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Heads
More shocking than Coma, more terrifying than The Terminal Man, Heads is a thriller that goes deeper into the horrifying future of medicine than any novel has dared to go before. In an ultimate step into terror, David Osborn explores the murky boundaries between volunteer and victim, ambition and ruthlessness, life and death, when what begins as highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors ends as a deadly game in which any of the players can be condemned to a purgatory more ghastly than hell.
304 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1985
4 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
David Osborn
61 books18 followersDavid Osborn is the author of nine published novels, including the bestselling Open Season, Heads and Murder on Martha's Vineyard. He has also written 24 screenplays, including Chase a Crooked Shadow, which is listed by the British Academy of Motion Picture Science as one of the 10 best suspense scripts ever written. His original screenplay for The Trap was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Osborn lives in Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 8, 2017
There is nothing not funny about a bunch of severed heads talking to each other. See: REANIMATOR.
The fact that these heads can give themselves spontaneous orgasms makes this the severed head book to beat.
The fact that these heads can give themselves spontaneous orgasms makes this the severed head book to beat.
February 29, 2020
"Death pretended devotion to science and humanitarianism and wore a hood and a surgical gown and carried a scalpel."
Having always been intrigued by the cover of the 1985 horror novel "Heads," this book had been on my wishlist since I was a teenager. But I never got around to owning a copy until I ended up getting a reprint on Kindle called "The Head Hunters." I was elated to find out I had inadvertently gotten an e-version of the same book I had been looking for. But the content of the novel itself is mediocre, though still quite effective in places and often entertaining.
"The Head Hunters" tries to rebrand the original "Heads" from horror to "medical thriller," and it unnecessarily inserts some updated technology references in the book that did not exist or were not prevalent in '85, like i-phones, the internet, and tablet computers. Yet, it remains at heart an 80's paperback horror with all the cheesy goodness and cringeworthy baggage that goes with this era of paperback publishing.
On the negative end, my suspension of disbelief was destroyed not by the premise of the story or the questionable medical science, but by the unlikable and unlikely cast. Most of the main characters are young doctors who all have perfect bodies. And you have to hear about how gorgeous they are way too much. More time could have been spent setting up their motivation rather than on how lofty their breasts or how chiseled their abs. I am a physician myself, and for a "medical thriller" to root me in reality there needs to be some recognition of what lack of sleep, constant stress, long hours, battling with third-party payers, and a shitty diet between cases actually does to most of us in the profession. But this was written during the renaissance of pulp in the 80s, and I guess a story about hot docs in bikinis and speedos sold better than one featuring balding, cushingoid, middle-aged nerds.
The back cover of "Heads" refers to "highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors." Yeah, right! The doctors behave like drunken college students for much of the first half of the story, not like brilliant scientists who can be trusted with a top-secret research project. One surgeon leaves her ID badge flagrantly visible in her office while she goes out for a night of lesbian romance, and another horny anesthesiologist shows off a top-secret lab to the main protagonist Susan, who doesn't have clearance, simply because he has a crush on her. When caught violating their security oaths, characters evidently have a hard time believing that any serious consequences could come of their actions and recklessly go about business as usual. Susan herself seems to be enslaved by her hormones, getting the hots for one of the antagonists and sleeping with him shortly after her long-term boyfriend tragically and violently dies. This is supposed to set up some kind of conflict within her when she finds out what kind of person he really is, but it's not much of a conflict because the relationship is purely physical as written. For being supposedly such skilled physicians, the main characters come across as completely adolescent, and it took me out of the story a bit too much.
Despite the emotionally retarded doctors, the atmosphere invoked by this novel can be quite chilling in a clinical way. You can almost hear the buzz of fluorescent lights and smell the antiseptic in the sterile white walls of the facility, where behind dark doors are nightmarish secrets.
A quick read and well-paced with some creepy moments, this will tickle the itch for fans of 80s pulp medical horrors, though I expected a lot more class from a first-rate writer like Osborn. Ultimately the content of this book will not be as memorable for me as its cover has been all this time.
Having always been intrigued by the cover of the 1985 horror novel "Heads," this book had been on my wishlist since I was a teenager. But I never got around to owning a copy until I ended up getting a reprint on Kindle called "The Head Hunters." I was elated to find out I had inadvertently gotten an e-version of the same book I had been looking for. But the content of the novel itself is mediocre, though still quite effective in places and often entertaining.
"The Head Hunters" tries to rebrand the original "Heads" from horror to "medical thriller," and it unnecessarily inserts some updated technology references in the book that did not exist or were not prevalent in '85, like i-phones, the internet, and tablet computers. Yet, it remains at heart an 80's paperback horror with all the cheesy goodness and cringeworthy baggage that goes with this era of paperback publishing.
On the negative end, my suspension of disbelief was destroyed not by the premise of the story or the questionable medical science, but by the unlikable and unlikely cast. Most of the main characters are young doctors who all have perfect bodies. And you have to hear about how gorgeous they are way too much. More time could have been spent setting up their motivation rather than on how lofty their breasts or how chiseled their abs. I am a physician myself, and for a "medical thriller" to root me in reality there needs to be some recognition of what lack of sleep, constant stress, long hours, battling with third-party payers, and a shitty diet between cases actually does to most of us in the profession. But this was written during the renaissance of pulp in the 80s, and I guess a story about hot docs in bikinis and speedos sold better than one featuring balding, cushingoid, middle-aged nerds.
The back cover of "Heads" refers to "highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors." Yeah, right! The doctors behave like drunken college students for much of the first half of the story, not like brilliant scientists who can be trusted with a top-secret research project. One surgeon leaves her ID badge flagrantly visible in her office while she goes out for a night of lesbian romance, and another horny anesthesiologist shows off a top-secret lab to the main protagonist Susan, who doesn't have clearance, simply because he has a crush on her. When caught violating their security oaths, characters evidently have a hard time believing that any serious consequences could come of their actions and recklessly go about business as usual. Susan herself seems to be enslaved by her hormones, getting the hots for one of the antagonists and sleeping with him shortly after her long-term boyfriend tragically and violently dies. This is supposed to set up some kind of conflict within her when she finds out what kind of person he really is, but it's not much of a conflict because the relationship is purely physical as written. For being supposedly such skilled physicians, the main characters come across as completely adolescent, and it took me out of the story a bit too much.
Despite the emotionally retarded doctors, the atmosphere invoked by this novel can be quite chilling in a clinical way. You can almost hear the buzz of fluorescent lights and smell the antiseptic in the sterile white walls of the facility, where behind dark doors are nightmarish secrets.
A quick read and well-paced with some creepy moments, this will tickle the itch for fans of 80s pulp medical horrors, though I expected a lot more class from a first-rate writer like Osborn. Ultimately the content of this book will not be as memorable for me as its cover has been all this time.
November 10, 2015
I really enjoyed this!! It was a great October read--as I was looking for something vintage & horror to read. It was just the right thing.
December 30, 2019
3.4 stars
Vintage creepy medical horror story. Osborn made me care about the main characters. Lots of tense situations. If your into medical horror raise my 3.4 to 4 stars.
Vintage creepy medical horror story. Osborn made me care about the main characters. Lots of tense situations. If your into medical horror raise my 3.4 to 4 stars.
January 13, 2019
I picked up this book after it was mentioned in Paperbacks From Hell. While it's marketed as a horror novel, it really isn't. The book is more along the lines of a Michael Crichton and Robin Cook novel. A very entertaining read.
April 10, 2022
More medical and less horror in this 80's medical horror thriller. The evil doctors are not that evil. The heads in the pan are not that scary. There is some suspense that keeps you interested, but all in all it's more of a medical journal with a soap opera script.
January 24, 2025
A seriously grotesque and intriguing story that has you on the edge of your seat wondering how much worse things could possibly get. No one in this book is safe from the horrors of medical apathy and you feel the anxiety of working within such a sterile environment while wondering what it would take to have your head placed on the chopping block—literally. Susan’s character can be frustratingly naive at times but this is the reality when you are the only human surrounded by death.
August 6, 2021
It begins with a car accident where most of John the doctor's body is severely burned, but conveniently not his head. Michael the other doctor tells Dr. John's fiance Dr. Susan that the prognosis isn't too good, and soon enough Susan is told that John succumbed to his injuries. Michael starts up some hanky panky with Susan and eventually recruits her to his super secret government-sponsored project. She's a valuable member of the team, but under no circumstances is she to go to the third floor. She eventually goes to the third floor.
John's there, and he's not dead, he's just a head. The experimental project involves keeping the heads and the brains alive, even if the rest of the body is past its sell-by date. There are several heads, ostensibly volunteers although nobody ever remembers volunteering, and neither does John. Part of the mission is to expand human brain capacity, so they're learning languages and running programs on the mainframe. A big problem for the project, however, is that the heads keep going insane. If someone, figuratively speaking, loses their head, they become useless and they're sent to disposal.
It's a medical thriller with a bit of body horror. After the inital shock the heads become rather dull, at some point even organising a strike for better work conditions. There are, however, some fresh scenes of power such as when Susan stumbles on the insane but still live heads in a storage room. Most of the novel is confined to the hospital as Susan goes on a clandestine quest to find out more about the project in order to bring it down. The other staff is involved in power games of their own, so nobody really notices anything until very late, and the orderlies probably aren't paid enough. It's entertaining, but not very exciting.
The super secret project is a strange operation, with workers leaving crucial key cards lying around and guards always playing cards in the cafeteria, thus allowing Susan to run freely around the place. The ending becomes a race against time as first John and then Susan try to hack a password with which information about the project could be sent and revealed to the outside world. The password is, of course, in all caps and doesn't include numbers or special characters. Maybe the government should've spent a little more on security?
John's there, and he's not dead, he's just a head. The experimental project involves keeping the heads and the brains alive, even if the rest of the body is past its sell-by date. There are several heads, ostensibly volunteers although nobody ever remembers volunteering, and neither does John. Part of the mission is to expand human brain capacity, so they're learning languages and running programs on the mainframe. A big problem for the project, however, is that the heads keep going insane. If someone, figuratively speaking, loses their head, they become useless and they're sent to disposal.
It's a medical thriller with a bit of body horror. After the inital shock the heads become rather dull, at some point even organising a strike for better work conditions. There are, however, some fresh scenes of power such as when Susan stumbles on the insane but still live heads in a storage room. Most of the novel is confined to the hospital as Susan goes on a clandestine quest to find out more about the project in order to bring it down. The other staff is involved in power games of their own, so nobody really notices anything until very late, and the orderlies probably aren't paid enough. It's entertaining, but not very exciting.
The super secret project is a strange operation, with workers leaving crucial key cards lying around and guards always playing cards in the cafeteria, thus allowing Susan to run freely around the place. The ending becomes a race against time as first John and then Susan try to hack a password with which information about the project could be sent and revealed to the outside world. The password is, of course, in all caps and doesn't include numbers or special characters. Maybe the government should've spent a little more on security?
August 31, 2023
Wow, this book is BAD. And not in a fun way. Fully half of it is gratuitous sex scenes between the scientists and doctors, who are all having affairs with each other. Horny bisexual mad scientists make a great midnight movie, but a surprisingly dull book in the hands of David Osborn.
The entire premise (keeping disembodied heads alive for research) obviously relies on suspension of disbelief in order for the story to work. Unfortunately the science presented in the novel is so bad and implausible that I can't even roll with it and pretend the idea is possible. For one, it relies on the myth that we only use 10% of our brains. The book was written in 1985 but the myth had been debunked long before then. And Osborn does not do a good job of making the life-support mechanisms seem plausible.
Bad science can be overlooked if the story is fun, but this one isn't. A researcher discovers her presumed-dead boyfriend has been turned into one of the heads, but despite her breaking the rules to access this secret government operation, it never feels like her life is actually in danger. The scientists and doctors spend more time in the book sailing their boats, skinny dipping, and daydreaming about lesbian romance than they do working on their medical research. Then there's a plot twist at the end that is so damn stupid it just proves these scientists are completely incompetent and presumably blinded by their horniness. I actually felt insulted as a reader. There's some casual sexism and racism sprinkled throughout too.
I bought this from a used bookstore and I want my $3.95 back.
The entire premise (keeping disembodied heads alive for research) obviously relies on suspension of disbelief in order for the story to work. Unfortunately the science presented in the novel is so bad and implausible that I can't even roll with it and pretend the idea is possible. For one, it relies on the myth that we only use 10% of our brains. The book was written in 1985 but the myth had been debunked long before then. And Osborn does not do a good job of making the life-support mechanisms seem plausible.
Bad science can be overlooked if the story is fun, but this one isn't. A researcher discovers her presumed-dead boyfriend has been turned into one of the heads, but despite her breaking the rules to access this secret government operation, it never feels like her life is actually in danger. The scientists and doctors spend more time in the book sailing their boats, skinny dipping, and daydreaming about lesbian romance than they do working on their medical research. Then there's a plot twist at the end that is so damn stupid it just proves these scientists are completely incompetent and presumably blinded by their horniness. I actually felt insulted as a reader. There's some casual sexism and racism sprinkled throughout too.
I bought this from a used bookstore and I want my $3.95 back.
January 17, 2025
"Heads" (1985) is not the kind of book I would normally read, but after seeing it mentioned in an article, I stumbled across a copy in a thrift shop and decided to check it out. It's about a top-secret research project to keep people's brains alive after their bodies have been so catastrophically injured that continued normal life isn't possible. The brain, without the responsibility of having to control an entire body, is free to concentrate fully on whatever challenge is put before it and becomes much more powerful. The creep factor of the novel is in the fact that the person's entire head is kept alive in a secret facility.
I had three problems with the book.
One, it's obviously supposed to be scary and creepy, but it just isn't. I found it more cartoonish than anything as the disembodied heads in the lab talk among themselves like passengers on a cruise ship.
Two, the female lead becomes our woman in peril, but her choices are so dumb it's really hard to feel sorry for her. At any point she could have just picked up the phone and called the authorities.
And three, like most books, it's too long. I would say about 50 pages too long. Several times I found myself wanting the author to get on with it.
I assume that the only reason a person would read a book like this is to satisfy a craving for something dark and creepy. In my opinion, this book is too silly to fill that bill.
It does, however, have a cool cover.
I had three problems with the book.
One, it's obviously supposed to be scary and creepy, but it just isn't. I found it more cartoonish than anything as the disembodied heads in the lab talk among themselves like passengers on a cruise ship.
Two, the female lead becomes our woman in peril, but her choices are so dumb it's really hard to feel sorry for her. At any point she could have just picked up the phone and called the authorities.
And three, like most books, it's too long. I would say about 50 pages too long. Several times I found myself wanting the author to get on with it.
I assume that the only reason a person would read a book like this is to satisfy a craving for something dark and creepy. In my opinion, this book is too silly to fill that bill.
It does, however, have a cool cover.
September 22, 2020
This was a really good thriller and I quite enjoyed the story and horror. Unfortunately, a smattering of profanity, a lesbian affair, and some gratuitous sex scenes were like dog poop in the brownies and totally ruined what could have been a much more enjoyable experience. As a result, I had to keep skipping pages here and there to avoid it, which was quite a disappointment and led to the book going in the garbage can afterwards. If not for the trashy parts, I'd have definitely given it five stars.
March 2, 2025
1.5
I love the idea of it but it's not really well executed.... I started reading this probably four years ago, made it to a third of the book and put it back on my shelf. I haven't picked it up again to continue. From what I remember it was underwhelming, everything seemed like it belonged in a movie rather than a book and it annoyed me that nothing about the whole situation was ever explained much. I don't think I'll continue it now, my standards have greatly improved since then and I'm afraid it would just be a waste of time
I love the idea of it but it's not really well executed.... I started reading this probably four years ago, made it to a third of the book and put it back on my shelf. I haven't picked it up again to continue. From what I remember it was underwhelming, everything seemed like it belonged in a movie rather than a book and it annoyed me that nothing about the whole situation was ever explained much. I don't think I'll continue it now, my standards have greatly improved since then and I'm afraid it would just be a waste of time
October 6, 2024
This had an interesting premise and I was really hoping for some good, sci-fi horror but i was let down. There was too much focus on romance/relationship nonsense. I can see why establishing that with several characters was necessary for the way the story was unfolding but it did not keep my attention at all. We didn't even get any disembodied head action until about 100 pages in.
Overall, I was just bored.
Overall, I was just bored.
November 4, 2024
"The air was cool. She saw no one. She closed the door softly behind her and started forward catiously, taking her first step into a nightmare."
This book had everything. Severed heads, super quick female orgasms, dark rooms and big science words.
LOVED. IT.
This book had everything. Severed heads, super quick female orgasms, dark rooms and big science words.
LOVED. IT.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2019
The characters act on a mostly surface level in this book, but the plot was interesting enough to keep me going. A lot of 80s view points very obvious in the characters too.
April 12, 2025
The ending was too abrupt.
I will probably forget what this book is about in a few days, except for the rows of heads.
I will probably forget what this book is about in a few days, except for the rows of heads.
July 9, 2025
As I figured it would be by the cover, this is weird, cheesy, 80's horror which I happen to enjoy. A very interesting read with a unique plot/concept. Again, weird. Solid 3 stars though, not horrible.
February 29, 2020
Also known simply as "Heads"
"Death pretended devotion to science and humanitarianism and wore a hood and a surgical gown and carried a scalpel."
Having always been intrigued by the cover of the 1985 horror novel "Heads," this book had been on my wishlist since I was a teenager. But I never got around to owning a copy until I ended up getting a reprint on Kindle called "The Head Hunters." I was elated to find out I had inadvertently gotten an e-version of the same book I had been looking for. But the content of the novel itself is mediocre, though still quite effective in places and often entertaining.
"The Head Hunters" tries to rebrand the original "Heads" from horror to "medical thriller," and it unnecessarily inserts some updated technology references in the book that did not exist or were not prevalent in '85, like i-phones, the internet, and tablet computers. Yet, it remains at heart an 80's paperback horror with all the cheesy goodness and cringeworthy baggage that goes with this era of paperback publishing.
On the negative end, my suspension of disbelief was destroyed not by the premise of the story or the questionable medical science, but by the unlikable and unlikely cast. Most of the main characters are young doctors who all have perfect bodies. And you have to hear about how gorgeous they are way too much. More time could have been spent setting up their motivation rather than on how lofty their breasts or how chiseled their abs. I am a physician myself, and for a "medical thriller" to root me in reality there needs to be some recognition of what lack of sleep, constant stress, long hours, battling with third-party payers, and a shitty diet between cases actually does to most of us in the profession. But this was written during the renaissance of pulp in the 80s, and I guess a story about hot docs in bikinis and speedos sold better than one featuring balding, cushingoid, middle-aged nerds.
The back cover of "Heads" refers to "highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors." Yeah, right! The doctors behave like drunken college students for much of the first half of the story, not like brilliant scientists who can be trusted with a top-secret research project. One surgeon leaves her ID badge flagrantly visible in her office while she goes out for a night of lesbian romance, and another horny anesthesiologist shows off a top-secret lab to the main protagonist Susan, who doesn't have clearance, simply because he has a crush on her. When caught violating their security oaths, characters evidently have a hard time believing that any serious consequences could come of their actions and recklessly go about business as usual. Susan herself seems to be enslaved by her hormones, getting the hots for one of the antagonists and sleeping with him shortly after her long-term boyfriend tragically and violently dies. This is supposed to set up some kind of conflict within her when she finds out what kind of person he really is, but it's not much of a conflict because the relationship is purely physical as written. For being supposedly such skilled physicians, the main characters come across as completely adolescent, and it took me out of the story a bit too much.
Despite the emotionally retarded doctors, the atmosphere invoked by this novel can be quite chilling in a clinical way. You can almost hear the buzz of fluorescent lights and smell the antiseptic in the sterile white walls of the facility, where behind dark doors are nightmarish secrets.
A quick read and well-paced with some creepy moments, this will tickle the itch for fans of 80s pulp medical horrors, though I expected a lot more class from a first-rate writer like Osborn. Ultimately the content of this book will not be as memorable for me as its cover has been all this time.
"Death pretended devotion to science and humanitarianism and wore a hood and a surgical gown and carried a scalpel."
Having always been intrigued by the cover of the 1985 horror novel "Heads," this book had been on my wishlist since I was a teenager. But I never got around to owning a copy until I ended up getting a reprint on Kindle called "The Head Hunters." I was elated to find out I had inadvertently gotten an e-version of the same book I had been looking for. But the content of the novel itself is mediocre, though still quite effective in places and often entertaining.
"The Head Hunters" tries to rebrand the original "Heads" from horror to "medical thriller," and it unnecessarily inserts some updated technology references in the book that did not exist or were not prevalent in '85, like i-phones, the internet, and tablet computers. Yet, it remains at heart an 80's paperback horror with all the cheesy goodness and cringeworthy baggage that goes with this era of paperback publishing.
On the negative end, my suspension of disbelief was destroyed not by the premise of the story or the questionable medical science, but by the unlikable and unlikely cast. Most of the main characters are young doctors who all have perfect bodies. And you have to hear about how gorgeous they are way too much. More time could have been spent setting up their motivation rather than on how lofty their breasts or how chiseled their abs. I am a physician myself, and for a "medical thriller" to root me in reality there needs to be some recognition of what lack of sleep, constant stress, long hours, battling with third-party payers, and a shitty diet between cases actually does to most of us in the profession. But this was written during the renaissance of pulp in the 80s, and I guess a story about hot docs in bikinis and speedos sold better than one featuring balding, cushingoid, middle-aged nerds.
The back cover of "Heads" refers to "highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors." Yeah, right! The doctors behave like drunken college students for much of the first half of the story, not like brilliant scientists who can be trusted with a top-secret research project. One surgeon leaves her ID badge flagrantly visible in her office while she goes out for a night of lesbian romance, and another horny anesthesiologist shows off a top-secret lab to the main protagonist Susan, who doesn't have clearance, simply because he has a crush on her. When caught violating their security oaths, characters evidently have a hard time believing that any serious consequences could come of their actions and recklessly go about business as usual. Susan herself seems to be enslaved by her hormones, getting the hots for one of the antagonists and sleeping with him shortly after her long-term boyfriend tragically and violently dies. This is supposed to set up some kind of conflict within her when she finds out what kind of person he really is, but it's not much of a conflict because the relationship is purely physical as written. For being supposedly such skilled physicians, the main characters come across as completely adolescent, and it took me out of the story a bit too much.
Despite the emotionally retarded doctors, the atmosphere invoked by this novel can be quite chilling in a clinical way. You can almost hear the buzz of fluorescent lights and smell the antiseptic in the sterile white walls of the facility, where behind dark doors are nightmarish secrets.
A quick read and well-paced with some creepy moments, this will tickle the itch for fans of 80s pulp medical horrors, though I expected a lot more class from a first-rate writer like Osborn. Ultimately the content of this book will not be as memorable for me as its cover has been all this time.
February 29, 2020
"Death pretended devotion to science and humanitarianism and wore a hood and a surgical gown and carried a scalpel."
Having always been intrigued by the cover of the 1985 horror novel "Heads," this book had been on my wishlist since I was a teenager. But I never got around to owning a copy until I ended up getting a reprint on Kindle called "The Head Hunters." I was elated to find out I had inadvertently gotten an e-version of the same book I had been looking for. But the content of the novel itself is mediocre, though still quite effective in places and often entertaining.
"The Head Hunters" tries to rebrand the original "Heads" from horror to "medical thriller," and it unnecessarily inserts some updated technology references in the book that did not exist or were not prevalent in '85, like i-phones, the internet, and tablet computers. Yet, it remains at heart an 80's paperback horror with all the cheesy goodness and cringeworthy baggage that goes with this era of paperback publishing.
On the negative end, my suspension of disbelief was destroyed not by the premise of the story or the questionable medical science, but by the unlikable and unlikely cast. Most of the main characters are young doctors who all have perfect bodies. And you have to hear about how gorgeous they are way too much. More time could have been spent setting up their motivation rather than on how lofty their breasts or how chiseled their abs. I am a physician myself, and for a "medical thriller" to root me in reality there needs to be some recognition of what lack of sleep, constant stress, long hours, battling with third-party payers, and a shitty diet between cases actually does to most of us in the profession. But this was written during the renaissance of pulp in the 80s, and I guess a story about hot docs in bikinis and speedos sold better than one featuring balding, cushingoid, middle-aged nerds.
The back cover of "Heads" refers to "highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors." Yeah, right! The doctors behave like drunken college students for much of the first half of the story, not like brilliant scientists who can be trusted with a top-secret research project. One surgeon leaves her ID badge flagrantly visible in her office while she goes out for a night of lesbian romance, and another horny anesthesiologist shows off a top-secret lab to the main protagonist Susan, who doesn't have clearance, simply because he has a crush on her. When caught violating their security oaths, characters evidently have a hard time believing that any serious consequences could come of their actions and recklessly go about business as usual. Susan herself seems to be enslaved by her hormones, getting the hots for one of the antagonists and sleeping with him shortly after her long-term boyfriend tragically and violently dies. This is supposed to set up some kind of conflict within her when she finds out what kind of person he really is, but it's not much of a conflict because the relationship is purely physical as written. For being supposedly such skilled physicians, the main characters come across as completely adolescent, and it took me out of the story a bit too much.
Despite the emotionally retarded doctors, the atmosphere invoked by this novel can be quite chilling in a clinical way. You can almost hear the buzz of fluorescent lights and smell the antiseptic in the sterile white walls of the facility, where behind dark doors are nightmarish secrets.
A quick read and well-paced with some creepy moments, this will tickle the itch for fans of 80s pulp medical horrors, though I expected a lot more class from a first-rate writer like Osborn. Ultimately the content of this book will not be as memorable for me as its cover has been all this time.
Having always been intrigued by the cover of the 1985 horror novel "Heads," this book had been on my wishlist since I was a teenager. But I never got around to owning a copy until I ended up getting a reprint on Kindle called "The Head Hunters." I was elated to find out I had inadvertently gotten an e-version of the same book I had been looking for. But the content of the novel itself is mediocre, though still quite effective in places and often entertaining.
"The Head Hunters" tries to rebrand the original "Heads" from horror to "medical thriller," and it unnecessarily inserts some updated technology references in the book that did not exist or were not prevalent in '85, like i-phones, the internet, and tablet computers. Yet, it remains at heart an 80's paperback horror with all the cheesy goodness and cringeworthy baggage that goes with this era of paperback publishing.
On the negative end, my suspension of disbelief was destroyed not by the premise of the story or the questionable medical science, but by the unlikable and unlikely cast. Most of the main characters are young doctors who all have perfect bodies. And you have to hear about how gorgeous they are way too much. More time could have been spent setting up their motivation rather than on how lofty their breasts or how chiseled their abs. I am a physician myself, and for a "medical thriller" to root me in reality there needs to be some recognition of what lack of sleep, constant stress, long hours, battling with third-party payers, and a shitty diet between cases actually does to most of us in the profession. But this was written during the renaissance of pulp in the 80s, and I guess a story about hot docs in bikinis and speedos sold better than one featuring balding, cushingoid, middle-aged nerds.
The back cover of "Heads" refers to "highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors." Yeah, right! The doctors behave like drunken college students for much of the first half of the story, not like brilliant scientists who can be trusted with a top-secret research project. One surgeon leaves her ID badge flagrantly visible in her office while she goes out for a night of lesbian romance, and another horny anesthesiologist shows off a top-secret lab to the main protagonist Susan, who doesn't have clearance, simply because he has a crush on her. When caught violating their security oaths, characters evidently have a hard time believing that any serious consequences could come of their actions and recklessly go about business as usual. Susan herself seems to be enslaved by her hormones, getting the hots for one of the antagonists and sleeping with him shortly after her long-term boyfriend tragically and violently dies. This is supposed to set up some kind of conflict within her when she finds out what kind of person he really is, but it's not much of a conflict because the relationship is purely physical as written. For being supposedly such skilled physicians, the main characters come across as completely adolescent, and it took me out of the story a bit too much.
Despite the emotionally retarded doctors, the atmosphere invoked by this novel can be quite chilling in a clinical way. You can almost hear the buzz of fluorescent lights and smell the antiseptic in the sterile white walls of the facility, where behind dark doors are nightmarish secrets.
A quick read and well-paced with some creepy moments, this will tickle the itch for fans of 80s pulp medical horrors, though I expected a lot more class from a first-rate writer like Osborn. Ultimately the content of this book will not be as memorable for me as its cover has been all this time.
December 18, 2020
Severed talking heads being experimented on by some crazy government funded program. Eerie, dark ride through the creepy corridors and operating tables. Oh and the cover is so amazing.
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