LIVE GIRLS

Rating:
Summary: Terrifying horror classic.
Review: Back in 1987, before vampire fiction became it's own genre of a sort, Ray Garton gave us one of the most terrifying, erotic horror vampire novels ever published... A frustrated and depressed journalist finds himself drawn to a run down peep show in NYC's Time Square. It's out of character for him, but he is lonely and confused, having lost his fiance to another man. What he finds in the darkness of the club called "Live Girls" however, is like a terrifying wetdream. The woman who dances for him is hypnotically beautiful and alluring but what she demands of him will change his life forever. The woman is part of a cabal of vampires, working in the sex trade, and the secrets they hide inside "Live Girls", and in the basement of the club, are the stuff of nightmares... Garton was at the top of his game with this novel and horror fans still talk about it today, more than a decade later. It's one of my all time favorites and I still pick it up about once a year and reread it. The "things" in the basement of the club still gives me chills. If you're a horror or vampire fan, your book collection has a huge gaping hole in it if you don't own a copy of this book. Highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Best Vampire novel I have ever read.
Review: I have read a lot of books from horror authors, Anne Rice, Stephen King, ect., but Ray Garton has a way of making your senses come alive as you read his material. Live Girls is, was, and will always be the standard to go by in vampire books. It is about a guy who has very little self confidence. He has lost his job, his girl, and possibly his soul. The vampires use a peep show in the seedy part of Times Square to lure their victims in. The neck is not the only place these vampires will bite. This book has some love making scenes that will take your breath away. Literally.

Rating:
Summary: SHOWTIME
Review: It's a hopeless and endless world for Davey Owen, who, without his knowledge, is slowly becoming a vampire, thanks to a peep-show dancer's bite into his, uham, inner thigh region. That's the take from Garton's 1987 re-release of LIVE GIRLS, in which his hero has the best seat in the house for this roller coaster ride of the underside world where sex sells and gallons of blood flow from every orifice. Put Harold Robbins's kinkiest scenes and Richard Laymon's splatterblood frame of mind together, and you got a pretty good idea what's in store for you. There's no stoppage for injury in LIVE GIRLS. The pace and the prose is faster than a speeding bullet, and the delivery, like a tasty bag of chips, makes the reader yearn for more. Dig in.-----Martin Boucher

Rating:
Summary: Vampire strippers make for a rockin' good read.
Review: Live Girls is really nothing more than an exploitation movie on paper, albeit a tightly written one. Filled with gross out violence, assorted nasty monsters, black humor, and all kinds of sexual activity it certainly will not bore you. For nasty cotton candy thrills you could do a great deal worse than Live Girls, believe me. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Enticing till the Last Drop
Review: Perhaps not a lot of things can be said about a book on vampires. No matter how harsh and crude any writer would try and handle them, the creatures seem to majestically climb to the top no matter the circumstance. This is verily what is portrayed right here. Though Garton does not mishandle his creatures, he certainly does not take you on the mystic trip that has started with Stoker's Dracula and Rice's Lestat. There are no memorable characters and life just goes on without any repercussions as soon as you put down the book. Both Stoker's nd Rice's vampires were alluring and enticing, though there is never a physically intimate scene in any one of those. The sexula tension that builds up in those books are part of the story and form an intricate piece of the grand picture. Garton takes that misconceived notion and puts it to use with some very lurid and explicit forms. Is this a welcome? I guess it truly depends whether you like enjoying reading such stuff or not. Throughout, however, those are truly felt apart from the flow of the story and could have been dregarded completely.

The story is not without saying boring or anything. Garton's style is the most gripping and his use of the mundane and everyday life matters truly makes you think that anything could be possible. He seems more accustomed to going through a more cinematic approach of things. The way the scenes shift and contort from one to another truly make you feel as if you're watching a movie. While this is a stylistic wonder and can truly hold you in its grip, the reader never gets the chance to get to know the characters more or truly get into their way of thinking, which is just the reason why a lot of people prefer books over movies. The charcaterization presented can speak a lot, though without a single shift in the scene or pace.

This is my third Garton novel I have ever read and I'm not disappointed with it at all. It follows the exact same methodology of style as those presented in his books Seductions and Lot Lizards. The book is great, but calling it the best horror book ever really undermines other great writers that have delved into the vampire mythos.

Garton's vampires are out for one thing and one thing only. Your blood and no matter what, you just can't say no to those eyes that look onto through the window beckoning you to come closer.

Rating:
Summary: A Pulp Horror Classic
Review: Ray Garton rocked on with this one, and still does. It is legendary among horror fans, and a must-own for true afficianados of the 'dark' genre. Mr. Garton was, and is a master. In fact the only new "pulp" author who can hold his own with Garton is "Night of the Beast" author Harry Shannon. The continuing popularity of this novel clearly shows that there is still a market for sleek, cool pulp fiction. This one you gotta own.

Rating:
Summary: A groundbreaker
Review: Set in the gritty urban landscape of the late nineteen eighties New York City Times Square, and exhibiting an overt sexuality not common at the time it was published, LIVE GIRLS accelerated the process of moving vampires out of their traditional Gothic settings by placing them squarely in the modern world. Its protagonist is the luckless Davey Owens, who, as the book begins, has just lost his job and his girlfriend. Seeking distraction from his problems, he drifts down to the seedy environs of 42nd Street, entering an establishment called Live Girls. There, he falls under the sway of the vampire Anya, who sustains herself by taking blood from clients who pay her for oral sex. At first seduced by the new life she offers him, Davey later turns against her, resulting in a bloody, violent and, ultimately, explosive confrontation with Anya and her extended vampiric family.

Originally published by Pocket Books at the end of the "horror boom" of the late 1980s, Garton's novel was described in blurbs as "The most nightmarish vampire novel I have ever read" by Ramsey Campbell, and as "gripping, original, and sly" by Dean Koontz, making it a true rarity, a novel that nearly lives up to the expectations created by its effusive cover copy. Intense and graphic, LIVE GIRLS is truly a must read for horror fans.