Rating:2.5/5
Read between May 8th,2016 to May 15th,2016
Would i recommend this book to you? I don’t know personally this book was not for me. I think this book could have been a lot better with it’s premise and characters. If you’re a Clive Barker fan then, sure go ahead and read it. If you haven’t yet read Clive Barker then don’t start with this one. And if you have read this book, do tell me what did you think of it.
Some quotes from the book:
The military mind, the thief had discovered, was capable of inventions more baroque than a poet’s, and more lethal.
Once, the thief thought, this man had been capable of certainty; of action; perhaps even of heroism. Now all that noble stuff had been siphoned off: the champion was reduced to a sniveling rag, blabbering nonsense. He inwardly applauded the brilliance of Mamoulian’s victory. He had always hated heroes.
‘And that’s enough to explain everything that’s going on?’ Luther wiped a spot of bloody spittle off his chin with the back of his hand.’Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,’ he said. ‘I’m no monkey,’ Marty replied.
The deluge descended in the driest July in living memory; but then no revisionist’s dream of Armageddon is complete without its paradox. Lightening appearing out of a clear sky;flesh turned to salt;the meek inheriting the earth: all unlikely phenomenon.
Read between May 8th,2016 to May 15th,2016
Edition Details:
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Sphere
The air was electric the day the thief crossed the city, certain that tonight, after so many weeks of frustration, he would finally locate the card player.
Marty Strauss had been serving a sentence in a prison when he get’s opportunity for a parole. He has lost every thing to chance. Now when opportunity presents before him he takes it as second chance to redeem his life.
Marty is being paroled by Joseph Whitehead,one of the richest man in Europe. Joseph Whitehead is an eccentric business tycoon and Marty has to become his bodyguard. Obviously,he agrees but soon finds out that it would have been better if he had stayed back in prison.
Joseph had played a dangerous ancient game with Mamoulian – which provided him with his current position in exchange of his soul. Now, the time has come for Joseph to keep his end of bargain.
A game has begun between Mamoulian and Whitehead. And as bodyguard of Whitehead Marty finds himself pitted against the adversary who could literally turn his life to hell.
What will be the end of this game?
Damnation Game is an horror novel which was first published in 1985. I have very mixed feelings about this book. If we talk about the premise it’s the standard one in which a guy makes a deal with a devil but forfeits his end of the bargain. Now the devil is after this guy to get what he thinks is his. I liked the concept of the book. Mamoulian as an antagonist has powers which could make him a serious badass. He can bring dead back to life,he can control anyone and make him do what he wants. He can trap memories and play them on his victims to mind fuck them and he can also create illusions to scare shit out of the people. In short Mamoulian can be that guy whom you don’t want to cross path with. Apart from it the other ensemble of characters is also great. There are few scenes in this book that i found awesomely creepy.
But it’s the story that sucks. It’s boring and often the action moves at a pace that i had to force myself to read it. Sometimes Mamoulian seems like a miffed lover of Joseph Whitehead who just wants to traumatize him in hopes that his actions would help them get together. And other times he acts like an cranky old dude who is depressed because he’s so old.
“He felt like a beaten dog: all he wanted to do was to lie down and die. It seemed today-especially since the girl’s skillful rejection of him – that he felt every hour of his long,long life in his sinews.”
“He felt like a beaten dog: all he wanted to do was to lie down and die. It seemed today-especially since the girl’s skillful rejection of him – that he felt every hour of his long,long life in his sinews.”
This takes out the dread from the horror novel.
Would i recommend this book to you? I don’t know personally this book was not for me. I think this book could have been a lot better with it’s premise and characters. If you’re a Clive Barker fan then, sure go ahead and read it. If you haven’t yet read Clive Barker then don’t start with this one. And if you have read this book, do tell me what did you think of it.
Some quotes from the book:
The military mind, the thief had discovered, was capable of inventions more baroque than a poet’s, and more lethal.
Once, the thief thought, this man had been capable of certainty; of action; perhaps even of heroism. Now all that noble stuff had been siphoned off: the champion was reduced to a sniveling rag, blabbering nonsense. He inwardly applauded the brilliance of Mamoulian’s victory. He had always hated heroes.
‘And that’s enough to explain everything that’s going on?’ Luther wiped a spot of bloody spittle off his chin with the back of his hand.’Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,’ he said. ‘I’m no monkey,’ Marty replied.
The deluge descended in the driest July in living memory; but then no revisionist’s dream of Armageddon is complete without its paradox. Lightening appearing out of a clear sky;flesh turned to salt;the meek inheriting the earth: all unlikely phenomenon.
Well, if you are interested in the buying the book you can get it from the following link:
