Oktober

by Stephen Gallagher

Left for dead after a skiing accident, Jim Harper is plunged into a nightmare of corporate intrigue and horror as he struggles to regain his health and sanity

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Stoker and World Fantasy Award nominee, winner of British Fantasy and International Horror Guild Awards for his short fiction, Stephen Gallagher has a career both as a novelist and as a creator of primetime miniseries and episodic television. His fifteen novels include Chimera, Oktober, Valley of Lights and Nightmare, with Angel. He's the creator of Sebastian Becker, Special Investigator to the Lord Chancellor's Visitor in Lunacy, in a series of novels that includes The Kingdom of Bones, The Bedlam Detective, and The Authentic William James. In his native England he's adapted and created hour-long and feature-length thrillers and crime dramas. In the US he was lead writer on NBC's Crusoe, creator of CBS Television's Eleventh Hour, and Co-Executive Producer on ABC's The Forgotten. Recent screen credits include an award-winning Silent Witness and Stan Lee's Lucky Man.

He began his TV career as a writer on two seasons of Doctor Who, and wrote two novelizations of his stories under the pseudonym John Lydecker.

** Photo by Lisa Bowerman **

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

250 pages waiting for something to happen.
Then it ended.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit to being a tad diasppointed with this novel. The story has a huge amount of potential - Jim is injected with an experimental drug and is left for dead. He survives, but struggles with nightmares and hallucinations. He begins to relaise that the drug company are still tailing him and that the side effects are only going to get worse. But for me, it never really takes off from being a vaguely threatening thriller with a few sciency bits thrown in. I still have vague recollections of the TV adaptation, which I loved. I am sure there was a lot more made of the links between Jim, the Huskies and the ex-soldiers - in the book the links are so vague as to be almost non-existant. For me, that was where the horror and thrill was, so not having it in the book was annoying. Still, a good enough read and it has made me want to track down a copy of the TV show to watch again, but I wouldn't return to it for a second reading.

[Susi Mirick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars because i can't give it 3 1/2...was very slow and boring to start out and maybe a bit over-dramatic but not quite halfway through it picks up and i couldn't put it down read from 3am to 8:30am to finish it...

the horror isn't really horror imo...it is more like thriller and suspense but not horror....

the books a little better than ok but not by much...

[Tony Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this early 80s slightly-supernatural-horror thriller a little bit more than anything I've read in some time. Stephen Gallagher has always been head and shoulders above his peers in this field: rounder characters, a warmer and richer worldview, a wry and authentically British voice and perspective. Not for nothing were they calling him Britain's answer to Stephen King, back in the day.

This is not his best book, alas. It's gripping and enjoyable while you're reading it, but the various ideas are pulling in different directions, and never come together before it all comes to a rather abrupt end.

Is worth your time? Sure. I cracked it open every night looking forward to what was going to happen next. But he's written better.

[Glenna Mcneal]

This book involves a pharmaceutical company who has discovered a new drug. Hoping to provide a cure for disease, it backfires when they utilize it on a young man who experiences cardiac arrest. The results of this injection weave a fascinating story and surprising outcomes. This definitely is a good read and will keep you guessing at every turn.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK. Not great. Very disjointed.

[Velma Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written. Definitely makes one think about side effects of medicine.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one crosses some genre lines. It's good, although I liked Valley of Lights and Nightmare, with Angel better.