddy and Jason type killing went out of fashion a couple decades ago. And don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of girl to be scared off by a high body count. After all, I gave "Bad Men" by John Connolly five stars and body counts don't get any higher than they do in that book.
But did Mr. Priest have to kill off that beautiful little girl in the second chapter just when we thought she was going to get away. And having her father's face skinned and ripped off, that was a bit over the top. Then there is the issue I have with the bad guy killing all of our child hero's pigeons. Defenseless little birds. He didn't have to put that in the story. But I suppose the death that bothered me the most was when the villain tricked little J.P. into killing that poor little kitten. Totally not necessary.
However all that aside, I mean I realize it is a horror story after all, I had the sense that the author was trying in some kind of way to justify making bootleg records. Yeah, records. It's a crime that went on in the '70s through the late '80s when the bootleggers shifted to making illegal CDs.
Our hero here, Rick Gordon, is a retired bootlegger, living a life of reckless adventure on the profits of his illegal enterprise. Our bad guy, Private Eye Sam Storm, who has been working for the record companies hunting down the bootleggers, is possessed by an evil spirit from Australia, so instead of gathering evidence against the bootlegger crooks, he goes into a killing spree, slaughtering them one by one, and let me tell you, the killing ain't pretty.
Plucky little J.P. is the saving grace in this book, that and the satisfying ending that I didn't see coming. But I do wish Mr. Priest would have just stuck to writing either a horror story or an apology for the bootleggers. I think it was wrong to mix them. You read a horror story for the horror. We don't need to know about Bob Dylan, Beatles and Rolling Stones bootleggers, how they did what they did, or why. And they didn't all need to go their maker with quite so much blood and gore.
In conclusion I guess I have to say that although it was a nail-bitting thriller, perhaps young Mr. Priest attempted too much here. Anyway, I'm going to go on to his next book, "Gecko", with an open mind, but perhaps I'll give it a couple weeks, so that I can get over the senseless slaughter of all those pigeons who were beheaded in a sickening pool of blood and feathers. Did I say that wasn't necessary? I think I did.
Rating:
Summary: I don't know why I liked this book, but I know I did!
Review: I wanted to say why I liked this book, why it moved me to write a review here, but all of a sudden I realize I can't. I know the book kept me up until the early hours of the morn. I know at times I was a little grossed out and at others a little frustrated. I know I wanted to throw it across the room a couple times, but I also know I couldn't put it down. The action was pretty much non-stop, but that alone wouldn't have held me enthralled. The history of the bootleg biz, even if fictional, was interesting. The characters were believable and the plot was good, even if a bit over the top. The writing was good, but not steller, however it was a good story. I don't know if that all adds up to a reason for a review, but maybe this does, I just can't stop thinking about J.P. in that trunk, it just plain gives me the willies. And when Sam Storm (the bad guy) goes to work with his Bowie knife, well brrr is all I can say about that. But still there is a lot of book there that I haven't commented on, a book I think I liked, I just don't think I can convey it properly with words.
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