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Broken Boy
"Our only current writer who can induce such terror as the Grimm Brothers did." - Times Literary Supplement
"A real chiller. . . . The book moves rapidly from beginning to end and Hitchcock ought to be advised. It would make a heck of a movie." - Evening News
"He is certainly the best British novelist in his field and deserves the widest recognition." - Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural
When a dead prostitute is found floating in the river, the local police assume it's just another routine murder. But when it turns out the woman may have been a notorious East German spy, General Charles Kirk and his assistants, Michael Howard and Penny Wise, are called in from the Foreign Intelligence Office to investigate. Kirk is the evidence of numerous impeccable witnesses proves the murder could not possibly have happened, and yet there's a dead body in the morgue to show that it did. The only clue is a wooden idol in the form of a hideous, misshapen boy, found in the dead woman's room. Soon Kirk realizes that this is no case of what he is up against is an evil centuries old and long thought vanished from the earth. And when Kirk and his colleagues get close to the truth, can they unravel the mystery before they become the next victims?
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was the author of more than thirty popular thrillers in which he blended the genres of mystery, horror, and science fiction in unique and often brilliant ways. Although recognized as the best British horror writer of his time, his works have been sadly neglected since his death. This new edition of Broken Boy (1959), Blackburn's third novel, includes a new introduction by Greg Gbur.
"A real chiller. . . . The book moves rapidly from beginning to end and Hitchcock ought to be advised. It would make a heck of a movie." - Evening News
"He is certainly the best British novelist in his field and deserves the widest recognition." - Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural
When a dead prostitute is found floating in the river, the local police assume it's just another routine murder. But when it turns out the woman may have been a notorious East German spy, General Charles Kirk and his assistants, Michael Howard and Penny Wise, are called in from the Foreign Intelligence Office to investigate. Kirk is the evidence of numerous impeccable witnesses proves the murder could not possibly have happened, and yet there's a dead body in the morgue to show that it did. The only clue is a wooden idol in the form of a hideous, misshapen boy, found in the dead woman's room. Soon Kirk realizes that this is no case of what he is up against is an evil centuries old and long thought vanished from the earth. And when Kirk and his colleagues get close to the truth, can they unravel the mystery before they become the next victims?
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was the author of more than thirty popular thrillers in which he blended the genres of mystery, horror, and science fiction in unique and often brilliant ways. Although recognized as the best British horror writer of his time, his works have been sadly neglected since his death. This new edition of Broken Boy (1959), Blackburn's third novel, includes a new introduction by Greg Gbur.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
John Blackburn
35 books35 followersJohn Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. Blackburn attended Haileybury College near London beginning in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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December 3, 2017
Here's the cover of the 1970 Sphere mass-market paperback (159 pages).
October 12, 2020
John Blackburn's third novel BROKEN BOY sees the return of General Charles Kirk with Mike Howard and Penny Wise investigating the apparent murder of an East German defector, eventually discovering that something far more sinister than international espionage behind this and other killings.
Though somewhat a less well-structured work than his later great novels, this starts yet another couple of great Blackburn trends: the sinister sect and murder that isn't what, or who, it appears to be. I personally think the story would work even better adapted to film, discarding the cold war trappings, as an Italian 'giallo' - RAGAZZO ROTTO...
Though somewhat a less well-structured work than his later great novels, this starts yet another couple of great Blackburn trends: the sinister sect and murder that isn't what, or who, it appears to be. I personally think the story would work even better adapted to film, discarding the cold war trappings, as an Italian 'giallo' - RAGAZZO ROTTO...
June 30, 2020
Well, I was hoping for a more supernatural touch but that's not a big deal, since the actual villians still gave me heebie-jeebies. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect and truly like anyone in this book despite the occasional sparks the writing induced in me. I felt the most for the two victims.
Despite it's brevity this story felt like it dragged in places. But I think it was more my attitude towards the book than an issue with the pacing. It's not a good thing when I can let a mystery book sit for four days when I'm only a few chapters away from the ending.
I want to read more by John Blackburn. I wasn't wowed by Broken Boy, but neither was I put off. It was adequate and short and I don't regret reading it. There's not a single book in the rest of his ouvre that doesn't interest me. If this is his weakest entry, then I should have a great time with the rest.
*Just a note to say I have read another of his books (A Ring of Roses) and I did, in fact, have a great time. Looking forward to more of his ouvre.
Despite it's brevity this story felt like it dragged in places. But I think it was more my attitude towards the book than an issue with the pacing. It's not a good thing when I can let a mystery book sit for four days when I'm only a few chapters away from the ending.
I want to read more by John Blackburn. I wasn't wowed by Broken Boy, but neither was I put off. It was adequate and short and I don't regret reading it. There's not a single book in the rest of his ouvre that doesn't interest me. If this is his weakest entry, then I should have a great time with the rest.
*Just a note to say I have read another of his books (A Ring of Roses) and I did, in fact, have a great time. Looking forward to more of his ouvre.
November 17, 2018
I'm a bit disappointed to be honest. Yes, I knew there were thriller elements here from the get go, and yet the problem with the book was it's rather not as good as I'd hoped. It may be unfair to compare it to a work Blackburn wrote ten years later, yet I am very much forced to compare it to "Bury Him Darkly" and find it lacking. Where the latter is steeped in gothic atmosphere, while a great and bewildering mystery, very much shown to be sinister and quite unnatural, builds up to a truly fantastic and destructive climax, Broken Boy takes halfway through the book to even start dropping the red herring bog standard murder detection idea, and even then most of the rest of the book is just characters going back and forth, looking up house plans and expert opinions at museums, only to culminate in a murder conspiracy slash satanic cult.
Sadly the cult is bereft of any real grandeur and all the potential nastiness of this sort of idea is mostly swept away since all this cult ever does is drive a woman insane to be their pawn and then worry about time tables and set ups to kill people and make false alibis. Nothing supernatural of any sort ever happens in it, and the cult itself is a bit mundane beyond the first previously mentioned point.
The most interesting part of the book is the very brief attention given to the real life story of Queen Ranavalona and I honestly would have preffered the novel to be about that instead of watching a general from the foreign office (who seems to think Bantu people are all "bow legged" because they "haven't been walking on their legs very long") ride on trains and spend a good third of the book going on about the red herring that is them damn Ruskis.
The fact I have to give the author "Bury Him Darkly" two stars is frankly not something I'm happy about but here we are.
Sadly the cult is bereft of any real grandeur and all the potential nastiness of this sort of idea is mostly swept away since all this cult ever does is drive a woman insane to be their pawn and then worry about time tables and set ups to kill people and make false alibis. Nothing supernatural of any sort ever happens in it, and the cult itself is a bit mundane beyond the first previously mentioned point.
The most interesting part of the book is the very brief attention given to the real life story of Queen Ranavalona and I honestly would have preffered the novel to be about that instead of watching a general from the foreign office (who seems to think Bantu people are all "bow legged" because they "haven't been walking on their legs very long") ride on trains and spend a good third of the book going on about the red herring that is them damn Ruskis.
The fact I have to give the author "Bury Him Darkly" two stars is frankly not something I'm happy about but here we are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2025
A nice little thriller. The ending explodes into terror.
July 19, 2015
A good period read.
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May 20, 2017fun if a bit misogynist.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews