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Flesh And Blood
America's biggest pig, Captain Black, undergoes experimental surgery to implant it with the genetic code of a murdered human child. But unknown to the surgeons, the child was a descendant of the vengeful and psychotic "Green Traveller", and the huge pig embarks on a bloody and unstoppable rampage.
438 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 2, 2012
26 people are currently reading
814 people want to read
About the author
Graham Masterton
422 books1,965 followersGraham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
March 19, 2023
Well, this is a strange read, half of it really grabbed my interest, and half of it I found to be too far on the ridiculous side.
The story starts out with a particularly violent episode. Both violent in the act and violent in the way Masterton writes it. One of those opening chapters that grab your attention and urges you to delve into the rest of the book at breakneck speed.
This act becomes the basis of the 'splitting' of the plot so that two plot lines are running simultaneously, obviously to encounter each other in the climactic ending - which they do.
On one side the plot shoots off into biological experimentation, and this is where the big boar comes into the story, he is known as Captain Black. Unfortunately, this is the side of the book that I was less than impressed with, it seemed exceptionally far-fetched and was asking a lot of me to even accept the reality of the story. Although I am aware that it is a fictional tale, we have all come across a story where we have just thought - "Oh, come on!!"
The second side of the book follows Czech mythology. I researched this line of mythology and it appears it was all made up by Masterton for the book, so kudos to him because this is the side of the story that really held my interest. I love a tale woven with ancient myths and legends that are re-occurring in the present and this one was really weird, but the best true myths are the strangest in my opinion.
I guess at points Flesh and Blood was pushing up into the four-star realm but the ending could have been so much better. The two halves of the book came together, as expected, but there really was no interaction. Both sides were dealt with separately although they had met at the same location. I wanted a little more here and slipped my rating back to three stars.
The story starts out with a particularly violent episode. Both violent in the act and violent in the way Masterton writes it. One of those opening chapters that grab your attention and urges you to delve into the rest of the book at breakneck speed.
This act becomes the basis of the 'splitting' of the plot so that two plot lines are running simultaneously, obviously to encounter each other in the climactic ending - which they do.
On one side the plot shoots off into biological experimentation, and this is where the big boar comes into the story, he is known as Captain Black. Unfortunately, this is the side of the book that I was less than impressed with, it seemed exceptionally far-fetched and was asking a lot of me to even accept the reality of the story. Although I am aware that it is a fictional tale, we have all come across a story where we have just thought - "Oh, come on!!"
The second side of the book follows Czech mythology. I researched this line of mythology and it appears it was all made up by Masterton for the book, so kudos to him because this is the side of the story that really held my interest. I love a tale woven with ancient myths and legends that are re-occurring in the present and this one was really weird, but the best true myths are the strangest in my opinion.
I guess at points Flesh and Blood was pushing up into the four-star realm but the ending could have been so much better. The two halves of the book came together, as expected, but there really was no interaction. Both sides were dealt with separately although they had met at the same location. I wanted a little more here and slipped my rating back to three stars.
April 15, 2012
This big book's blend of material should not work. An ancient Czech mythical monster story, a secret Vatican conspiracy, animal rights activists, a politician pushing anti-meat legislation because he wants to get laid, a gargantuan pig undergoing brain surgery and subsequently developing the sentience/awareness of a human child, a father who decapitates his children and then goes on to become a sympathetic character . . . This is too weird! It shouldn't work! But it does.
Flesh & Blood takes all these disparate elements (as well as a few other surprises) and tosses them in a blender before hitting puree. Somehow it manages to create an engaging narrative. The novel is a pure horror extravaganza, quite entertaining. It sometimes approaches Having A Message territory, but ultimately leaves well enough alone and concentrates on telling its bizarre story . . . Masterton also gets bonus points for capturing convincing Midwestern American voices for his characters, as he's from the UK. There are a couple of places where the dialogue sentence structure sounds a bit off, but for the most part it's right on the money.
Flesh & Blood takes all these disparate elements (as well as a few other surprises) and tosses them in a blender before hitting puree. Somehow it manages to create an engaging narrative. The novel is a pure horror extravaganza, quite entertaining. It sometimes approaches Having A Message territory, but ultimately leaves well enough alone and concentrates on telling its bizarre story . . . Masterton also gets bonus points for capturing convincing Midwestern American voices for his characters, as he's from the UK. There are a couple of places where the dialogue sentence structure sounds a bit off, but for the most part it's right on the money.
June 20, 2012
I read this book as part of a horror group read at Shelfari.
The story opens with a particularly sad, gory scene and after that the rest of the story seeps in.
I don't like to go into the plot too much in my reviews, but I do need to touch on a couple of points. 1. There are parts of the plot that are a bit fantastic (in the true sense of the word) and not very believable. 2. There were certain parts of the story which focused on Czech mythology. I don't know if they were true or not, but they definitely read as if they were and I enjoyed those portions of the story the most. 3.The sex scenes I felt were unnecessary. They didn't progress the plot at all and the characters involved were already defined without having to throw in those scenes.
Overall I liked the story but felt that the ending didn't really deliver the denouement that I expected. Usually I like when that happens, but in this case it seemed that some confrontations that seemed fated to occur, didn't.
Lastly, I read the Kindle version of this book and it had some issues. There were no space breaks between changes in POV. It threw me out of the story each and every time it happened. Also there were some formatting problems such as some words beginning with "TH" had the TH changed to 'M". Therefore the word 'that' becomes mat. This was very annoying. I did not count these issues towards my rating, but wanted to mention them as a heads up to future readers.
The story opens with a particularly sad, gory scene and after that the rest of the story seeps in.
I don't like to go into the plot too much in my reviews, but I do need to touch on a couple of points. 1. There are parts of the plot that are a bit fantastic (in the true sense of the word) and not very believable. 2. There were certain parts of the story which focused on Czech mythology. I don't know if they were true or not, but they definitely read as if they were and I enjoyed those portions of the story the most. 3.The sex scenes I felt were unnecessary. They didn't progress the plot at all and the characters involved were already defined without having to throw in those scenes.
Overall I liked the story but felt that the ending didn't really deliver the denouement that I expected. Usually I like when that happens, but in this case it seemed that some confrontations that seemed fated to occur, didn't.
Lastly, I read the Kindle version of this book and it had some issues. There were no space breaks between changes in POV. It threw me out of the story each and every time it happened. Also there were some formatting problems such as some words beginning with "TH" had the TH changed to 'M". Therefore the word 'that' becomes mat. This was very annoying. I did not count these issues towards my rating, but wanted to mention them as a heads up to future readers.
February 26, 2011
A father of three and small-time farmer, Terrance Pearson, slaughters his young children by decapitating them in what appears to be systematic executions. One of them escapes and Terrance is caught. He has no regrets, and only wishes he could get out and finish what he started. To finish his line and 'Bad Blood.' Meanwhile pudgy Sheriff of Cedar Rapids, Luke Friend, investigates the homicides and finds himself drawn inexorably into ancient mythological secrets involving an entity known as The Green Traveller - a creature who is more plant than man and seems to regard his offspring through the generations as nothing more than a food source -
So begins the foundation of this startlingly gruesome and bizarre novel. Other elements that string the book together involve genetic research facility the Spellman Institute and their latest trophy to further the cause of science: Captain Black , America's biggest pig who is the size and weight of a small car. Dr Garth Matthews wants to implant the genetic code of a human child into Captain Black's brain . . . and what he doesn't know is that the donor is one of Terrance Pearson's murdered brood, a descendent of the immortal Green Traveller. Rallying to stop this unethical practice is animal rights activist Lily Monarch , a girl with secrets from her past and someone who will do anything in order to further her cause to make America a Vegetarian society.
Recently, there was discussion with a group I'm involved in regarding giant authors who can sometimes fly under the radar. Although well versed with most writers of horror fiction who have made an impact on us in the last twenty years, I'm ashamed to say Flesh and Blood is my first foray into the realm of Graham Masterson. But it certainly won't be the last. The mythology of Janek the Green seems to be totally original in its construction; Graham has evolved an entire folklore from scratch. Janek's minions include ghostly beings who reminded me of Clive Barker's Cenobites . . . with each of them having an individual function to perform in relation to butchering Janek's victims. The entire novel works like something sweet on the stomach; it's tastes rich and dark but is bad for you. Lights stutter and flicker throughout the many scenes, and Graham unleashes the plausibility factor very well: we believe in Janek the Green , and we sympathize with the monstrous Captain Black.
But Graham Masterson is certainly no James Patterson. Fifty pages can stream by without a single break in the narrative. And if you're a reader who stops at a chapters split-ends to have that elusive toilet stop instead of page numbers, be prepared for a long wait. Coming into the climax of the novel I found an editors zeal kick in, muttering under my breath at obvious mistakes. Commas became common place and out of sync, displaying the rhythms of an over confident writer who needed to be reeled in a little by his editor. That said, I believe these long-winded parts to be responsibility of the editor. It was he or she that was supposed to be on clean up duty, not sleeping on the job.
As all plot-lines converge, we are treated to a massive final showdown. Like King's Needful Things the stage is lit up in a small but apocalyptic face-off. Unfortunately, it does try a little too hard , and with too many pages. I had the distinct impression many of them could have been clipped in half.
All is forgiven, however ,as with any long novel there is going to be pitfalls and positives. Overall, as a writer, Graham Masterson is definately no hack. The book has intelligent philosophical undertones regarding meat consumption in our modern society, the ethical treatment of animals, and our own brainwashed ability to turn a blind eye to the activities of those who lead us. Thankfully, Graham has been very prolific over the decades, and I know this is just the beginning of what will be a very long love affair with his impressive resume.
So begins the foundation of this startlingly gruesome and bizarre novel. Other elements that string the book together involve genetic research facility the Spellman Institute and their latest trophy to further the cause of science: Captain Black , America's biggest pig who is the size and weight of a small car. Dr Garth Matthews wants to implant the genetic code of a human child into Captain Black's brain . . . and what he doesn't know is that the donor is one of Terrance Pearson's murdered brood, a descendent of the immortal Green Traveller. Rallying to stop this unethical practice is animal rights activist Lily Monarch , a girl with secrets from her past and someone who will do anything in order to further her cause to make America a Vegetarian society.
Recently, there was discussion with a group I'm involved in regarding giant authors who can sometimes fly under the radar. Although well versed with most writers of horror fiction who have made an impact on us in the last twenty years, I'm ashamed to say Flesh and Blood is my first foray into the realm of Graham Masterson. But it certainly won't be the last. The mythology of Janek the Green seems to be totally original in its construction; Graham has evolved an entire folklore from scratch. Janek's minions include ghostly beings who reminded me of Clive Barker's Cenobites . . . with each of them having an individual function to perform in relation to butchering Janek's victims. The entire novel works like something sweet on the stomach; it's tastes rich and dark but is bad for you. Lights stutter and flicker throughout the many scenes, and Graham unleashes the plausibility factor very well: we believe in Janek the Green , and we sympathize with the monstrous Captain Black.
But Graham Masterson is certainly no James Patterson. Fifty pages can stream by without a single break in the narrative. And if you're a reader who stops at a chapters split-ends to have that elusive toilet stop instead of page numbers, be prepared for a long wait. Coming into the climax of the novel I found an editors zeal kick in, muttering under my breath at obvious mistakes. Commas became common place and out of sync, displaying the rhythms of an over confident writer who needed to be reeled in a little by his editor. That said, I believe these long-winded parts to be responsibility of the editor. It was he or she that was supposed to be on clean up duty, not sleeping on the job.
As all plot-lines converge, we are treated to a massive final showdown. Like King's Needful Things the stage is lit up in a small but apocalyptic face-off. Unfortunately, it does try a little too hard , and with too many pages. I had the distinct impression many of them could have been clipped in half.
All is forgiven, however ,as with any long novel there is going to be pitfalls and positives. Overall, as a writer, Graham Masterson is definately no hack. The book has intelligent philosophical undertones regarding meat consumption in our modern society, the ethical treatment of animals, and our own brainwashed ability to turn a blind eye to the activities of those who lead us. Thankfully, Graham has been very prolific over the decades, and I know this is just the beginning of what will be a very long love affair with his impressive resume.
September 9, 2013
Okay, so this book scared me enough that I was afraid to go pee in the middle of the night while finishing it. I ain't gonna lie. That does not happen to me very often--I am a terribly jaded horror fiction reader. In my recent experience, Graham Masterton is the man who has managed to do that to me the most. I adore Masteron's books--I am a dyed in the wool fan and for good reason. Masteron often uses folklore and mythology from various countries and cultures and researches the hell out of them--these things would endear him to me in any case, but he's also a fantastic writer. I started this and then barely put it down until it was finished--literally less than 48 hours from start to finish--I was up until 4 am finishing it. This particular book touches on the myth of the Green Man, or Janek the Green (the Czech version) and his band of followers. As always with Masteron's work it is filled with gruesome violence and sex (both of which he's excellent at). It is also filled with unbearable tension and a touch of black humor. Love, love, loved it.
June 14, 2023
I recently re-read this for the first time in a few years. I quickly sunk right into it and it had me hooked until Janek and his mummers are introduced and then it fell apart a bit. A lot of the mystery and tension disappeared and there were a lot of subplots with potential that weren't taken advantage of enough (eg a comparison of George finding himself inside a pig and Emily being 'not Emily') and the political subplot being kinda pointless. It felt like everything started to rush to a conclusion in that last third or so. The dialogue is also not that great and some better character development could've helped. Still a favourite of mine but not sure if it'll remain my #1--I need to reread a couple other favourites first.
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When I was 12, my dad had gotten a ton of horror novels (all by Graham Masterton) off a friend of his and after reading this he gave it to me to read. I don't know what it was about it, but I absolutely loved it and since then it has been my favourite book. I've read a few other Masterton's and he quickly became my favourite author. He's not a 'great' author, but the way he writes really works for me. I've read this at least 5 times and it's a great read every time.
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When I was 12, my dad had gotten a ton of horror novels (all by Graham Masterton) off a friend of his and after reading this he gave it to me to read. I don't know what it was about it, but I absolutely loved it and since then it has been my favourite book. I've read a few other Masterton's and he quickly became my favourite author. He's not a 'great' author, but the way he writes really works for me. I've read this at least 5 times and it's a great read every time.
July 28, 2025
not really sure what to say about this book, it's was.... strange. to say the least.
February 21, 2013
I must admit I'm a little torn by this book. On the one hand it is a very entertaining read with a complex story line that keeps you guessing the entire way through and has a little bit of everything for those who can't decide if they want a bit of horror or thriller or a spot of myth and fantasy or maybe a little political drama and a fight for animal rights. On the other hand there is a lot going on and by the end it was started to niggle at my reading nerves as the story jumped from gore filled horror fest (as much as I enjoy those) to Eastern Europe mythology (always a pleasure) to crime fighter thriller (can't complain at a spot of crime busting now can we) to political posturing (always good entertainment) and animal rights and protection (a subject dear to my own heart). My brain was on overload as the story was brought to its epic conclusion with bits of story (and body) flying this way and that.
The writing however is very good and utterly engrossing and on the whole the character development is superb (although some of the more intimate scenes were a little unnecessary and didn't really add much) and I think it is Masterton's skill as a writer that gets this book through to the end. In the hands of a lesser writer it would have been a shambles but he manages to pull it off, despite the brain overload it provides.
The writing however is very good and utterly engrossing and on the whole the character development is superb (although some of the more intimate scenes were a little unnecessary and didn't really add much) and I think it is Masterton's skill as a writer that gets this book through to the end. In the hands of a lesser writer it would have been a shambles but he manages to pull it off, despite the brain overload it provides.
October 21, 2014
Essentially two related stories: One story concerns a version of the Green Man and his immortal followers hunting down his offspring, and the other a story about a gentically-modified pig going on the rampage. They're linked in a heavily contrived way where the Green Man's DNA is accidentally implanted in the pig at the beginning of the book. The Green Man tale story isn't too bad: it's solidly plotted and gets quite exciting at times, but the GM pig story is terrible and full of contrivances, stupidity and badly-drawn characters.
The two stories never really intertwine enough - they're mostly separate until they arrive in the same location right at the end, but then the two threats are defeated separately. It feels like Masterson wrote two stories that weren't long enough on their own and then crudely joined them together.
To its credit, the book does have some good splatter scenes, especially in the first half of the book, and the half of the book concerned with the Green Man is very readable.
The two stories never really intertwine enough - they're mostly separate until they arrive in the same location right at the end, but then the two threats are defeated separately. It feels like Masterson wrote two stories that weren't long enough on their own and then crudely joined them together.
To its credit, the book does have some good splatter scenes, especially in the first half of the book, and the half of the book concerned with the Green Man is very readable.
July 17, 2012
I read this book for the first time when I was about twelve, which was not a good idea as I became briefly paranoid about knocking on doors and windows. This book is suitably frightening, but I feel that the pig storyline just not meet well with the Janek plot and should really have been a separate book. Furthermore, I would have liked to know more about the individual Mummers as I was left with my curiosity unsatisfied at the end of the book.
August 9, 2012
This book became a big disapointment. It started so good, dark and disturbing. But the evil pig
ruined it all.
ruined it all.
February 21, 2022
Μέχρι το 1/3 περίπου αξιοπρεπές, από εκεί και πέρα πιο πολύ αστείο παρά τρομακτικό.
May 29, 2025
Well. I'm not sure that the blurb on this one was an accurate description, but maybe such a thing wouldn't be a good idea. It's a wild book. Almost everyone in it is an idiot (some of this may be meant as satire but surely not all), there's some ridiculous gore and similarly ridiculous sexual descriptions for good measure.
As far as the plot goes, the whole 'giant pig' aspect is much more of a B plot than I expected but there's more than enough other weirdness to make up for it. The blurb at least does at least warn you to expect weirdness. It would make an excellent and hilarious trashy horror film so if that's what you're looking for in a book, this is one for you. If you somehow read the blurb and still expect something else, then good luck to you.
As far as the plot goes, the whole 'giant pig' aspect is much more of a B plot than I expected but there's more than enough other weirdness to make up for it. The blurb at least does at least warn you to expect weirdness. It would make an excellent and hilarious trashy horror film so if that's what you're looking for in a book, this is one for you. If you somehow read the blurb and still expect something else, then good luck to you.
January 19, 2021
The blurb on Graham Masterton's own website captures the essence of this horror novel perfectly:
"Steeped in legends, Flesh and Blood is a fascinating - if convoluted - read with eviscerations and decapitations aplenty."
Legends and fairy tales seem to often be Masterton's source of inspiration. The other novel of his I've read is Spirit which had the Snow Queen as something other than just a fairy tale of imagination. Here it's the Green Traveller that proves to be real and, with his five freakish off-siders, roaming the cornfields of middle America.
I don't know if the Green Traveller is an actual figure in eastern Europe legend, or if Masterton invented him, but it's the same concept as Spirit.
The Snow Queen was a much more scary figure, though, and better for horror. It's easier to imagine a demonic shadow that exudes a bone-shattering coldness than a "half man-half tree". It sounds a bit silly, really, no matter how well Masterton describes it (not too much detail to make it ridiculous, but just enough to give you an idea). In my head he was the monster in a dreadful B-grade schlocky horror movie from the 50s.
"Convoluted" certainly sums up the plot. I was describing the novel to a friend this morning and we ended up in fits of laughter. Barry, writer of horror himself, commented that even he has difficulty keeping a single plot of six characters organised, how does Masterton manage so many characters - real and mythical - plus subplots in the air in any sort of cohesive way? He does, to varying degrees of effectiveness. The characters are mostly two-dimensional devices to further the plot and the horror - particularly the mythical characters - but they generally perform their function with consistency.
Unfortunately, there was one scene, where five animal rights activists set free a genetically engineered hog called Captain Black, and Masterton lost it. Where was his editor?
For a start, only three of the characters spoke for much of the time, so it wasn't until about half-way through the scene that I realised there were actually five characters involved. It got worse. One of the scientists from whom the hog was being 'freed' shoots at the activist toting a weapon with a tranquilizer gun. It misses:
Note that this gun had been ready for a pig the size of a small car, so one would expect Henry to be out of it for days and in need of immediate medical attention.
He's a fighter, though, is Henry! On the very next page:
Finally, "eviscerations and decapitations". Hehe. Yes, he is good at those. I mentioned it briefly in my earlier Spirit post. Well, he goes above and beyond here. Often.
The evisceration and decapitation are mostly the province of the Green Traveller and his companions, so at least there's a hint of ritual and therefore meaning to them.
Oh, except for the guy who stuffs his own intestines into his kitchen sink garbage disposal unit.
Oh, and except for the father who decapitates two of his children with a scythe ...
"Steeped in legends, Flesh and Blood is a fascinating - if convoluted - read with eviscerations and decapitations aplenty."
Legends and fairy tales seem to often be Masterton's source of inspiration. The other novel of his I've read is Spirit which had the Snow Queen as something other than just a fairy tale of imagination. Here it's the Green Traveller that proves to be real and, with his five freakish off-siders, roaming the cornfields of middle America.
I don't know if the Green Traveller is an actual figure in eastern Europe legend, or if Masterton invented him, but it's the same concept as Spirit.
The Snow Queen was a much more scary figure, though, and better for horror. It's easier to imagine a demonic shadow that exudes a bone-shattering coldness than a "half man-half tree". It sounds a bit silly, really, no matter how well Masterton describes it (not too much detail to make it ridiculous, but just enough to give you an idea). In my head he was the monster in a dreadful B-grade schlocky horror movie from the 50s.
"Convoluted" certainly sums up the plot. I was describing the novel to a friend this morning and we ended up in fits of laughter. Barry, writer of horror himself, commented that even he has difficulty keeping a single plot of six characters organised, how does Masterton manage so many characters - real and mythical - plus subplots in the air in any sort of cohesive way? He does, to varying degrees of effectiveness. The characters are mostly two-dimensional devices to further the plot and the horror - particularly the mythical characters - but they generally perform their function with consistency.
Unfortunately, there was one scene, where five animal rights activists set free a genetically engineered hog called Captain Black, and Masterton lost it. Where was his editor?
For a start, only three of the characters spoke for much of the time, so it wasn't until about half-way through the scene that I realised there were actually five characters involved. It got worse. One of the scientists from whom the hog was being 'freed' shoots at the activist toting a weapon with a tranquilizer gun. It misses:
The dart snapped so close to Dean's head that it flicked his hair. He clapped his hand to his head, quite sure for a second that Jenny had hit him. But then Henry, behind him, fell to the floor, and started kicking and shaking convulsively.
Note that this gun had been ready for a pig the size of a small car, so one would expect Henry to be out of it for days and in need of immediate medical attention.
He's a fighter, though, is Henry! On the very next page:
Captain Black roared and shook his blood-caked head, and then he suddenly went for Henry with all the rhythmic, quick, unstoppable speed of a small locomotive. Half-jokingly, Henry said, 'Hey, old buddy, take it easy!' and lifted up his hand to fend him off. But then Henry realized that he was trapped in a corner between two pigpens and that Captain Black was trotting towards him very, very fast, and that this wasn't a joke at all [excuse me, two people have already been killed horribly in this scene and he's in a joking mood?!?], but a threatening situation [ya think?!?] in which he could very easily get himself killed.
'He come on now, piggie!' he joked, as Captain Black trotted closer and closer. 'Only in fun, okay?'
Finally, "eviscerations and decapitations". Hehe. Yes, he is good at those. I mentioned it briefly in my earlier Spirit post. Well, he goes above and beyond here. Often.
Captain Black stepped onto his face. In pounds-per-square-inch, his muddy trotter had enough force to punch a hole clean through an automobile door. It drove through nose and jaw and palate and brain-pan. There was a high-pitched crunch. Creamy yellow brains squirted out of Bryan's ears like liquid cod roes. He jumped and jerked and flailed his arms in the air, but nobody could look at him because everybody knew that he was dead.
The evisceration and decapitation are mostly the province of the Green Traveller and his companions, so at least there's a hint of ritual and therefore meaning to them.
Oh, except for the guy who stuffs his own intestines into his kitchen sink garbage disposal unit.
Oh, and except for the father who decapitates two of his children with a scythe ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2016
This novel is like two novels in one, one more like FRANKENSTEIN, the other more like DRACULA. There's also a minor third plot involving politics and sex.
The FRANKENSTEIN plot centers around Captain Black, a genetically altered pig. It's not giving too much away to say that, in a horror novel, when you perform scientific experiments, the resulting creature becomes a threat to its creators.
The DRACULA plot centers around the Green Traveller, a figure from Czech legend (as usual, I'm not sure if this is really a legend or if Graham Masterton made it all up) who, in return for ensuring a healthy harvest for a farmer, comes back later to eat the guts of the farmer's children and to rape someone to ensure that his blood line continues, providing more food for later.
As the novel progresses, the two "novels" work their way together and become interrelated, and are seemingly going to merge into one novel. I was engrossed in this book for about 75% of it, but I think that an opportunity to merge the two major plots was missed, and instead the resolution of the stories continued to play out parallel to each other. The author never fully capitalized on the two plots being in one book.
The FRANKENSTEIN plot centers around Captain Black, a genetically altered pig. It's not giving too much away to say that, in a horror novel, when you perform scientific experiments, the resulting creature becomes a threat to its creators.
The DRACULA plot centers around the Green Traveller, a figure from Czech legend (as usual, I'm not sure if this is really a legend or if Graham Masterton made it all up) who, in return for ensuring a healthy harvest for a farmer, comes back later to eat the guts of the farmer's children and to rape someone to ensure that his blood line continues, providing more food for later.
As the novel progresses, the two "novels" work their way together and become interrelated, and are seemingly going to merge into one novel. I was engrossed in this book for about 75% of it, but I think that an opportunity to merge the two major plots was missed, and instead the resolution of the stories continued to play out parallel to each other. The author never fully capitalized on the two plots being in one book.
February 23, 2016
I don’t even know where to begin with this. There’s the fact that the book takes place in Iowa. Iowa, as in, the United States of America. The characters are American, but their vocabulary is often straight up British. No one in Iowa uses a “rubber” to erase a pencil mistake. And wtf. The character names. We have a Luke Friend, a John Husband, and another police officer whose name I can’t remember but follows this same pattern. Was the author picking words out of a bag and assigning them as names or did he worry we wouldn’t understand the characters’ true nature if he didn’t name them thusly. Geezus. But what takes the cake is the moment this bit of dialogue gets rolled out as part of the big reveal:
“You’re trying to tell me that Hog Girl was you?”
“Yes, that Hog Girl was me.”
And it’s not a joke.
“You’re trying to tell me that Hog Girl was you?”
“Yes, that Hog Girl was me.”
And it’s not a joke.
February 28, 2024
This is one of the older Masterton novels and quite a strange one. It is not entirely a horror tale, though it does start with a very chilling couple of chapters with an 80s slasher feel. After this turns police crime thriller for a good while. A second narrative element comes into play and it almost feels like two separate books stitched together. After the second half these two specific story elements come together and it eventually feels like a familiar outlandish Masterton horror story. It is a long book and perhaps could have been edited down by a hundred of more pages but there are some very entertaining and imaginative horror elements as you might expect from this author.
September 6, 2007
I think it was '96 I read this oddball of a book, if not that year then close to it...it started so well...it was tense, dark and had an element of the genuinely disturbing...about halfway through the book all that fell away unfortunately, it descended into the arena of the truly ridiculous...ah well...
July 19, 2021
Graham Masterton knows exactly how to open a book and grab your attention. He also knows how to hold it until the end in spite this far fetched plot - even by horror/fantasy standards.
Even still it’s an entertaining that’s not as good as it’s opening. Probably my least favourite book of his so far but still an enjoyable read.
Even still it’s an entertaining that’s not as good as it’s opening. Probably my least favourite book of his so far but still an enjoyable read.
February 11, 2011
It's hard to find a copy of this title. But, if you do, you will be treated to a gore fest complete with Czech folk demon, a pig the size of a Volkswagen, and a girl raised by feral pigs! So Freakin' crazy, completely unlike anything you have ever read. Loved it!
January 24, 2013
The story started off well with lots of gory bits, but I had trouble keeping my attention on the story. What with the mutant pig etc. Not my cup of tea I'm afraid.
September 5, 2021
The leaves collided with the door yet again. This time the wood frame splintered, and one of the hinges popped. Iris pressed her shoulder against it, but Emily kept tugging at her wrist and screaming, ‘Let him in! Let him in! You have to let him in!’
The leaves crashed against the door again, and yet again, and yet again. Iris’s shoulder was badly jarred, and she felt as if her neck had been whiplashed. But her whole system was flooded with terror and adrenaline, and she knew that she had to keep this thing out of her house
Terry had warned her: the Green Traveller will come knocking at your door, and he will knock and knock and go on knocking until somebody lets him in. And then God help you.
What is one of the oddest books that you have ever read, made unique (in moist cases) by the sheer bizarreness of its plot? One could cite the words of China Miéville of the New Weird movement, what with him being the author of novels like KRAKEN and PERDIDO STREET STATION. Others could mention Neil Gaiman with his tome of mythological oddities, AMERICAN GODS. Another author I’d say often pens strange tales is the magnificent Clive Barker, whose EVERVILLE (second book in the Art Trilogy) features a dream-world, ghosts, magic, cults, giant squids, dust-like ghosts, and other weird shenanigans—and this is only one of his books, not to mention tomes like IMAJICA and WEAVEWORLD. There are quite a few weird books out there, though whether they are good or not is debatable. One such example is FLESH AND BLOOD by English author Graham Masterton, a horror novel written in 1994 that has a fairly outlandish plot—but one that demands to be taken seriously.
One rainy night, a fellow named Terence Pearson takes his three children out into a wheat field, and proceeds to lop of their heads with his sharpest sickle. It is a horrid act, he knows—but he also knows that he is saving them not only from evolving into the evils of humanity, but also from a far worse fate at the hands of a being known as the Green Traveller. However, after his oldest daughter, Emily, escapes and he is forced to kill two more people, he is arrested by the police. When investigating Terry’s house and comforting the madman’s distraught wife, Iris, Sheriff Luke Friend thinks that he has stumbled across the worst case of his life, which is something when you consider the rising crime rate in his town. However, after finding Terry’s notepad to have been written in a Czech language, Luke has no way of knowing that things are going to get much, much worse. So too do things descend into chaos when Emily returns home to Iris—but not the same. Meanwhile, the brain of one of Terry’s children finds itself being used in a genetic experiment that attempts to humanise a hog, this hog being the enormous Captain Black, who already seems to be self-aware in a non-hog-like way. Such an experiment will rock the community, and not only because it has been split by animal-rights protests, but also because there is a dark secret behind Terry and his children—and behind the murders and the rampaging horror, the Green Traveller lurks, waiting, and soon he comes with his companions to begin a reign of terror that some will not recover from, that some will not live to see through…
The night was still warm when Luke left the office, although there were distant flickers of lightning. The weather forecast hadn’t predicted rain, but late-summer weather was always unstable. There was a feeling in the air that things were going to change; that something strange and inexplicable was about to happen.
If I’m being honest, the only reason I borrowed out FLESH AND BLOOD from my public library was because the synopsis was too hilariously ludicrous to resist. I mean, how could I? An evil pig! David Vs. Goliath, but David is a normal guy while Goliath is a giant hog with the brain of a descendant of an evil monster? Could it get weirder? I went into this book expecting a cheesy piece of crap, but an entertaining one. However, FLESH AND BLOOD (somehow) managed to defy my expectations…though it is still hilariously ludicrous in some places.
I really enjoyed the Green Traveller aspect; in fact, the way that Masterton approaches this subject is possibly one of the best examples of horror in the ’90s. (By the way, FLESH AND BLOOD is very much a ’90s horror novel, filled with ’90s-horror gore and ’90s-horror sex.) The Green Traveller and his companions are certainly menacing, and during the first scene in which you see them “in action” (about a quarter of the way through the book, give or take) is actually a pretty strong sequence of terror. While it is true that Masterton does use a lot of violence—the amount of gore here is almost excessive, and, as mentioned, very ’90s—he also puts in effort to create a genuinely chilling atmosphere, which he, for the most part, succeeds in doing. If anything, the violence strives to add to this atmosphere, as it makes you fear the antagonists and for the protagonists as they face creatures who cause such bloodshed. I also found the mythology behind the Green Traveller really interesting, especially when Masterton weaves biblical themes with Slavic legend to create his own variation of Janek-the-Green. The whole story about the Thirty Coins that make the Green Traveller and his companions stay one heartbeat behind the rest of the world? Awesome!
The corridor was dark, the kitchen was dark, but the yard outside was bright with moonlight. Iris saw the drifts of greenish-silvery leaves, some of the, dancing and whirling in the wind, but she saw something else, too. Something huge and shadowy, right in the middle of the yard. Something that shuffled. She didn’t know if it was a bush or a gigantic heap of leaves, or a man who was cloaked in leaves.
Then you have the Captain Black aspect of the story, said name belonging to the gigantic pig who scientists give the brain of a three-year-old (who may or may not be related to the Green Traveller (though I didn’t mention this in my synopsis, this isn’t actually a spoiler; you just have to look this book up and it will tell you that the Green Traveller is somehow related to Terry’s children)) to. The idea of a demonic hog killing somebody is laughable—until Captain Black finally kills a few people, and you find yourself horrified. I myself was shocked by the graphic nature of the scene in which Captain Black claims his first victims, its gore standing out in FLESH AND BLOOD despite how bloody the novel gets following this scene, along with how bloody it had been before it. However, the story arc of Captain Black is also quite interesting, along with the experiment used to give the hog a “human soul”.
Despite its heavy layers of gore, though, I found meaning within FLESH AND BLOOD that, although possibly being different to what other people found, I think is quite powerful. In my opinion, Masterton’s novel is about the horrors we unleash by letting certain factors control our lives and influence our actions in changing our present situations without actually considering what such acts will make our futures like: It’s in the way that the researchers let scientific innovation inspire them to create the monstrosity that is Captain Black without consideration for what such a beast would mean in the long run; it’s in the way that farmers would let their hunger and lack of money drive them to seek out the Green Traveller as a solution, sacrificing their futures for the present; it’s in the way that certain characters let their idea of reality stop them from seeing the truth, only to find that-which-cannot-exist lunging towards them, hungry for blood. To me, FLESH AND BLOOD is a novel that warns against the dangers of letting outside forces take control of our lives instead of us human beings controlling ourselves, of how we let certain factors influence our decisions to make our presents better without giving a thought to our futures.
He had influence only over those we readily agreed to what he had to offer; but it was remarkable how many people did. They were quite prepared to sacrifice the future of unconceived, unbaptised children, so long as they could have wealth and plenty now.
However, although it is possibly a novel ripe with meaning, FLESH AND BLOOD is still a very, very gory novel. In fact, I’d go so far as to call it a slasher-novel, what with the blood and bits of intestines that are splashed across the pages constantly, from the opening scene to the finale. An example: Sheriff Luke Friend goes to somebody’s apartment for a reason I won’t provide (because this isn’t enough of a spoiler already) only to find that the man has sliced open his belly and shoved his intestines into his insinkerator, which is like a blender that you put in your sink to cut up food waste (I think). The body is held in an upright, standing position because the blade has been caught in the organs; after a while, his intestines snap and the body falls over. Another example is of a character being pierced through the eye and temporarily stuck to the wall—but not immediately killed—by a sword. As I said, the amount of gore in FLESH AND BLOOD is what brings to mind a slasher film like Friday the 13th or Halloween.
One hog went for his face, and when that happened he knew he was dead; and he wanted to die, too. He felt its breath on his face, and then it dug its teeth into his cheek and the side of his nose, and bit right through skin, flesh, cartilage and bone, and literally pulled his face away from his skull. Through half-blinded eyes, he saw the hog twisting its head away, with flesh hanging from its jaws; and then he felt the rain against his fleshless cheekbones.
The gore, however, does not mean that FLESH AND BLOOD has the mindless role-filling characters who often plague slasher films with their idiocy; Masterton’s characters are, for the most part, developed quite well (though there are a few exceptions). I found Sheriff Luke Friend—the overweight guy who wants to stop eating bad food, wants to stop betraying his wife’s efforts to trim him down, but just can’t resist—to be a sympathetic character with real human struggles to contend with alongside the supernatural threats. (However, I wish I could say that some of the dialogue didn’t have ’90s-slasher cheesiness, but that would be a lie).
There is a sense of dread to FLESH AND BLOOD that urges you to keep flipping the pages, to find out who will be alive by the end of the novel and who will not. At the same time, though, you are scared to, as who will be the next victim? What will the next scene of gore or terror depict? Where will the Green Traveller spring from this time, or who will Captain Black claim as his next casualty? Masterton creates suspense in an effective way that captures readers’ attention like any good horror novel should, while also conveying a sense of atmospheric gravity, the kind that makes you shiver due to the enormity of what is happening.
It was an intense concentration of storm and leaves and Nature’s unshackled fury. It was the power of the planet Earth itself, its energy, its growth, its mysticism, It’s explosive all-consuming energy. Saturn might eat his children; but Earth ate its children and its children’s children, and this was how it did it.
To conclude: FLESH AND BLOOD, while being a bit cheesy in the way that a slasher film from the ’90s is, with laughably bad dialogue peppered throughout and improbable occurrences such as a woman who can talk perfect hog-talk (yeah, you read that right), is still a fairly good gore-soaked horror novel that Masterton writes in an effective way, and I will be sure to borrow out some of his other novels from the library when I can.
The leaves crashed against the door again, and yet again, and yet again. Iris’s shoulder was badly jarred, and she felt as if her neck had been whiplashed. But her whole system was flooded with terror and adrenaline, and she knew that she had to keep this thing out of her house
Terry had warned her: the Green Traveller will come knocking at your door, and he will knock and knock and go on knocking until somebody lets him in. And then God help you.
What is one of the oddest books that you have ever read, made unique (in moist cases) by the sheer bizarreness of its plot? One could cite the words of China Miéville of the New Weird movement, what with him being the author of novels like KRAKEN and PERDIDO STREET STATION. Others could mention Neil Gaiman with his tome of mythological oddities, AMERICAN GODS. Another author I’d say often pens strange tales is the magnificent Clive Barker, whose EVERVILLE (second book in the Art Trilogy) features a dream-world, ghosts, magic, cults, giant squids, dust-like ghosts, and other weird shenanigans—and this is only one of his books, not to mention tomes like IMAJICA and WEAVEWORLD. There are quite a few weird books out there, though whether they are good or not is debatable. One such example is FLESH AND BLOOD by English author Graham Masterton, a horror novel written in 1994 that has a fairly outlandish plot—but one that demands to be taken seriously.
One rainy night, a fellow named Terence Pearson takes his three children out into a wheat field, and proceeds to lop of their heads with his sharpest sickle. It is a horrid act, he knows—but he also knows that he is saving them not only from evolving into the evils of humanity, but also from a far worse fate at the hands of a being known as the Green Traveller. However, after his oldest daughter, Emily, escapes and he is forced to kill two more people, he is arrested by the police. When investigating Terry’s house and comforting the madman’s distraught wife, Iris, Sheriff Luke Friend thinks that he has stumbled across the worst case of his life, which is something when you consider the rising crime rate in his town. However, after finding Terry’s notepad to have been written in a Czech language, Luke has no way of knowing that things are going to get much, much worse. So too do things descend into chaos when Emily returns home to Iris—but not the same. Meanwhile, the brain of one of Terry’s children finds itself being used in a genetic experiment that attempts to humanise a hog, this hog being the enormous Captain Black, who already seems to be self-aware in a non-hog-like way. Such an experiment will rock the community, and not only because it has been split by animal-rights protests, but also because there is a dark secret behind Terry and his children—and behind the murders and the rampaging horror, the Green Traveller lurks, waiting, and soon he comes with his companions to begin a reign of terror that some will not recover from, that some will not live to see through…
The night was still warm when Luke left the office, although there were distant flickers of lightning. The weather forecast hadn’t predicted rain, but late-summer weather was always unstable. There was a feeling in the air that things were going to change; that something strange and inexplicable was about to happen.
If I’m being honest, the only reason I borrowed out FLESH AND BLOOD from my public library was because the synopsis was too hilariously ludicrous to resist. I mean, how could I? An evil pig! David Vs. Goliath, but David is a normal guy while Goliath is a giant hog with the brain of a descendant of an evil monster? Could it get weirder? I went into this book expecting a cheesy piece of crap, but an entertaining one. However, FLESH AND BLOOD (somehow) managed to defy my expectations…though it is still hilariously ludicrous in some places.
I really enjoyed the Green Traveller aspect; in fact, the way that Masterton approaches this subject is possibly one of the best examples of horror in the ’90s. (By the way, FLESH AND BLOOD is very much a ’90s horror novel, filled with ’90s-horror gore and ’90s-horror sex.) The Green Traveller and his companions are certainly menacing, and during the first scene in which you see them “in action” (about a quarter of the way through the book, give or take) is actually a pretty strong sequence of terror. While it is true that Masterton does use a lot of violence—the amount of gore here is almost excessive, and, as mentioned, very ’90s—he also puts in effort to create a genuinely chilling atmosphere, which he, for the most part, succeeds in doing. If anything, the violence strives to add to this atmosphere, as it makes you fear the antagonists and for the protagonists as they face creatures who cause such bloodshed. I also found the mythology behind the Green Traveller really interesting, especially when Masterton weaves biblical themes with Slavic legend to create his own variation of Janek-the-Green. The whole story about the Thirty Coins that make the Green Traveller and his companions stay one heartbeat behind the rest of the world? Awesome!
The corridor was dark, the kitchen was dark, but the yard outside was bright with moonlight. Iris saw the drifts of greenish-silvery leaves, some of the, dancing and whirling in the wind, but she saw something else, too. Something huge and shadowy, right in the middle of the yard. Something that shuffled. She didn’t know if it was a bush or a gigantic heap of leaves, or a man who was cloaked in leaves.
Then you have the Captain Black aspect of the story, said name belonging to the gigantic pig who scientists give the brain of a three-year-old (who may or may not be related to the Green Traveller (though I didn’t mention this in my synopsis, this isn’t actually a spoiler; you just have to look this book up and it will tell you that the Green Traveller is somehow related to Terry’s children)) to. The idea of a demonic hog killing somebody is laughable—until Captain Black finally kills a few people, and you find yourself horrified. I myself was shocked by the graphic nature of the scene in which Captain Black claims his first victims, its gore standing out in FLESH AND BLOOD despite how bloody the novel gets following this scene, along with how bloody it had been before it. However, the story arc of Captain Black is also quite interesting, along with the experiment used to give the hog a “human soul”.
Despite its heavy layers of gore, though, I found meaning within FLESH AND BLOOD that, although possibly being different to what other people found, I think is quite powerful. In my opinion, Masterton’s novel is about the horrors we unleash by letting certain factors control our lives and influence our actions in changing our present situations without actually considering what such acts will make our futures like: It’s in the way that the researchers let scientific innovation inspire them to create the monstrosity that is Captain Black without consideration for what such a beast would mean in the long run; it’s in the way that farmers would let their hunger and lack of money drive them to seek out the Green Traveller as a solution, sacrificing their futures for the present; it’s in the way that certain characters let their idea of reality stop them from seeing the truth, only to find that-which-cannot-exist lunging towards them, hungry for blood. To me, FLESH AND BLOOD is a novel that warns against the dangers of letting outside forces take control of our lives instead of us human beings controlling ourselves, of how we let certain factors influence our decisions to make our presents better without giving a thought to our futures.
He had influence only over those we readily agreed to what he had to offer; but it was remarkable how many people did. They were quite prepared to sacrifice the future of unconceived, unbaptised children, so long as they could have wealth and plenty now.
However, although it is possibly a novel ripe with meaning, FLESH AND BLOOD is still a very, very gory novel. In fact, I’d go so far as to call it a slasher-novel, what with the blood and bits of intestines that are splashed across the pages constantly, from the opening scene to the finale. An example: Sheriff Luke Friend goes to somebody’s apartment for a reason I won’t provide (because this isn’t enough of a spoiler already) only to find that the man has sliced open his belly and shoved his intestines into his insinkerator, which is like a blender that you put in your sink to cut up food waste (I think). The body is held in an upright, standing position because the blade has been caught in the organs; after a while, his intestines snap and the body falls over. Another example is of a character being pierced through the eye and temporarily stuck to the wall—but not immediately killed—by a sword. As I said, the amount of gore in FLESH AND BLOOD is what brings to mind a slasher film like Friday the 13th or Halloween.
One hog went for his face, and when that happened he knew he was dead; and he wanted to die, too. He felt its breath on his face, and then it dug its teeth into his cheek and the side of his nose, and bit right through skin, flesh, cartilage and bone, and literally pulled his face away from his skull. Through half-blinded eyes, he saw the hog twisting its head away, with flesh hanging from its jaws; and then he felt the rain against his fleshless cheekbones.
The gore, however, does not mean that FLESH AND BLOOD has the mindless role-filling characters who often plague slasher films with their idiocy; Masterton’s characters are, for the most part, developed quite well (though there are a few exceptions). I found Sheriff Luke Friend—the overweight guy who wants to stop eating bad food, wants to stop betraying his wife’s efforts to trim him down, but just can’t resist—to be a sympathetic character with real human struggles to contend with alongside the supernatural threats. (However, I wish I could say that some of the dialogue didn’t have ’90s-slasher cheesiness, but that would be a lie).
There is a sense of dread to FLESH AND BLOOD that urges you to keep flipping the pages, to find out who will be alive by the end of the novel and who will not. At the same time, though, you are scared to, as who will be the next victim? What will the next scene of gore or terror depict? Where will the Green Traveller spring from this time, or who will Captain Black claim as his next casualty? Masterton creates suspense in an effective way that captures readers’ attention like any good horror novel should, while also conveying a sense of atmospheric gravity, the kind that makes you shiver due to the enormity of what is happening.
It was an intense concentration of storm and leaves and Nature’s unshackled fury. It was the power of the planet Earth itself, its energy, its growth, its mysticism, It’s explosive all-consuming energy. Saturn might eat his children; but Earth ate its children and its children’s children, and this was how it did it.
To conclude: FLESH AND BLOOD, while being a bit cheesy in the way that a slasher film from the ’90s is, with laughably bad dialogue peppered throughout and improbable occurrences such as a woman who can talk perfect hog-talk (yeah, you read that right), is still a fairly good gore-soaked horror novel that Masterton writes in an effective way, and I will be sure to borrow out some of his other novels from the library when I can.
September 10, 2022
Rating: C+
CW: Child death, death of a parent, blood, gore, animal death, dubious consent, graphic sex scenes, medical content, kidnapping, torture, gun violence
This book...is both really frightening and really goofy. It has insanely graphic deaths, no one can catch a break, but it also completely fizzles out by the end. And the way the story is connected...is in the weakest way with almost no explanation.
There are two main story threads with this book:
1. Terence drives his 3 children to a secluded area to do exactly what you expect to them due to their "bad blood"/cursed bloodline. His oldest daughter survives due to a timely arrival by the police.
2. A group of scientists are experimenting on pigs to make their organs viable for human organ transplant and make cheaper meat(?) that is self-aware. They end up transplanting the brain of one of Terence's children into the hog.
The book ends up being a very graphic and horrifying story of the cops trying to solve the local town murders while uncovering information about storyline 1, and the giant pig in storyline 2 rampaging and murdering people on its own.
The book had so many incredible graphic, gory scenes with brutal, well-detailed deaths, but it also just wore me down with how many deaths there were. Over the course of the book it felt like it actually was building up to something big, but I felt like the final climactic scenes were really underwhelming. The cursed hog was widely underutilised and very minor to the story; the Green Traveller storyline was really strong at the start, but completely subverted by the fact that instead of teleporting everywhere like supernatural beings are expected to, the group actually hides out in a Toyota Tarago and drives around like a group of soccer mums going to a tupperware party.
I did really like the Janek myth but the more it was explained, the weaker it became. The mystery itself was what was so compelling; I loved all the little stories interwoven in the book where even the schoolkids are singing songs about him. It was absolutely terrifying.
But yes, ultimately, the book really lets you down in terms of quality content. It falls into several pitfalls of old horror with the treatment of women and having interesting characters that aren't men; additionally - the male characters were not that interesting except for Luke Friend. It's an acceptable read, but not one I would recommend.
CW: Child death, death of a parent, blood, gore, animal death, dubious consent, graphic sex scenes, medical content, kidnapping, torture, gun violence
This book...is both really frightening and really goofy. It has insanely graphic deaths, no one can catch a break, but it also completely fizzles out by the end. And the way the story is connected...is in the weakest way with almost no explanation.
There are two main story threads with this book:
1. Terence drives his 3 children to a secluded area to do exactly what you expect to them due to their "bad blood"/cursed bloodline. His oldest daughter survives due to a timely arrival by the police.
2. A group of scientists are experimenting on pigs to make their organs viable for human organ transplant and make cheaper meat(?) that is self-aware. They end up transplanting the brain of one of Terence's children into the hog.
The book ends up being a very graphic and horrifying story of the cops trying to solve the local town murders while uncovering information about storyline 1, and the giant pig in storyline 2 rampaging and murdering people on its own.
The book had so many incredible graphic, gory scenes with brutal, well-detailed deaths, but it also just wore me down with how many deaths there were. Over the course of the book it felt like it actually was building up to something big, but I felt like the final climactic scenes were really underwhelming. The cursed hog was widely underutilised and very minor to the story; the Green Traveller storyline was really strong at the start, but completely subverted by the fact that instead of teleporting everywhere like supernatural beings are expected to, the group actually hides out in a Toyota Tarago and drives around like a group of soccer mums going to a tupperware party.
I did really like the Janek myth but the more it was explained, the weaker it became. The mystery itself was what was so compelling; I loved all the little stories interwoven in the book where even the schoolkids are singing songs about him. It was absolutely terrifying.
But yes, ultimately, the book really lets you down in terms of quality content. It falls into several pitfalls of old horror with the treatment of women and having interesting characters that aren't men; additionally - the male characters were not that interesting except for Luke Friend. It's an acceptable read, but not one I would recommend.
June 26, 2014
I really enjoyed this – it's the first book I've read by Graham Masterton and won't be the last. I've already gone ahead and ordered some of his other books – he's been writing forever so a lot of his books are one penny on Amazon :-) this was the story of an ancient Czechoslovakian myth of the green traveler, a creature that is half human half plant and immortal, walking the earth with some companions and fathering children that he later comes to "collect." The book starts with a brutal murder, and gets much more brutal before the ending. The Gore isn't gratuitous, but be advised that this is a gory book. There are several other plotlines going on at the same time – there is the police officers investigating all the strange goings on connected to the green traveler, there is a cadre of animal rights activists (basically terrorists) and their more respectable allies trying to push a vegetarian bill through Congress, there is both a senator who was involved and a very mentally unstable beautiful woman who is an animal rights activist. The more radical animal rights activists are planning to break into a research facility and free Capt. Black, a one and a half ton pig that has been given the mind of a three-year-old child. The operation to change the mind of the animal backfires horribly and the creature goes on a rampage, killing scientists and terrorizing the public. All these different strands are brought together very neatly at the end, and I like how the author was able to keep so many balls up in the air and do such a good job resolving every loose end
December 22, 2017
El mismo año en que Masterton publicó "La pesadilla" también acometió esta novela mucho más ambiciosa aunque con un resultado algo irregular. Esta historia ambientada en una comunidad rural Cedar Rapids, Iowa, mezcla mitología checa, teorías genéticas magufas, experimentación con animales y en menor medida los habituales tejemanejes políticos que tanto le gustan. El "viajero verde", un ser mitológico checo con un "entourage" terrorífico se dedica a buscar a sus descendientes (que concibió a cambio de buenas cosechas) para devorar sus tripas, mientras que en un doble salto mortal de trama el cerebro de uno de ellos acaba siendo usado en un experimento con un jabalí genéticamente alterado. Quizá tenga demasiada información para su propio bien, pero Masterton demuestra aquí que es un hacha (no pun intended) manejando mitologías antiguas en un contexto moderno, llegando aquí a alcanzar cotas a lo Neil Gaiman bastante interesantes. Quizá, como siempre, su final descarrile algo, pero su mezcla de violencia, esperpento y sorprendente emotividad me ha calado.
February 7, 2025
I decided to pick this up from a charity shop while on holiday based solely off the fastastic Captian Black illustration by Nick Farmer and title alone, with no knowledge of Graham Masterton's works at all. I truly enjoyed this book and following the split naratives and fantastical Czech mythology/hair-raising details of The Green Traveller despite their very different plotlines, and I appreciated how much he fleshed out the characters throughout this book.
I found that the EIGHT page graphic sex scene wasn't necessary between the already established relationship of 2 characters, and the urine/owership fetish had me cringing more than some of the gore though unfortunately. After I skipped through the smutty chunk of the book, I googled Graham and was surprised to discover his resume lol. For a man that started out at Penthouse, I'm shocked how well he writes horror!
In summary, Graham Masterton is slowly becoming my new favourite horror author, and I'm looking forward to picking up more of his work (just started Family Portrait that I also got at the charity shop).
I found that the EIGHT page graphic sex scene wasn't necessary between the already established relationship of 2 characters, and the urine/owership fetish had me cringing more than some of the gore though unfortunately. After I skipped through the smutty chunk of the book, I googled Graham and was surprised to discover his resume lol. For a man that started out at Penthouse, I'm shocked how well he writes horror!
In summary, Graham Masterton is slowly becoming my new favourite horror author, and I'm looking forward to picking up more of his work (just started Family Portrait that I also got at the charity shop).
May 6, 2015
I really did enjoy reading as these different story threads came together. The idea that a myth or folk tale could be essentially a factual accounting isn't really something new. But this is more than that. You've got animal rights activists with their own twisted back story. There's a ton and a half pig which gets a human brain graft; a three year old with a family history that goes back into mythology. An incestual blood line tied to the myth. The plot thickens into a pseudo sci-fi animal rights political who-dunit horror with a side of sex just in case something else doesn't get it done for ya.
There were quite a few speed bumps along the way: There's a fistful of 'mat' instead of 'that' and a couple of cases of 'could of' instead of 'could have' and even a 'then' instead of 'than.' It needs another editorial pass...
There were quite a few speed bumps along the way: There's a fistful of 'mat' instead of 'that' and a couple of cases of 'could of' instead of 'could have' and even a 'then' instead of 'than.' It needs another editorial pass...
December 1, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. It was shlocky and weird. But it was well-written and well-paced.
I enjoyed every page of it. It was a very smooth read and had decent prose.
The story was totally bizarre. It included homicidal immortals that had passed from history in to myth; people being killed by occult methods; a massive genetically engineered hog/ wild boar that is spliced with human DNA; a woman who has been raised by pigs; all sorts of sordid characters.
The first thirty pages are amongst the most shocking and tragic I have ever read in horror fiction.
I love horror fictio and look for original stories, interesting characters and a tale to really spook me.
This book delivers in spades. I will definitely read more Graham Masterton in the near future.
Mr Masterton doesn't take prisoners.
I enjoyed every page of it. It was a very smooth read and had decent prose.
The story was totally bizarre. It included homicidal immortals that had passed from history in to myth; people being killed by occult methods; a massive genetically engineered hog/ wild boar that is spliced with human DNA; a woman who has been raised by pigs; all sorts of sordid characters.
The first thirty pages are amongst the most shocking and tragic I have ever read in horror fiction.
I love horror fictio and look for original stories, interesting characters and a tale to really spook me.
This book delivers in spades. I will definitely read more Graham Masterton in the near future.
Mr Masterton doesn't take prisoners.
November 4, 2017
I always enjoy Graham Masterton's horror novels & while this one is no exception, but I wish in a way that it had only dealt with the Green Traveller and his fearsome entourage. To some extent the subplots involving Captain Black, the unbelievable Zapf Cady bill, brain sample transplants etc, were unnecessary & I personally would have preferred the story to concentrate on the legend & folklore side & to have read more of the Green Traveller & Co........but that said it's still a riveting read!
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>February 25, 2011
I like this book.... I've read it probably five or six times, but on this last read something began to annoy me. Masterton uses TV tropes way too often. in one part a police officer is pointing a gun this way and that, and she is described as 'like jodie foster in silence of the lambs'. lots of his quoted tropes I have not seen the movie for and how hard is it really to describe an action by a character without quoting movies or television? it pulls you out of the narrative and makes you aware of your surroundings and need coffee... annoying.
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