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The Bridge
When the great storm comes, the good life ends. And hell on Earth begins. For 100 years we’ve been tossing our toxic waste over our shoulders. No more. This morning, while we slept, something woke up. It’s virulent. Malign. Intelligent. Ambitious. It’s in our food, our water, our air. It’s inside our bodies themselves. And it’s not leaving. We are.
366 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1991
47 people are currently reading
1195 people want to read
About the author
John Skipp
109 books290 followersJohn Skipp is a splatterpunk horror and fantasy author and anthology editor, as well as a songwriter, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He collaborated with Craig Spector on multiple novels, and has also collaborated with Marc Levinthal and Cody Goodfellow.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
March 14, 2025
For all the keen metaphorical value supported by the conceptual construct of a bridge, it crumbles while overpassing a flesh-assimilating sludge that writhes up through drains to dissolve children as they bathe, and amass an army of congealed chromosomes.
Original, seminal splatterpunk that doesn’t neglect the suffix of the moniker. Eco horror at its slimy, grimy, nihilistic nastiest. I started reading this behind a dumpster, an unintentionally immersive experience that will linger.
A shame Stuart Gordon or Brian Yuzna never got a hold of it for an oozing B-movie maladaptation. Chuck Russell’s remake of The Blob is a solid—make that gelatinous—companion piece.
Original, seminal splatterpunk that doesn’t neglect the suffix of the moniker. Eco horror at its slimy, grimy, nihilistic nastiest. I started reading this behind a dumpster, an unintentionally immersive experience that will linger.
A shame Stuart Gordon or Brian Yuzna never got a hold of it for an oozing B-movie maladaptation. Chuck Russell’s remake of The Blob is a solid—make that gelatinous—companion piece.
October 20, 2010
This recently re-issued horror classic is a most easily described as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring if it was polluted by George Romero's the Crazies. Right up there with the eco-horror-science fiction classic the Sheep Look Up (John Brunner) or the more recent Demons by John Shirley for combining the reality of pollution and environmental destruction with a down right scary horror novel. If you don't know John Skipp and Craig Spector maybe I should back up. These two men were the ultimate splatterpunk writing team who wrote the most extreme horror novels to grace the New York times bestseller list in the 1980's. They also wrote a novelization for Fright night, wrote set reports for Fangoria and even wrote a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel (the fifth film).
The team long ago split both doing excellent solo work, and Skipp now working with one of my favorite writers Cody Goodfellow. Spector released the amazing novel Underground. The Bridge is set in Paradise Pennsylvania, a small town near a nuclear reactor. For years a a small salvage company has used the the same bridge to dump unwanted waste into the river that flows by the city. One night a barrel cracks open in the river and sets off a chain of events. At times the novel follows the news crew trying to follow the story, the family responsible for the waste, the CEO of the company who created it, the crew running 911, and the nuclear reactor. Terror creeps across the town and every single page is entertaining.
The Bridge is an amazing example of horror, it leaves little doubt what novel is Skipp and Spector's masterpiece. Less dated than The Scream or Light at the End (Both work as excellent novels of their era) The Bridge elevates the splatterpunk to the lofty some what fake arena of literary horror. (I know almost all of it is literary – I say that for the doubters). It's not that this writing duo had not written other fine works of horror, this one is just head and shoulders above the rest. It is one of the best horror novels of the 90's if you ask this humble reader.
What makes The Bridge such an essential horror novel? First Skipp and Spector shred the rules, these are tired and true rules the teachers and wise sages in our genre have set up to help us young writers. The thing is Skipp and Spector have the skills to violate some of these rules and get away with it. They create lots of characters and shift the readers point of view all over the place. Often using this technique with a razor sharp punchlines that end chapters or transition the action from one location to another. They speak directly to the reader often in this novel and some times just slightly break down the fourth wall. Some readers might find this preachy but considering the topic of the novel that doesn't bother me, it excited me that the authors were boldly telling it like it is.
Another aspect that sets The Bridge apart is the obvious heavy lifting the duo did in research. This novel came out in 1991, Al Gore had not created the internet. This book has detailed information on toxic waste, pollution, the operation of 911, Hazmat clean-up, on and on. It breathes a realism into this novel.
The characters are rich, their motivations believable and the horror climbs a ladder of suspense. As British petroleum creates the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history (40 days in at the time of this writing) The Bridge could not be more relevant for re-issue. This is more than just another horror novel it is a entertaining thrill ride that happens also to be a warning with incredible foresight.
It's a mass market paperback, and I am afraid that libraries avoid these books. A trade paperback or pretty looking hardcover might do a better job of conveying the importance of this novel, but it should be in every collection. It's that good.
The team long ago split both doing excellent solo work, and Skipp now working with one of my favorite writers Cody Goodfellow. Spector released the amazing novel Underground. The Bridge is set in Paradise Pennsylvania, a small town near a nuclear reactor. For years a a small salvage company has used the the same bridge to dump unwanted waste into the river that flows by the city. One night a barrel cracks open in the river and sets off a chain of events. At times the novel follows the news crew trying to follow the story, the family responsible for the waste, the CEO of the company who created it, the crew running 911, and the nuclear reactor. Terror creeps across the town and every single page is entertaining.
The Bridge is an amazing example of horror, it leaves little doubt what novel is Skipp and Spector's masterpiece. Less dated than The Scream or Light at the End (Both work as excellent novels of their era) The Bridge elevates the splatterpunk to the lofty some what fake arena of literary horror. (I know almost all of it is literary – I say that for the doubters). It's not that this writing duo had not written other fine works of horror, this one is just head and shoulders above the rest. It is one of the best horror novels of the 90's if you ask this humble reader.
What makes The Bridge such an essential horror novel? First Skipp and Spector shred the rules, these are tired and true rules the teachers and wise sages in our genre have set up to help us young writers. The thing is Skipp and Spector have the skills to violate some of these rules and get away with it. They create lots of characters and shift the readers point of view all over the place. Often using this technique with a razor sharp punchlines that end chapters or transition the action from one location to another. They speak directly to the reader often in this novel and some times just slightly break down the fourth wall. Some readers might find this preachy but considering the topic of the novel that doesn't bother me, it excited me that the authors were boldly telling it like it is.
Another aspect that sets The Bridge apart is the obvious heavy lifting the duo did in research. This novel came out in 1991, Al Gore had not created the internet. This book has detailed information on toxic waste, pollution, the operation of 911, Hazmat clean-up, on and on. It breathes a realism into this novel.
The characters are rich, their motivations believable and the horror climbs a ladder of suspense. As British petroleum creates the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history (40 days in at the time of this writing) The Bridge could not be more relevant for re-issue. This is more than just another horror novel it is a entertaining thrill ride that happens also to be a warning with incredible foresight.
It's a mass market paperback, and I am afraid that libraries avoid these books. A trade paperback or pretty looking hardcover might do a better job of conveying the importance of this novel, but it should be in every collection. It's that good.
September 20, 2020
This book was so amusing, in the darkest, messiest, and most horrifying way. The writing was clever, the characters fun, the plot was preposterously over the top. I really enjoyed the author's descriptions with lines like - "He was overweight and underworked, the kind of guy who pissed off easily and held grudges with the half-life of plutonium." so much fun. I felt like I had been transported back to my teenage years and loving every word on the page. And the 'monsters' - so terrifying and unique - there was no mercy given to anyone. I found myself rooting for some of the characters, with hopeful futility, only to be crushed as I read their excruciating departures. I was hopelessly entertained throughout.
October 24, 2025
My second book I've read by Skipp and Spector and I had a great time with it. Its basically about humans destroying the environment and how nature fights back. The descriptions of the creatures, mutations and body horror are just brillant and extremely vivid and gory.
The ending especially so with the scene involving the baby grossed me out. It does suffer from having to many characters most of which dont really need to be there and are at times hard to keep track of and I didn't like the whole ghost apparition with the character Micki. That bit was so out of place and distracting.
I even enjoyed the final notes on how we can better the environment and take action and get involved and make change they added at the end. Apparently a CD was released as well as a soundtrack to this book which is cool and will have to try and track down. Solid writing from these two, if the plot was a little more concise it would of been 4.5 or 5 stars.
The ending especially so with the scene involving the baby grossed me out. It does suffer from having to many characters most of which dont really need to be there and are at times hard to keep track of and I didn't like the whole ghost apparition with the character Micki. That bit was so out of place and distracting.
I even enjoyed the final notes on how we can better the environment and take action and get involved and make change they added at the end. Apparently a CD was released as well as a soundtrack to this book which is cool and will have to try and track down. Solid writing from these two, if the plot was a little more concise it would of been 4.5 or 5 stars.
December 11, 2020
A stunning, visceral read by the duo Skipp and Spector that helped create splatterpunk. The Bridge is also a parable of humanity's disregard for nature and the environment in general. The story is set in Paradise, PA, a town of almost 200,000 people, and covers roughly a two day period. Paradise is home to several industries that create toxic waste, and one business stores and disposes of the waste, often illegally. We start off with two rednecks hired by the toxic waste company, hauling several barrels of toxic junk to dump off a bridge over a creek (hence the title). In the process of doing so, the bridge an old friend to the dumpers, something new emerges and thrives in the toxic soup. Surging with new found life, it seeks to spread as wide and as far as possible, transforming everything in it path.
Skipp and Spector create several great characters and the POV moves among them constantly. While many are introduced simply to perish gruesomely (chronicling the spread of the toxic 'overmind'), others, more developed, serve to provide an overview of the events. It is difficult to describe this book without spoilers, so I will simply say this book grabs you from the first page and does not let go until the end, and forget happy endings-- this is 'progressive' horror at its best. Keene blurbs on the cover that The Bridge is "The seminal splatterpunk novel that redefined the genre... and has lost none of its intensity or power" and I agree. You will never look or consider waste in the same way after reading this. My only criticism concerns the writing style, which seems abrupt at times, and at others a little hard to follow. 4.5 stars!!
Skipp and Spector create several great characters and the POV moves among them constantly. While many are introduced simply to perish gruesomely (chronicling the spread of the toxic 'overmind'), others, more developed, serve to provide an overview of the events. It is difficult to describe this book without spoilers, so I will simply say this book grabs you from the first page and does not let go until the end, and forget happy endings-- this is 'progressive' horror at its best. Keene blurbs on the cover that The Bridge is "The seminal splatterpunk novel that redefined the genre... and has lost none of its intensity or power" and I agree. You will never look or consider waste in the same way after reading this. My only criticism concerns the writing style, which seems abrupt at times, and at others a little hard to follow. 4.5 stars!!
May 26, 2020
The Bridge might not be the best written of the Skipp and Spector collaborations, but it may well be the most important of their novels. It's a cautionary tale of ecological and environmental awareness, told with a splatterpunk viewpoint, with all of the visceral goriness they could muster (and anyone who's read them knows they could muster quite a lot!), rather than as the usual if-this-goes-on science-fiction cautionary tale. It starts with the dumping of toxic waste off of a bridge in a small Pennsylvania town (hi George Romero!), and quickly escalates from there. There's a lengthy appendix at the end of the book with tips and further reading on recycling and conservation and pollution; some of the individual listings are no longer timely, but the message remains the same today. I recommend the book highly for extreme horror fans. As a side note, Skipp and Spector recorded a rock album based on the novel, "The Bridge: Soundtrack for the Movie in Your Mind," which I purchased after reading the novel. I rather enjoyed it, though some of my family members told me it was the most awful thing they'd ever heard.
December 23, 2024
In the Splatterpunk world of fiction, there are a number of authors and books who defined and launched the genre. Since it’s beginning, Splatterpunk has forged ahead on the tenement that any extreme violence or graphic events are specifically in the book to move the story forward. That is one of the major differences between Splatterpunk and Extreme horror, though that definition has seemingly become diluted and blended over the last few years.
I’ve had ‘The Bridge’ on my Kindle for a number of years, but it wasn’t until back in September of this year (2024), when I was discussing the books that seemed to have launched Splatterpunk with Nick Cutter, that he said I needed to bump this book up my TBR and read it. According to Nick, this is one of those books that launched a thousand books and influenced his own releases as Nick and Patrick Lestewka.
So, with that in mind, I dove in recently, excited to see where this one went.
What I liked: At its core, the novel is an environmental story about man’s destructive ways. It follows the events in a small town after years of toxic waste has been dumped in the creek and on this particular day, a storm rages and conditions are perfect for the waste to transform into a sentient killing beast.
Within that overarching narrative, we get smaller stories of many of the people who live in the town, their roles in the toxic waste mayhem, as well as those who’re innocent and deal with the repercussions of what those have done behind closed doors.
It’s a fascinating examination of what happens when some do whatever they want for power, money, greed and control, while also investigating the trickle effect of those stomped on. That metaphor works well to be applied across any time period, which makes the main story line almost timeless.
The gore is plenty and brutal, the setting is great and well developed and many of the characters are vividly created, making the reader either love them or loathe them almost immediately.
The ending is solid, if not a bit suggestive of a sequel (though I don’t believe one was every made), and worked well to showcase the power that was unleashed.
What I didn’t like: I found the novel to be too scattered and often anti-climatic. Early on, we get somebody introduced with paranormal powers. That then is left behind for a lengthy time, when at first it seemed like it was going to be a driving force of the novel.
Throughout, we get new people introduced – and thoroughly introduced – to only be killed off. Time and time again, pages and pages of backstory are described for characters that really play no role in the story, other than something happening at that location. It made it so that the main characters of the novel are missing from the story for chapters and chapters and chapters and the minor characters who are there at the beginning are easily forgotten about, and when they return, you feel like you’ve missed something.
And because of that introduction of so many characters, we often get a cliff hanger at the end of chapters that doesn’t go anywhere. I’m not sure if this a case of the time period it was released – which might be how some things were done back then – or because of the two different authors, but it became a reoccurring ending to each chapter.
Why you should buy this: The main component of the novel was fantastic, and I wished it had stayed with just that – the story of the barrels being dumped, the news folks discovering it and them trying to get to the bottom of it, but too many other elements continued to get introduced, which ultimately slowed this one down for me.
Saying that, if you’re looking to read some of the books that formed the Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror Genres that so many read and love these days, then definitely give this a read. The town is great, the gore is solid and you can definitely see the influence all these years later.
I’ve had ‘The Bridge’ on my Kindle for a number of years, but it wasn’t until back in September of this year (2024), when I was discussing the books that seemed to have launched Splatterpunk with Nick Cutter, that he said I needed to bump this book up my TBR and read it. According to Nick, this is one of those books that launched a thousand books and influenced his own releases as Nick and Patrick Lestewka.
So, with that in mind, I dove in recently, excited to see where this one went.
What I liked: At its core, the novel is an environmental story about man’s destructive ways. It follows the events in a small town after years of toxic waste has been dumped in the creek and on this particular day, a storm rages and conditions are perfect for the waste to transform into a sentient killing beast.
Within that overarching narrative, we get smaller stories of many of the people who live in the town, their roles in the toxic waste mayhem, as well as those who’re innocent and deal with the repercussions of what those have done behind closed doors.
It’s a fascinating examination of what happens when some do whatever they want for power, money, greed and control, while also investigating the trickle effect of those stomped on. That metaphor works well to be applied across any time period, which makes the main story line almost timeless.
The gore is plenty and brutal, the setting is great and well developed and many of the characters are vividly created, making the reader either love them or loathe them almost immediately.
The ending is solid, if not a bit suggestive of a sequel (though I don’t believe one was every made), and worked well to showcase the power that was unleashed.
What I didn’t like: I found the novel to be too scattered and often anti-climatic. Early on, we get somebody introduced with paranormal powers. That then is left behind for a lengthy time, when at first it seemed like it was going to be a driving force of the novel.
Throughout, we get new people introduced – and thoroughly introduced – to only be killed off. Time and time again, pages and pages of backstory are described for characters that really play no role in the story, other than something happening at that location. It made it so that the main characters of the novel are missing from the story for chapters and chapters and chapters and the minor characters who are there at the beginning are easily forgotten about, and when they return, you feel like you’ve missed something.
And because of that introduction of so many characters, we often get a cliff hanger at the end of chapters that doesn’t go anywhere. I’m not sure if this a case of the time period it was released – which might be how some things were done back then – or because of the two different authors, but it became a reoccurring ending to each chapter.
Why you should buy this: The main component of the novel was fantastic, and I wished it had stayed with just that – the story of the barrels being dumped, the news folks discovering it and them trying to get to the bottom of it, but too many other elements continued to get introduced, which ultimately slowed this one down for me.
Saying that, if you’re looking to read some of the books that formed the Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror Genres that so many read and love these days, then definitely give this a read. The town is great, the gore is solid and you can definitely see the influence all these years later.
October 8, 2025
4.5/5, rounded up.
This was my first Skipp & Spector novel, and it certainly won't be the last. I'd been meaning to read something by them for a very long time, but somehow there were always other books. I'm glad it finally happened, because this was a great novel, packed with a large cast of interesting characters, social commentary, and of course, a ton of gore. This played out like a wonderful 80's horror flick in my mind, and these boys took things to some bizarre and gruesome heights! They do a great job of introducing you to a town and its inhabitants, but waste no time in putting those folks through the whirlwind of environmental mutation and destruction. If I had one complaint, it would be that one character had some special powers that I found kind of goofy. I can see why they needed that person to be able to do the things they could do based on how the rest of the story was structured, but it was the one aspect of the book I found off putting. That said, it's a minor gripe when every other element works so well. I'll definitely be quicker about getting to my next read from these fellas.
This was my first Skipp & Spector novel, and it certainly won't be the last. I'd been meaning to read something by them for a very long time, but somehow there were always other books. I'm glad it finally happened, because this was a great novel, packed with a large cast of interesting characters, social commentary, and of course, a ton of gore. This played out like a wonderful 80's horror flick in my mind, and these boys took things to some bizarre and gruesome heights! They do a great job of introducing you to a town and its inhabitants, but waste no time in putting those folks through the whirlwind of environmental mutation and destruction. If I had one complaint, it would be that one character had some special powers that I found kind of goofy. I can see why they needed that person to be able to do the things they could do based on how the rest of the story was structured, but it was the one aspect of the book I found off putting. That said, it's a minor gripe when every other element works so well. I'll definitely be quicker about getting to my next read from these fellas.
March 20, 2012
This is one of the most disturbing novels out there. It scared the living crap out of me. Being a fan (and now author) of zombie fiction, that's saying a lot. BRAVO!!!
March 11, 2011
Take one part Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, stir in about 20 of those creepy "radioactive creatures take over the world" B-movies from the 50s, add a George Romeo Living Dead screenplay, then pour it over a typical American small town sprinkled with local cops, struggling TV news reporters, corrupt businessmen and a few mutant rednecks and you have Skipp and Spector's The Bridge. There have been environmental horror novels before this 1991 pot-boiler but I sure there were none more disgusting and pessimistic. Lots of imagination in this book. I would expect no less from the kings of splatter-punk. Three and a half stars because I was both entertained and grossed-out at the same time.
October 9, 2025
Solid eco horror that is as vicious as it is viscous. Thick, toxic and primordial sludge mixes and oozes into a new mind. Its mass erupts into eyes, and teeth, and eggs to give birth to many suckling and vile things that are the messengers, warriors, and carriers of the overmind. There is no joy. Whimper and wail and submit to be subsumed by the end of all things.
October 29, 2013
I recognize the skill of these two writers and would like to read them again but this particular novel didn't do it for me. I hate agenda driven horror, especially when it's so ridiculously blatant as in "we're a bunch of litterbugs and we're gonna pay when our garbage fights back!!!
There was also an abuse of italics throughout the novel that was a little distracting. I've never seen italics used so much in one book.
There was also an abuse of italics throughout the novel that was a little distracting. I've never seen italics used so much in one book.
December 19, 2022
Toxic themed horror at it's finest. Mutants, ahem, and murder oh my! A glimpse at an apocalyptic tale before the extension level event. Scary in it's plausibility. Explores evolution in its most extreme (manmade) form. Highly recommend.
Read
June 10, 2010 This recently re-issued horror classic is most easily described as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring polluted by George Romero's The Crazies. The Bridge is right up there with the eco-horror-science fiction classic The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner and the more recent Demons by John Shirley in the manner in which it combines the reality of pollution and environmental destruction with downright scary horror. At the time The Bridge was written, John Skipp and Craig Spector were the ultimate splatterpunk writing team, and wrote the most extreme horror novels to grace the New York times bestseller list in the 1980's. In addition, they wrote set reports for Fangoria, a novelization for the movie "Fright Night", and a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street (the fifth film).The team long ago split, and both authors are doing excellent work independently of each other.
The Bridge is set in Paradise, Pennsylvania, a small town near a nuclear reactor. For years a a small salvage company has used the the same bridge to dump unwanted waste into the river that flows by the city. One nigh,t a barrel cracks open in the river, setting off a chain of events. At times the novel follows the news crew trying to follow the story, the family responsible for the waste, the CEO of the company who created it, the crew running 911, and the nuclear reactor. Terror creeps across the town and every single page is entertaining.
The Bridge is an amazing example of horror. There is little doubt that this novel is Skipp and Spector's masterpiece. Less dated than The Scream or Light at the End, both excellent novels of their era, The Bridge elevates splatterpunk to the lofty arena of literary horror. Although this writing duo is responsible for other fine works of horror, this one is head and shoulders above the rest. It is one of the best horror novels of the 1990's.
What makes The Bridge such an essential horror novel? First, Skipp and Spector shred the rules of the genre set up to guide young writers. They have the skills to get away with violating the rules. They create lots of characters and shift point of view all over the place, often using this technique with razor sharp punchlines that end chapters or transition the action from one location to another. They speak directly to the reader often in this novel and some times just slightly break down the fourth wall. Some readers might find this preachy but considering the topic of the novel that doesn't bother me. It excited me that the authors were boldly telling it like it is.
Another aspect that sets The Bridge apart is the obvious heavy lifting Skipp and Spector did in research. This novel came out in 1991, Al Gore had not created the internet. This book has detailed information on toxic waste, pollution, the operation of 911, Hazmat clean-up, on and on. It breathes realism into this novel.
The characters are rich, their motivations believable and the horror climbs a ladder of suspense. As British petroleum creates the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history (40 days in at the time of this writing) The Bridge could not be more relevant for reissue. This is more than just another horror novel: it is an entertaining thrill ride that happens also to be a warning with incredible foresight.
The Bridge is a mass market paperback, and I am afraid that libraries avoid these books. A trade paperback or pretty looking hardcover might do a better job of conveying the importance of this novel, but it should be in every collection. It's that good.
Contains violence, sexuality, drug use and adult themes.
Review by David Agranoff
The Bridge is set in Paradise, Pennsylvania, a small town near a nuclear reactor. For years a a small salvage company has used the the same bridge to dump unwanted waste into the river that flows by the city. One nigh,t a barrel cracks open in the river, setting off a chain of events. At times the novel follows the news crew trying to follow the story, the family responsible for the waste, the CEO of the company who created it, the crew running 911, and the nuclear reactor. Terror creeps across the town and every single page is entertaining.
The Bridge is an amazing example of horror. There is little doubt that this novel is Skipp and Spector's masterpiece. Less dated than The Scream or Light at the End, both excellent novels of their era, The Bridge elevates splatterpunk to the lofty arena of literary horror. Although this writing duo is responsible for other fine works of horror, this one is head and shoulders above the rest. It is one of the best horror novels of the 1990's.
What makes The Bridge such an essential horror novel? First, Skipp and Spector shred the rules of the genre set up to guide young writers. They have the skills to get away with violating the rules. They create lots of characters and shift point of view all over the place, often using this technique with razor sharp punchlines that end chapters or transition the action from one location to another. They speak directly to the reader often in this novel and some times just slightly break down the fourth wall. Some readers might find this preachy but considering the topic of the novel that doesn't bother me. It excited me that the authors were boldly telling it like it is.
Another aspect that sets The Bridge apart is the obvious heavy lifting Skipp and Spector did in research. This novel came out in 1991, Al Gore had not created the internet. This book has detailed information on toxic waste, pollution, the operation of 911, Hazmat clean-up, on and on. It breathes realism into this novel.
The characters are rich, their motivations believable and the horror climbs a ladder of suspense. As British petroleum creates the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history (40 days in at the time of this writing) The Bridge could not be more relevant for reissue. This is more than just another horror novel: it is an entertaining thrill ride that happens also to be a warning with incredible foresight.
The Bridge is a mass market paperback, and I am afraid that libraries avoid these books. A trade paperback or pretty looking hardcover might do a better job of conveying the importance of this novel, but it should be in every collection. It's that good.
Contains violence, sexuality, drug use and adult themes.
Review by David Agranoff
November 18, 2008
This is one of the most disturbing -- and therefore horribly delightful (delightfully horrifying?) -- novels I've ever read. A novelized polemic on the perils of pollution, it's the story of a bridge next to a town with a less-than-honorable sanitation crew who routinely dump hazardous waste of all kinds below the bridge, where it is hidden from view by cliffs rising up from the water. In the grand old tradition of Them!, eventually all that poison begins transmuting the local wildlife and then the townies and those living nearby into the sort of monsters that would give George Pal and Dreamworks lethal heart-attacks. One of the villains, a wealthy man horrified by what's happening to the town and will soon happen to him as a result of his own dirty deals, tries to abort the end of the world before it is barely begun, but ends up accidentally triggering a biohazard version of Armageddon, instead, nukes and all. In the end, as some of the citizens of the area who have been changed into creatures resembling outtakes from the Lovecraftian Mythos set off for Washington, DC for some payback to the politicians whose stupid polices have set the world up for biodisaster, a young hazardous waste management supervisor races home to find his pregnant wife has given birth to a baby girl, then died as a result of the toxins in her system. He picks his newborn daughter up, and finds that her skin is permeated with hot blisters, which, splitting open, release killer wasps that have been incubating in the baby's tissues since early in the pregnancy. His heart broken, bloody tears spilling endlessly down his cheeks, the new father wipes away the wasps, wipes them away, wipes them away in a Sysiphean task that won't end until the girl dies. At the back of the book is a non-fiction list of things that readers can do to help head off ecological meltdown of our world. Apparently the birth of a daughter of one of the authors triggered the creation of this cautionary tale. Not your ordinary horror tale. John Skipp and Craig Spector, who, unfortunately, dissolved their literary partnership some years ago, are well-known as premier authors of horror fiction. They should also be remembered as real-world crusaders for a better, healthier world, for the sake of all our children.
November 18, 2015
This science fiction/horror tale is totally agenda driven. It’s about the day that toxic waste, thrown into the creeks, rivers, and earth, become sentient and rise up against humans. It’s about as subtle as a sledge hammer with its message that we are destroying the earth.
Written in 1991, the novel is sited in the town of Paradise, Pennsylvania, a small to medium sized city. It’s large enough to have some industry, and that industry creates waste. So there is a company that deals with relieving businesses of their waste. Problem is, they are not very particular about disposing of said waste. Their subcontractors- redneck yahoos who consider ‘out of sight, out of mind’ a good working plan- aren’t any more particular. One day as they dump 55 gallon drums into the creek, the creek itself- joined with the waste already there- rises up. Then there is the nuclear power plant in the county that is starting to sing to itself as all hell breaks loose…
It’s a very grim novel, with lots of vivid gore; the descriptions of what happens to the humans is revolting. I didn’t realize until after I read the book that they authors are considered splatter punk kings. There are a lot of characters in the book; sometimes it’s hard to keep track of them. Sadly, none are fleshed out at all. They are just puppets doing their jobs for the story. The plot is also lacking. The book is powerful, but still a letdown because of that.
Written in 1991, the novel is sited in the town of Paradise, Pennsylvania, a small to medium sized city. It’s large enough to have some industry, and that industry creates waste. So there is a company that deals with relieving businesses of their waste. Problem is, they are not very particular about disposing of said waste. Their subcontractors- redneck yahoos who consider ‘out of sight, out of mind’ a good working plan- aren’t any more particular. One day as they dump 55 gallon drums into the creek, the creek itself- joined with the waste already there- rises up. Then there is the nuclear power plant in the county that is starting to sing to itself as all hell breaks loose…
It’s a very grim novel, with lots of vivid gore; the descriptions of what happens to the humans is revolting. I didn’t realize until after I read the book that they authors are considered splatter punk kings. There are a lot of characters in the book; sometimes it’s hard to keep track of them. Sadly, none are fleshed out at all. They are just puppets doing their jobs for the story. The plot is also lacking. The book is powerful, but still a letdown because of that.
October 14, 2010
Wow. And not in a good way. I guess the authors want you to know what happens when you pollute. Reminiscent of Return of the Living Dead (with the sludge, but without the zombies...or not) and a couple of other titles (possible B titles), made this read a jumble of nothing-ness. There was no dread, no fear, and really not even a gross-out moment. I'm seriously disappointed~
September 26, 2011
John Skipp once signed this book to me. Between the printed text and his message, it said, "Barry-- The Bridge is by John Skipp & Craig Spector and I hope it F*CKS YOU UP!! Sincerely, Skipp."
He got his wish.
Absurd, nasty, silly, grisly, groan-worthy...and pretty damn well written, too. Now let's never speak of it again. *SHUDDER*
He got his wish.
Absurd, nasty, silly, grisly, groan-worthy...and pretty damn well written, too. Now let's never speak of it again. *SHUDDER*
July 20, 2014
Knowing nothing about the writing duo of Skipp and Spector before I went into this novel meant I wasn't at all ready for what I got. I had no idea they were considered the kings of splatterpunk in the '80s; I just thought I was reading an ahead-of-its-time novel about an environmental disaster. Sure, I envisioned it to be a horrific environmental disaster, but one involving a living, thinking entity that somehow came out of the illegal dumping of hazardous waste into a river? That threw me.
If you can wrap your head around that one, perhaps you'll enjoy The Bridge. As implied, the idea of humans getting their comeuppance as a result of their near-sighted view of their affect on the world isn't a new one in 2013, but it most certainly was back in 1991 when this work was published. So definite props for that.
Where the book lost me, however, was in its scatter-gunned approach to characterisations. Aside from there simply being too many characters spread through a relatively small amount of pages, most of the major players felt like caricatures, essentially because they so extreme in their behaviours. The evil conglomerate CEO was almost Monty Burns evil, the rebellious teens were taking things so far beyond smoking drugs and having under-age sex that they were immediately unrelatable, and the aspiring journalist who had to make it big was defined by that one point and nothing else. So when these characters start dropping like flies, I struggled to really care.
Thankfully, however, the way they go is often memorable in a gore-soaked kind of way.
For me, the last third of The Bridge redeemed it into being something just north of okay. Having a front row seat to the chaos as it unfolds, through the eyes of the few (and far more manageable number of) remaining protagonists, was actually pretty enjoyable. It's a pity then that by half way through its extremely obvious how things are going to end.
2.5 Bobbing Barrels of Waste for The Bridge.
If you can wrap your head around that one, perhaps you'll enjoy The Bridge. As implied, the idea of humans getting their comeuppance as a result of their near-sighted view of their affect on the world isn't a new one in 2013, but it most certainly was back in 1991 when this work was published. So definite props for that.
Where the book lost me, however, was in its scatter-gunned approach to characterisations. Aside from there simply being too many characters spread through a relatively small amount of pages, most of the major players felt like caricatures, essentially because they so extreme in their behaviours. The evil conglomerate CEO was almost Monty Burns evil, the rebellious teens were taking things so far beyond smoking drugs and having under-age sex that they were immediately unrelatable, and the aspiring journalist who had to make it big was defined by that one point and nothing else. So when these characters start dropping like flies, I struggled to really care.
Thankfully, however, the way they go is often memorable in a gore-soaked kind of way.
For me, the last third of The Bridge redeemed it into being something just north of okay. Having a front row seat to the chaos as it unfolds, through the eyes of the few (and far more manageable number of) remaining protagonists, was actually pretty enjoyable. It's a pity then that by half way through its extremely obvious how things are going to end.
2.5 Bobbing Barrels of Waste for The Bridge.
July 28, 2010
Very good horror from this team of writers. I was sorry when they stopped writing together.
February 20, 2024
A few years back I drove out to PA to be on The Horror Show with Brian Keene. It would be my second time on the show, except this time I was heading out to his house. Mike Lombardo was riding shotgun, and while we were crossing the Susquehanna River he said to me, "You know this bridge is the inspiration for Skipp and Spector's The Bridge, right?" I didn't know that, but I thought it was pretty cool even though I hadn't read the book at the time. I came to Skipp and Spector a little bit late in the game (ie. the only thing I read of theirs when they were still a team was Book of the Dead, which was an anthology, not a novel). So knowing this was cool, but it didn't mean a whole lot at the time.
Now I'm awed by it. Although that cover is really stupid. What kind of bridge is that supposed to be? It's not "bridging" anything. But there are a lot of Dorchester covers that I can't stand.
What can I say about this one that hasn't been said before by everyone else? It's 30 years old and still as prescient today. It's environmental horror at its finest, and the Skipp and Spector touch sparks right off the pages.
It's the story of a small industrial town in PA (close to the Susquehanna but not on the river) where just about everyone works at the various factories in town, and they're all polluting the world around them. In particular a guy named Boonie who gets rid of excess toxic waste by dumping barrels into the creek like perhaps this was Tromaville instead of a blue collar town in Pennsylvania. And that's the straw that broke the camel's back. The earth has had enough. Mother Nature has now decided that the human scourge must be purged so that she might live.
I wouldn't call myself an environmentalist, but I've always cared about nature around me, and it horrifies me to think of how poorly we've treated the only planet hospitable to us within our easy reach. I used to think we were getting better. When I was a kid (and now, come to think of it) my favorite place on the planet was the Graue Mill, and Salt Creek ran through there neon green back then. For a while there in the 'Nineties the water even ran clear enough to see fish. But now it's getting back up there, looking dirtier.
One thing that always gets me going is corporate greed and how that's going to be the end of us, and that's very evident in this book. You meet a lot of these scumbags and their enablers throughout the course of this book. And the apocalypse they're wrought keeps reaching back out to them . . .
But my favorite part is when the nuclear reactor starts to sing as it ratchets the Doomsday Clock ever closer to midnight. And when the storm hits . . . I don't think I'm exaggerating when that part of the book detonates like an atom bomb in your brain, and that 40 pages or so is the heat wave peeling back your body only for the shockwave to shake your bones to dust. That's how good this book is.
I do have one complaint, though. The final page. It's completely unnecessary. The 351 pages that came before it proves the point quite nicely. That page? It was a bit too much.
Highly recommended.
Now I'm awed by it. Although that cover is really stupid. What kind of bridge is that supposed to be? It's not "bridging" anything. But there are a lot of Dorchester covers that I can't stand.
What can I say about this one that hasn't been said before by everyone else? It's 30 years old and still as prescient today. It's environmental horror at its finest, and the Skipp and Spector touch sparks right off the pages.
It's the story of a small industrial town in PA (close to the Susquehanna but not on the river) where just about everyone works at the various factories in town, and they're all polluting the world around them. In particular a guy named Boonie who gets rid of excess toxic waste by dumping barrels into the creek like perhaps this was Tromaville instead of a blue collar town in Pennsylvania. And that's the straw that broke the camel's back. The earth has had enough. Mother Nature has now decided that the human scourge must be purged so that she might live.
I wouldn't call myself an environmentalist, but I've always cared about nature around me, and it horrifies me to think of how poorly we've treated the only planet hospitable to us within our easy reach. I used to think we were getting better. When I was a kid (and now, come to think of it) my favorite place on the planet was the Graue Mill, and Salt Creek ran through there neon green back then. For a while there in the 'Nineties the water even ran clear enough to see fish. But now it's getting back up there, looking dirtier.
One thing that always gets me going is corporate greed and how that's going to be the end of us, and that's very evident in this book. You meet a lot of these scumbags and their enablers throughout the course of this book. And the apocalypse they're wrought keeps reaching back out to them . . .
But my favorite part is when the nuclear reactor starts to sing as it ratchets the Doomsday Clock ever closer to midnight. And when the storm hits . . . I don't think I'm exaggerating when that part of the book detonates like an atom bomb in your brain, and that 40 pages or so is the heat wave peeling back your body only for the shockwave to shake your bones to dust. That's how good this book is.
I do have one complaint, though. The final page. It's completely unnecessary. The 351 pages that came before it proves the point quite nicely. That page? It was a bit too much.
Highly recommended.
November 20, 2019
Wow. This book is a bullet to the face if there ever was one. I totally understand the waves this made when originally released as it has lost none of its visceral power. A bona fide genre classic, as relevant today as it was yesterday.
August 16, 2021
An eerily unsettling monstrous mutation story that gut punches you with hopelessness. Refreshingly above the curve on the basic end-of-the-world tale, as a detailed fall of man rather than its aftermath.
October 25, 2010
These guys put the splatter in splatter-punk. It sounds like a cheap throwaway to write about the gross out, the guts, and the splatter. But to make the reader squirm, feel the gush, and swallow a dry lump is something of an artform.
The premise is simple really. Barrels and barrels of 'stuff' have been getting tossed off a bridge for some time now.
And things begin taking on a life of their own.
The sludge oozes like Frank Zappa warned us about.
The plant life becomes animated by the ooze.
Even the roadway swallows a Hazmat team.
The pacing intensifies to breakneck as the world changing effects take hold.
But the story telling is still there. And there was a lot of facts that were tossed in to make it all too real. This isn't just splatter-punk. It is also an environmental thriller. The reader doesn't need to suspend reality too much with this one. Those looking for redemption will find it squashed horribly. Birth and rebirth come in toxic affronts to humanity.
This is sit-up-and-take-notice horror: the kind that may very well outlive its creators.
The premise is simple really. Barrels and barrels of 'stuff' have been getting tossed off a bridge for some time now.
And things begin taking on a life of their own.
The sludge oozes like Frank Zappa warned us about.
The plant life becomes animated by the ooze.
Even the roadway swallows a Hazmat team.
The pacing intensifies to breakneck as the world changing effects take hold.
But the story telling is still there. And there was a lot of facts that were tossed in to make it all too real. This isn't just splatter-punk. It is also an environmental thriller. The reader doesn't need to suspend reality too much with this one. Those looking for redemption will find it squashed horribly. Birth and rebirth come in toxic affronts to humanity.
This is sit-up-and-take-notice horror: the kind that may very well outlive its creators.
March 11, 2015
Apocalyptic Horror of Man's Own Making
Didn't give you a character to fully connect, empathize so when The End was happening, it didn't emotionally affect me. All was descriptive horror, disjointed and hopeless.
Also bugged me that the authors,when writing about the Sunday morning religious rituals, included Seventh Day Adventists as a Sunday meeting congregation. My father was a Jaycee and active members are all under 40 yrs of age; whereas, the authors described 50+ year old good ole boys participating in the club.
Overall, the story paints a horrific end to mankind. Could have made it more wrenching if the reader was allowed to really connect to one of the characters.
Didn't give you a character to fully connect, empathize so when The End was happening, it didn't emotionally affect me. All was descriptive horror, disjointed and hopeless.
Also bugged me that the authors,when writing about the Sunday morning religious rituals, included Seventh Day Adventists as a Sunday meeting congregation. My father was a Jaycee and active members are all under 40 yrs of age; whereas, the authors described 50+ year old good ole boys participating in the club.
Overall, the story paints a horrific end to mankind. Could have made it more wrenching if the reader was allowed to really connect to one of the characters.
October 15, 2025
This is a novel of the final environmental apocalypse by the masters of splatterpunk. Since this IS a Skipp and Spector book, it is naturally grotesque and over-the-top in its depiction of the end of the world. Weirdly, it also includes a great number of fascinating characters (good and bad). Maybe too many, as at least half of them are slaughtered in various gruesome ways practically as soon as they are introduced. 3.5 stars. Not my favorite S&S novel, but still a solid example of their work. Not technically Lovecraftian but it certainly has that 'madness-inducing uncaring universe ' vibe going.
May 2, 2012
Love, love, love this book! A dark cautionary tale about how we are treating the environment wrapped up in a deliciously thick layer of chaos and bats**t insanity. It makes you laugh and then punches you in the gut while you are caught off guard. I really wish I'd gotten the musical soundtrack for the book I'd ordered through mail. Unfortunately, it never arrived (likely due to my being in the military and having a change of bases before the soundtrack arrived in the mail. At least I have a flexi-disc of one song from the soundtrack.
May 20, 2018
Visceral, disgusting, horrific, at times even poetic ecological disaster spurned on by the ignorance of mankind. From the splatterpunk masters, this novel does for the toxic avenger what The Light at the End did for the vampire, only with a far higher body count. Well recommended to body horror enthusiasts or even fans of hopeless Lovecraftian apocalypse fiction.
May 4, 2009
The best of the best of the best. This was my third time reading Skipp & Spector's The Bridge and it remains one of the best horror novels of all time. This classic 80's splatterpunk novel belongs on the shelf of every true horror fan.
February 28, 2008
Probably the scariest book in existence, THE BRIDGE is not only a classic modern horror novel, but a clarion call to environmental action...steps we're only taking now, unfortunately, but at least we're taking them.
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