Ragged Man

Rating:
Summary: Jack Priest Really Delivers with "Ragged Man"
Review: My wife Lori and I are both wannabe writers and we thought we'd get our typing fingers wet by writing some reviews. She's an old hand at it, having written several for her college paper, but this is my first book review since, well since I was a kid standing in front of a classroom ending my book report with the words, "You'll have to read the book if you want to find out the ending." Anyway, I picked "Ragged Man" for my first review because I'm a regular reader of horror and I liked the book when I read it last New Years Eve. Actually I turned the last page just as the people on T.V. were shouting in the New Year, so I guess you could say it was my last book of '03 and my first book of '04.

Onto the book. Mr. Priest delivers a fine blend of scares, thrills, chills, good guys and one very bad guy. His people are very believable and his pace is swift. There is violence, blood, gore and death, but it is a horror novel, after all. The book is a little raw, not as polished as "Night Witch," but then this is his first book. Think back to those first ones by Steve and Dean and you'll have the general tone of "Ragged Man."

In the story Mr. Priest draws us into the world of Rick Gordon, a semi-retired guy who used to be a minor crook (he made bootleg records). Sam Storm, a private investigator hired by the record companies to put Gordon out of business, has been a miserable failure at his job. Then Gordon retired and all of a sudden he was beyond Storm's reach. Until, that is, Storm is possessed by a never ending evil from the Australian Dreamtime. Now the once law abiding private eye is turned into a raging homicidal maniac.

A good and original premise for a horror story that captured the end of one year for me and held on to the beginning of the next. As I said above, there is a lot of excitement in "Ragged Man," but if you want to find out anymore about it, well, you're going to have the read the book.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Young Mr. Priest has Attempted too Much
Review: One of my very good friends, a guy I work with who just adores Messrs. King and Koontz, has been raving daily about Mr. Priest and his books and when he found out I write reviews here, he insisted I read and review Mr. Priest's three books, starting in the order they were written, which means I read "Ragged Man" first.

Unfortunately I can't say that I share my friend's unmitigated enthusiasm, at least not for this book. 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, or if you believe the story, a misdemeanor 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 valiant effort, 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 day or two, 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: A Thrilling Horror Story that Will Keep You Up All Night
Review: RAGGED MAN is a fast paced story that will appeal to fans of both Dean Koontz and Steven King. The book is written like a thriller, but that gooey and gory description is there, ala the master. The story is about how Rick and Ann Gordon come home from Australia possessed by the good spirit of a pair of old Aborigine. However, unfortunately for them, a bad spirit has followed along to their Northern California small town and that spirit is bent on destroy the Gordons and everybody else they call friends. It takes all the courage Rick can muster, plus the courage of a small boy to stand against this evil, but can they defeat it or will they perish, as so many others have?

I enjoyed the story very much and can strongly recommend it to fans of both horror and thriller writing. Plus, once you've read it, you can recount it to a group of kids around a campfire some day and scare them so much that they won't get any sleep.

Rating:
Summary: Something Wicked has Left the Dreamtime
Review: Rick and Ann Gordon are racing a Toyota Landcruiser across the Australian outback when they wreck their car. An old Aborigine couple comes along, but instead of offering help, they die, leaving Rick and Ann to bury them. The couple were possessed by good spirits from the Dreamtime and were only staying alive till they could find someone to transfer their power to. Now Rick and Ann carry this gentle power to do good, but they don't know it.

However someone, or rather something, does. The Dreamtime houses evil as well as good, and in this case this evil manifests itself in human form bent on destruction of the good and that means the destruction of Rick and Ann.

Sam Storm is a private detective who works for the music industry and has been on the trail of Rick Gordon for years. In his past life, Rick invented rock bootlegs, making his illegal fortune of the likes of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Rick is retired now, but Storm doesn't care. He's bound and determined to bring Rick to justice for past crimes, but when he gets possessed by that evil from the Dreamtime, justice takes on a whole new meaning for Mr. Storm.

RAGGED MAN, Jack Priest's first novel, kept me reading the night away, even when I knew I should put the lights out, because of an early morning appointment. Mr. Priest tells a Dean Koontz type of story with a Steven King type of scary villain and it scared me plenty. He's a little graphic at times, but not too bloody, just scary in a tense kind of way. This books gets five stars from me, not only because it kept me up all night, but because it sent tingles up my spine, making me forget all about that drill in the dentist's office that I had that early appointment with. Dentists, I hate dentists, brrr, but I loved this book.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Rating:
Summary: Bad Guy Demon from Down Under Comes to California
Review: Rick Gordon and his wife Ann come back from an exciting Australian vacation, but unknown to them they've brought back a kind of ancient aboriginal demon with them. This demon entity inhabits human bodies, controlling them until they die and then it moves into somebody else. It is using these bodies to kill everybody that is close to Rick, including his wife.

A kind of side story going on in this book is Gordon's criminal past. He'd earned the money he used to retire early by making bootleg records back before CDs were the norm. He also earned the enmity of Private Eye Sam Storm, who'd been disgraced by his failure to catch Gordon before he got out of his illegal business. As luck would have it, bad it turns out for both Storm and Gordon, Storm learns of Gordon's whereabouts in Northern California and goes up to see what the man is up to just when a homeless person carrying the demon croaks and guess who the demon jumps to. Yep, Sam Storm, so now Gordon is really in trouble.

I liked Priest's use of the Aboriginal demon thing. It seemed pretty real to me. I also liked the kid, JP, named after John Bonham of Led Zeppelin fame. JP sort of becomes a surrogate son of Rick's and the tension sure ratchets up when JP is in danger. In fact I liked most of the characters, even the ones the author kills off. Speaking of killing off, perhaps Mr. Priest had a bit to much of that going on. I think the story would have been just as effective with just a little less of the flash-slash gore. Still I liked this story about a bad guy demon thingy from Down Under and the aging crook it comes to California to kill.

Rating:
Summary: Evil Attacks, Bootlegger Fights Back
Review: Rick Gordon is a retired record bootlegger, who has become an off road race car driver. He's in the middle of a race across the Australian desert with his wife Ann acting as navigator, when their car breaks down. Two aging Aborigines happen along and they die. Somehow Rick and Ann know to bury them and they instinctively know not to tell anyone what happened. But what they don't know is that the old couple were only staying alive long enough to find a suitable couple to transfer their spirits to.

That in itself isn't as bad as it seems, because the spirits that moved into Rick and Ann were good. However there is an evil spirit roaming around that wants to kill the good ones and it follows Rick and Ann home from Australia.

Back in the small Northern California town of Tampico, Rick and Ann settle into their routine, when Rick is spotted by Private Investigator Sam Storm, who once upon a time had been hired by the record industry to track him down because of his nefarious record bootlegging. However, times have changed, Rick has gone straight and the record companies have been churning out CDs for years, but that doesn't deter Storm, especially not after that bad Australian spirit possess him.

What follows is a horror story of the King and Koontzien variety that just thrilled the heck out of me. Non-stop action and a terrific body count. It seems that Mr. Rick Gordon had a lot of co-conspirators back when he made those record bootlegs. It also seems that Mr. Sam Storm has felt the fool all these years, because even though he knew who they were, he could never get any proof against them. Well now that he's possessed by this evil, killing spirit thingy from Australia, he doesn't need any proof, all he needs is revenge. And he sets out to get it in this five star scary story.

Rating:
Summary: Blessed or Possessed, It Depends on Your Point of View
Review: 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 this excellent horror story 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.

Rating:
Summary: Who Will Play J.P. in the Movie?
Review: The story opens in Australia, where Rick Gordon and his wife Ann are participating in a racecar rally across the Australia desert. During the race their car breaks down and they encounter a pair of dying Aborigines, who they bury. Unknown to them this kind act will unleash a deadly force that will follow them back to the small Northern California Town where they live.

J.P. Donovan is a young child who lives next door to the Gordons. Shortly after Rick and Ann get back from Australia he is on the beach with a gunny sack full of homing pigeons. This is the first time the child has let the birds fly on their own and he is wondering if they will come home. After he lets the last one go, he spies a crusty homeless man down the beach with a long knife. The man is stalking his mother. He screams, but she can't hear. She appears to be frozen in fright.

Then he sees Rick and Ann in their Jeep. He shouts, get's Rick's attention and now it's a race, Rick speeding over the beach sand, the man with the knife racing toward J.P.'s mother. Rick wins, killing the knifeman with his jeep, but that's not the first person Rick is going to have to kill in this super supernatural story that held me captivated. This is my second Jack Priest book, I read "Gecko" a couple weeks ago, and for sure I'm going on to "Night Witch" next.

I really dug the setup in this book, you know, the reason why the evil presence blends in with the bad guy's real reason for hating Rick Gordon. J.P. and his mother were excellent and exciting characters, especially J.P. I wonder who will play him in the movie.

Reviewed by Devon Adams, the Cool Kid

Rating:
Summary: Ragged Man is Like a Runaway Train
Review: Usually I read and review romance books (see my reviews), but my significant other was raving about this book and wanted me to read it, then write what I thought about it. Well, it's no romance, that's for sure, though there is kind of a romance going on in the story. That said, I have to say that I've sure been missing a lot reading all those Harlequin books, because though I do like them, because I can put them down and pick them up again any time I want, they are certainly not like this story. Once I started "Ragged Man", there was no stopping. It was like I was on a runaway train, racing to the ending. Pow, my whole Saturday was shot down the tubes.

This is one pretty scary book, for me at least anyway, because I'm not a horror kind of girl. Maybe I well be though, because this story sure got my juices going the way none of those romances ever did. In fact ,I'm going to read more in this vein for awhile. Who knows maybe I'll become a horror gal after all.

I should mention that the characterization in "Ragged Man" was superb. I liked most of the good guys, could imagine them living next door. And I really, really hated the bad guy. All in all, I'd have to say this was a cracking good read. If you?re into horror, pick this one up. I'm certainly going to go on to Mr. Priest's others, then I?m going to try Dean Koontz, then Maybe even Stephen King. No more Harlequin Romances for me, well for awhile anyway.

Rating:
Summary: A globe-trotting genre jumper
Review: When the author asked me to read and review three of his horror books I really didn't know what to expect. . I'd only read one book in the genre, one by Stephen What'sHisName. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jack Priest books are fun, well-written, tightly plotted and entertaining.

Ragged Man begins in the Australian desert and bounces around the globe, finding metaphysical beasties, real-time music black-marketers and investigators gone postal. Priest does a great job of weaving his great-big-ugly-thingamajig into a volatile human setting. There's something here for everyone. Readers knowledgeable about metaphysical pursuits will find aspects of the plot and characters to be uncomfortably close to certain other realities, getting the juices flowing in ways they didn't anticipate. Young readers will enjoy the book for the adrenalin rushes.

I don't believe you'll regret buying this book, even if you think you don't like horror genre.