Night Caller

Rating:
Summary: More Small-Town Madness From Ed Gorman
Review: A mother and daughter have to spend the night in a small town when their car breaks down. The best place to stay is an old hotel that has a dark reputation. Twice in its history there have been terrible ax murders committed. First by an old lady and they by a young girl supposedly possessed by the lady. To make things worse, the daughter looks like the girl from the previous murder.

But nothing can be simple when small towns and hauntings combine, especially when penned by Daniel "Ed Gorman" Ransom. More murders suddenly happen and the characters all get swept up in a cyclone of events that threatens lives as well as threatening to expose long-buried secrets. Secrets that have been hidden for years and whose revelations will cause further tragedy.

Despite the cover, title, and blurb on the back of the book, the phone is just a minor detail in a much richer story that will make you think twice about stopping in that sleepy old small town.


Rating:
Summary: When the phone rings, evil awaits...
Review: Daniel Ransom (Ed Gorman) has crafted a tale of terror in a mere 300 pages that works with Night Caller. Ransom's story starts off strong with a mother daughter combination escaping from their family problems by taking a long deserved road trip. On the trip the car breaks down outside the small town of Haversham and it's Haversham that would be the real setting of the story.

This is one of those horror novels from the 80s that is an extremely fast read. The font is huge in Zebra's edition and Ransom's writing is fairly simplistic so as to drive the story home. That is not to say it is without it's creepy moments. What Ransom has really written here is a combination slasher ghost story that could have been developed further. It almost feels like a campy slasher movie of the 80s ala the Prowler or Terror Train. The writing while not super detailed works for the story even though there are some proofreading errors in this edition.

Keep in mind this is a Zebra horror and enjoy it for what it is. A nice quick easy horror tale that is a good afternoon's read and will leave you hungry for more horror!

Rating:
Summary: When the phone rings, evil awaits...
Review: Daniel Ransom (Ed Gorman) has crafted a tale of terror in a mere 300 pages that works with Night Caller. Ransom's story starts off strong with a mother daughter combination escaping from their family problems by taking a long deserved road trip. On the trip the car breaks down outside the small town of Haversham and it's Haversham that would be the real setting of the story.

This is one of those horror novels from the 80s that is an extremely fast read. The font is huge in Zebra's edition and Ransom's writing is fairly simplistic so as to drive the story home. That is not to say it is without it's creepy moments. What Ransom has really written here is a combination slasher ghost story that could have been developed further. It almost feels like a campy slasher movie of the 80s ala the Prowler or Terror Train. The writing while not super detailed works for the story even though there are some proofreading errors in this edition.

Keep in mind this is a Zebra horror and enjoy it for what it is. A nice quick easy horror tale that is a good afternoon's read and will leave you hungry for more horror!