Lot Lizards

Rating:
Summary: Down and dirty, gritty, no-nonsense vampire story
Review: Garton's "Live Girls" was awesome; too bad it's out of print. I'd forgotten the author, but now I see the resemblance. The only thing that didn't ring quite true in "Lot Lizards" was how completely just ONE vampire retained his humanity. The characterizations are good, mystery is sometimes left alone to remain mysterious (as it should be), and in general there's not a dull moment.

Rating:
Summary: Down and dirty, gritty, no-nonsense vampire story
Review: Garton's "Live Girls" was awesome; too bad it's out of print. I'd forgotten the author, but now I see the resemblance. The only thing that didn't ring quite true in "Lot Lizards" was how completely just ONE vampire retained his humanity. The characterizations are good, mystery is sometimes left along to remain mysterious (as it should be), and in general there's not a dull moment.

Rating:
Summary: Lot Lizards grinds like a Kenworth
Review: Ray Garton's _Lot Lizards_ grinds like a big deisel. He hauls you into a truck stop, sets the air brakes and locks you into the setting. You hear a hundred truck engines idling, you smell the fuel oil and the greasy food from the truck stop diner.

Ray Garton shows you the trucker's lifestyle, and not all of it is romantic open roads. Passion? Yes, but usually bought, in the form of young prostitutes --lot lizards-- that frequent truck stops, roaming between the aisles of parked rigs.

The lot lizards at this particular truck stop, however, are strange: they're a little trashier than usual, a little bolder, and they seem to be hanging around two black Peterbilts loaded with coffins. And they have fangs.

Those who look for sympathetic vampire protagonists are not going to find any here. Ray Garton's vampires are *not* your friends. You don't want to sit in a room with them and ask them questions about their immortality. You want to get out your crucifix, smear yourself with garlic oil, and start sharpening your wooden stakes.

_Lot Lizards_ is vampire fiction for those who are tired of the bitterweet tales called "dark fiction" that have been at the forefront of the bookstores lately. If you like *horror* then these are the vampires you want.

After reading _Lot Lizards_, you'll never see a truck stop the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: Downright Thrilling
Review: The first time I heard of Ray Garton was through a special offer on his legendary book, Live Girls. That signed book was set for $45 and before I decided to buy it, I had just heard that the price has shot up to $145 (I hear it's even more expensive today than that).

I thought to myself, how can a book, about vampires to say the most be that expensive. What exactly was that book about to even that much critically acclaimed. All I had in mind was that I had to get my hands on it... and fast...

My search for Live Girls brought me upon this book, Lot Lizards and if it's any indication to what Garton's style is, he is by far the most underrated author of all time. The book not only makes you sense that you're in the pages with the characters, it makes you smell, taste and live the lives of each one of them. The setting changes are so subtle, yet so dramatic. Garton moves in with his storytelling using a very cinematic approach, and finds great success in it. He has some experiences in the field of movie novelization and that clearly takes things through and fires up his characterization. The book does read like a movie. In fact, if someone ever reads it to you out loud and you just listen to the words spoken, you feel that you are truly watching a movie with your eyes closed. Even the ending is very much cinematic, relying on the same gimmick of "what then?" and "where now?" Which in fact is not as bad as one might think it is.

The style is astounding. Not for a minute do you feel bored or the need to let the book down. It would seem that the book itself is like a vampire sucking away your essence as you continue with each page. For the very first time, in a long time, a relatively unknown author strikes such a chord in me.

This book should be put back into circulation and should receive better publicity that what it has already received. Ray Garton takes you there and he just won't let go until he drains you clean with the last page.

I guess now I know why his books are relatively expensive. They're collector's item and they are truly worth the time and the experience.