After the release of mega-hits like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Exorcist”, it was inevitable that a twenty year glut of horror novels would follow. This is the subject of Hendricks’ lavishly-illustrated book.

And the author clearly loves his subject, even when he has little reverence for it. Hendricks knows that much of this material is trash and he makes that clear in his descriptions. He takes us on a romp through the plots of several dozen books, but also includes recurring themes, mini-biographies of authors and cover artists, and the stories of the publishing houses. Towards the end, the book becomes particularly insightful, showing us how this horror glut petered out.

Despite my love of horror, I’ve only read a few of the books listed here. After reading this entertaining and informative book, I don’t think I’ve missed much. I usually say that I would rather read the books under review than to read books about books. That’s not true with “Paperbacks From Hell”.