Hell's Creation

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as most of Russo's novels.
Review: John Russo, Hell's Creation (Ravenmor, 1995)

I've been a huge fan of John Russo's novels from the first time I picked one up (it was The Majorettes, and that was more than a quarter of a century ago now), and for quite a while there I had a complete collection of John Russo novels. Then came 1995, and Russo released Hell's Creation, a new novel on Ravenmor that coincided with their reprinting of all his earlier novels. I went on, blissfully unaware, until about a year ago, then discovered this gaping hole in my collection. I finally filled that hole last week, and needless to say, I sat down and devoured Hell's Creation pronto.

There are two possible things I can say about Hell's Creation. One is that it's kind of obvious why Pocket never printed this book, and the other is "man, were John Russo's novels always this cheesy?" Yeah, they were, but not in quite as bad a way as this. Oh, not to say Hell's Creation is unreadable; nothing of the sort. (Do yourself a favor, though, and ignore the blurb on the back cover, which talks about events in the last hundred pages; you'll be quite confused if you expect to find the events mentioned on the back cover near the beginning of the book.) It's got the same basic goofiness, softcore-porn mentality, and out-and-out fun with violence as do Russo's other novels. But there's something missing here. I can't quite put my finger on what it is. But the almost Spillane-esque writing from such earlier novels as Bloodsisters and Black Cat has changed into something that feels more hackneyed than hacked up.

John Russo was one of the best of the eighties-horror novelists (and well ahead of his time; Russo's first novel was the classic 1967 Night of the Living Dead), and if you're a fan of the genre, you should be doing whatever you need to do, and paying whatever prices you need to pay, to grab everything the man wrote up through the late eighties. Hell's Creation should eventually find its way into your collection, but don't make it a priority; spend the cash on the limited-edition Imagine Books hardback of Voodoo Dawn instead. Newbies to Russo should definitely stay away; any of the books I've already mentioned in this review would be a fantastic way to start with John Russo, and all are highly recommended. ** ½