Duet for the Devil

Rating:
Summary: Worthless and Disappointing...
Review: After reading the reviews here, I had braced myself for the gore and sex. I knew it would be an issue. But after reading the paragraph exerpts posted by a reviewer below, I was too slicked up for this novel to not pursue it. What I was shocked to find out, was that the gore and sex did not offend (though it is most certainly a five star effort at being the most offensive), but rather that it bored.

After getting a few pages into the book, I began to wonder if this was anything but an exercise in the production of one extended, violent paper orgy. Much to my disappointment, every section I skipped to seemed to dawdle in the explanation of every disgusting orgasmic detail of some murderer, rapist, or teenage slut.

Granted, I'll give you that Lee does know how to turn a phrase now and then. And that's what's so disappointing. He knows how to write. He shows you that. Then proceeds to dawdle in these bloody rape fantasies that show only the most thin shreds of some boring plot, a plot that's used as an excuse only to delve deeper into some teenage masturbatory outburst.

I can't help but feel that Lee gave up a few miles back down the road; found it too difficult to pursue a real talent that shines somewhere, underneath, and has now succumb to whatever this mess is. I hate to see talent wasted, but if you enjoy watching that kind of trainwreck novel, by all means. Pick up this book.

Rating:
Summary: An Unprecedented Reading Experience...But Be Prepared!
Review: During the 1990's when "Duet for the Devil" was a work-in-progress, excerpts from the novel appeared in small press, underground and specialty press publications whetting the appetite of readers who craved something beyond the conventional, run-of-the-mill serial killer novels typified by the likes of John Sanders' tediously repetitive "Prey" series and James Patterson's downright insulting "nursery rhyme" nonsense.

Despite the high concept and top-notch writing, mainstream magazines shied away from the material deeming the content too controversial and the presentation too provocatively graphic. Most major publishing houses refused outright to even consider the novel, while others demanded extensive cuts that the authors refused to accept. "Duet", it seemed, promised the real thing: a startingly original and ferocious take on what had become a genre unto itself in which writers cannibalized each other's ideas and regurgitated what amounted to the same-book/different-title every month.

After more than a decade in development and arriving, appropriately enough, on the cusp of a New Millennium, "Duet for the Devil" not only surpasses expectations, it pulverizes the competition. Its pyrotechnic, hallucinatory style translates into a poetry of pain and perversion, each sadistic stanza a catalogue of concentrated cruelty and hemorrhaging horror-haiku. It's a bad brown-blotter acid trip where your worst nightmares are on steroids and coming at you from all sides...including the depths of your very own soul.

Centering around the hunt for the notorious Zodiac Killer, the characters include former FBI agent Frank Hawkes and his faithful pooch, Elijah, together a tormented "Todd" and beastial buddy "Buzz" barreling down Route 666 in search of some very real demons; Mal, Snuff and his daughter, Julie, a viciously twisted trio of a nuclear "family" that slays together using the most horrific, almost unimaginable, methods; Slice, the erstwhile "Bard of Bones" now into "creative carnage" whose artistic abominations are experienced vicariously by hitman Pynchon and Professor Punk via a mind-linking drug called "Blue Devil".

Clever sleuthing, posited on some remarkably logical suppositions as to the true identy of the Zodiac Killer, adds an unexpected dimension of real-life suspense to an already tense narrative packed with an arsenal of condensed, over-the-top descriptive passages, such as:

"Pedro draws his .45, but two rounds hit him in
the throat, ripping fist-sized bursts of flesh from
his neck, all but tearing his skull from his shoulders,
his head connected only by stray strands of nerve &
tendon & the shattered links of vertebrae, like some
obscene parody of one of those red glistening candy-
apples-on-a-stick..."

and

"He clenches the hefty six-inch cylinder in his fist.
Whips it out, blitz-flicking his wrist, sleek chromed
shafts telescoping, slithering out with a metallic
whisper & a clink, as 10 inches of cool tactical steel
snap-lock into fixed position, extending his reach
beyond the baton's hilt..."

"Duet for the Devil" is by no means an "easy read". It makes emotional, intellectual and psychological demands that some readers may not be able to accomodate. It is an audacious, extraordinarily uncompromising sledgehammer of a novel, relentless in its depiction of mayhem, depravity and psychotic disintegration, and quite unlike anything you have ever encountered. It is one mean road trip to Oblivion, but if you think you can handle it then, by all means, hitch a ride.

Rating:
Summary: Very Literate Horror
Review: Ivory tower critics and professors who think genre fiction is the purview of hacks and scribblers should take a long hard look at this novel. It contains some of the most potent, poetic, pyrotechnic, and perfectly penned passages anywhere. There is also great character development along with detailed descriptions that bring both the environments and action to life. But fair warning, the graphic violence makes this read not for the weak of heart or stomach.

Rating:
Summary: Very Literate Horror
Review: Ivory tower critics and professors who think genre fiction is the purview of hacks and scribblers should take a long hard look at this novel. It contains some of the most potent, poetic, pyrotechnic, and perfectly penned passages anywhere. There is also great character development along with detailed descriptions that bring both the environments and action to life. But fair warning, the graphic violence makes this read not for the weak of heart or stomach.

Rating:
Summary: Four Stars for Effort, but Geez...
Review: The back cover of this book trumpets the statement, "Quite Possibly The Most Extreme Novel Ever Published." There is even an introduction written by gross out king Ed Lee, who proclaims this book, "Grosser than anything I've ever written or ever read." With a tagline and endorsement like that, "Duet for the Devil" has a high mountain to climb. How could this possibly be worse than anything the Marquis De Sade wrote? Well, it isn't. But that is not saying much. "Duet for the Devil" is still an obscene, disgusting, pornographic romp through a modern day America filled with serial killers, rapists, drug users, evil corporations, Satanists, and general freaks.

The book starts with almost fifteen pages of quotations and excerpts from the works of such diverse artists as Charles Baudelaire, Robert De Grimston (founder of the Process Church of the Final Judgment), Serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, David Berkowitz (the Son of Sam killer), Richard Ramirez (the L.A. Nightstalker), Zodiac, and Charles Manson. The inclusion of these quotes and statements is apparently supposed to set the tone of the book, and it does to some extent, even if it is a tone that will leave a taste akin to burning tires in your mouth.

It is a bit difficult to summarize the plot lines of this story because the two authors like to engage in numerous word plays, stream-of-consciousness constructions, and the use of "&" in place of "and." On the surface, the story is about the Zodiac killer, the maniac who killed several people in California back in the 1970's. Unfortunately, Zodiac did not go away, but has been rambling about America for some twenty years killing scads of people along the way. Accompanied by a scuzzbag and his sociopathic prepubescent daughter, Zodiac likes to change his methods of killing to confound local police and mix up the madness a bit. We discover that Zodiac is a genius with a propensity towards fits of rage and frothing at the mouth diatribes that invoke satanic themes and other such nonsense. In a country full of sickos, Zodiac is the high priest of human detritus.

Hot on the trail of Zodiac is former FBI agent Warren "Frank" Hawkes and his faithful canine sidekick Elijah. Hawkes is obsessed with tracking Zodiac down and putting an end to his sick rampage once and for all. Frank roams the highways of America in his constant pursuit to track down a killer who makes Theodore Bundy look like Captain Kangaroo.

Also weaving a gruesome path through this story is Professor Punk (yes, that's his name), an old acidhead with a talent for mixing up new and exciting drugs. His most effective concoction is Blue Devil, a drug that allows the user to mentally connect to other people's minds. When one nasty thug (by the name of Slice) happens to overdose on the junk, he turns into a rather nasty sort of chap. Punk must then track down the metamorphosing Slice while trying to locate his old buddy Zodiac.

This is truly a taxing book to read, as even the most jaded horror fan begins to wear down under the sheer onslaught of pornographic violence, murder, and general mayhem found on every page of the book. It really isn't the graphic nature of the book that gets under your skin; it is the duration of the sickness that grates. Reading dozens and dozens of pages concerning the torture/murder of a young woman or a detailed account of sexual depravity just isn't fun. In fact, it is sick beyond belief. Not the type of people to leave well enough alone, the authors try to break down accepted boundaries and create something truly dreadful, but give me a break! It is hard not to read this and wonder, "What do the parents of these two guys think about what their sons do for a living?"

Having voiced some well-deserved displeasure over the gratuitousness of the whole thing, it should be said some parts of the book are clever and show the authors to be well read individuals with a flair for the English language. A section deciphering clues Zodiac left in his letters to the cops in San Francisco is fun to read as well. Regrettably, these sparks nearly sputter out due to the excessively brutal aspects of the book.

There are no heroes in this novel, as even Hawkes turns out to be a degenerate. Every character turns out to be deeply flawed; perhaps in an attempt to show that good in the world is nonexistent (The authors refer to humanity as "mancruel" versus "mankind," emphasizing their beliefs about the true nature of our species). There are better ways to be nihilistic, however, and "Duet for the Devil" teeters precariously on the precipice of utter garbage. Still, serious gorehounds will want to add this to their library, even if it does become too much at times.

Rating:
Summary: Duet for the Devil - HORRIBLE AND BORING
Review: When I first got this book, I could not wait to read it. I got thru the first 50 pages, and had to throw the damn thing in the garbage. It was like reading a book written by 10 diffrent people, none knowing what the other was writing about. Was it gory, sure but it was also horribly boring!! I love books, and would not throw away any book that comes into my hands, but there is always a first, and this was the one that did it. I would not suggest this book to anyone for any reason (except maybe to tranzilize you before bed).