The Happy Man: A Tale of Horror

by Eric C. Higgs

Charles Ripley has a good job as an engineer, a pretty wife, and an expensive house in a fashionable San Diego suburb. But it isn’t until Ruskin Marsh moves in next door that Ripley realizes how passionless his life really is. Marsh, a connoisseur of the arts, high-powered lawyer, model husband and father, and effortless seducer of women, is so supremely alive that Ripley finds himself irresistibly drawn to him. But after Marsh’s arrival, local girls begin to vanish, marriages end violently, nights are split with endless, desperate screams, and horribly mutilated corpses are found. Soon Ripley becomes caught up in an accelerating maelstrom of sex, drugs, violence, and ghastly, unimaginable rites . . . and begins to see the beauty of life. From its profoundly unsettling first pages, Eric C. Higgs’s  The Happy Man  (1985) reveals the nightmare underside of the American dream and brilliantly echoes the Gothic horror tradition of Edgar Allan Poe and Roald Dahl. This new edition features an introduction by the author. “ The Happy Man  is an essential ’80s horror smart, sharp, unforgiving, unlike anything else in the genre.” –  Too Much Horror Fiction “[A] grisly shocker, understated for the most part but carrying the impact of a fist to the stomach . . . a most promising debut.” –  San Diego Union “A thoroughly engrossing Gothic horror story.” –  South Bend Tribune

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Audiobook, Classics, Halloween, Gothic

166 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1985

Reviews

[Vicki Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Important To Know Oneself...
Who You Really Are...

No spoilers. 4 1/2 stars. Charles Ripley and his wife Shelley live in a small community in Chula Vista, CA...

They consider themselves an upwardly mobile couple living an average California yuppie lifestyle...

One day...

They see a new family moving into the house next door. The Marsh family...

Charles introduces himself and meets Ruskin, a lawyer, and his wife Sybil. Then he invites them over for drinks...

Everyone becomes fast friends and begins doing things together.

One evening...

Ruskin invites Charles to go to dinner with him. The wives are shopping together and the boys have some spare time...

After dinner and several drinks...

Ruskin connects with a couple of bar bimbos and suggests to Charles that they follow the girls home for some after dinner sex...

Charles, full of liquor, agrees to the plan and they follow the girls up into deserted hills...

The girls are driving too slow and...

Ruskin becomes impatient after a while and hurries the girls along with his car, causing them to go over the side of the hill where their car catches on fire...

Killing both women...

Charles is shaken and wants to call police and paramedic, but Ruskin has an "oh well" attitude toward the whole event and suggests they forget about it and go home...

Ruskin tells Charles it's important to know oneself. Who you really are...

Charles comes to see that...

Ruskin does anything he wants without consequences. Charles becomes suspicious when several people in and around the community come up missing...

Or dead...

One day, Ruskin loans Charles a valuable book by the Marquis de Sade and tells Charles that he and Sybil belong to a secret club...

This is an excellent story all the way to the end. I would not classify this as horror but a very good thriller.

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE HAPPY MAN: A TALE OF HORROR is one bizarre piece of work from the 80's, brought back by Valancourt Books.

I finished this book on Saturday and I still am not sure what to make of it! A couple moves in to a new housing development in a suburb of San Diego. Charles Ripley and his wife are mostly on an even keel, despite a tragedy that occurred shortly after the move. Then, the Marsh's move in next door and even though they don't know it, the lives of the Ripley's are soon about to change.

First-the good. It is very difficult to put this book down. The chapters are short, (heck, the BOOK is short), and fast paced. Once things start happening, they don't stop happening until the very end.

Second-the baffling. I'm not sure what the point of THE HAPPY MAN is supposed to be? I'm pretty sure there's some commentary going on here about housing developments, suburbia, immigration, sex, monogamy, corporate America, family dynamics, the decline of morals in society and so on, but was that the point? I don't know!

Perhaps it's this simple: A man thought he was happy and then was shown that he wasn't? Or that it didn't take all that much to turn a happy, regular guy into something else altogether? Maybe everything is just as much a facade as was Charles Ripley's demeanor? Charles wasn't that good of a guy in the first place and it only took a small nudge to send him down the road of....well, you'll have to read this to find out.

I'm going with a 4/5 star rating because I'm still thinking about this short novel days later and also because it was VERY difficult to put down once started. I'm also going with RECOMMENDED, if only so that you and I could talk about it and I could see what you think, when you're done!

You can get a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Man-Tale...

*I received an e-book free from Valancourt Books in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*

[Snakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll give this one the full complement of stars because it just kind of blew me away. What a hidden gem. It was mentioned in Hendrix’s Paperbacks from Hell. Come to find out it was nearly impossible to locate. It’s been out of print for quite a while and any extant copies listed on the usual websites were insanely expensive. Finally stumbled upon a former library copy which was being discarded on a more unconventional website and snatched it up. It was actually in pretty amazing condition for a book printed 30+ years ago.

I’d never heard of the author and he fell into that 1980s class that included their middle initial or name which seems sort of pretentious and stupid. The novel is short at 166 pages and the cover art is kind of hokey with a corny subtitle at the bottom, “A Tale of Horror”. But the story tore out of the gates and just didn’t stop. It was extremely well written (although the editing in 1985 was evidently garbage because there were numerous typos), but Higgs’s style was highly readable. Was engaged throughout and somehow he maintained this ominous tone of foreboding the entire length of the novel. Loved it. Great read and I’d recommend it to the next reader. Although, again, good luck finding a copy. It’s amazing to me that such an entertaining novel is no longer in print and I’ve read a trove of boring dreck that’s still chugging along and found on every bookstore shelf. Suppose that’s the industry.

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suburban Fight Club with less self-loathing, think of it as Less Than Zero with added machine guns.

[Jaksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yep, it's horrible, as in horror-ble.

The story of what happens when a new couple move in next door - to disastrous results. It's a short read, can be done in an hour or two. I skimmed some sections as I had a 'I knew what was coming feeling,' and then I was right! Set in the mid-1980's, it doesn't read 'dated.'

(And I hate that word because all books written in the 'now' quickly become dated. I saw a review for a book published and set in 2014 that said, 'too bad it's so dated.')

However, themes of Mexican 'illegals' sneaking across the border, and worries about downsizing and job security, mention of popular (in the US) brands, etc., all made the book feel quite modern. At any rate, it's horrifying what happens to Charles and Shelby Ripley when the seemingly all-too-perfect and extremely happy Marshes move into their little neighborhood.

Some surprises here, too, but an all too-familiar take on the trope, 'neighbors from hell.'

[oddo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gruesome doozy of sin, sadism, and excess. Brings to mind the squeaky suburban hell of 1974's Devils in Candy Houses by William Wall but with larger teeth and a thoroughly compromised reward system. Dual-hatted as a compelling character study rife with madness. Top-notch.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty short, but to the point suburban death machine style book. This could have played out the slow decent to madness a bit more. It does jolt you from time to time. Makes you want to build a privacy fence and let someone else mow the lawn.

[Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very, VERY mixed opinion on this book.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fucking ruled! A little bit Fight Club, a little bit Lestat. This is the type of book that newer publishers would avoid for being "too problematic". Read it if you're desperate for mid-life crisis fiction that doesn't pull its punches in the name of PC culture.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Happy Man" has one of the best opening lines ever, and a great first chapter that sends you spinning and disoriented into the rest of the tale. Then it starts to feel more like a slow suspense thriller with a touch of Bentley Little.

However, there really isn't much "thrill" to be found here. Most of the book takes place in a few homes in a San Diego subdivision, with people working in their garages and drinking beer, or snorting cocaine and skinny dipping, or lusting after someone's buxom flirt of a wife at a cocktail party, or hanging out in the backyard jacuzzi smoking reefer.

But Eric Higgs does a great job of capturing the feel of middle class struggles for contentment and a sense of belonging, and the madness that may lie beneath the attempts to reach those virtues. Behind every manicured lawn and freshly polished sport coup in the driveway may also be a borderline teenage daughter with daddy issues who gets hooked on drugs and becomes a prostitute, or a husband unable to look at his wife because he is hooked on porn, or an alcoholic wife who has decided to live a sham marriage because she has not the courage to come out of the closet.

As such, Higgs also captures the progression of addiction quite well, and in this case, the need for greater thrills leads to a horrific conclusion.

This book was unsettling but not as disturbing as many have claimed it to be. That being said, the bleak and nihilistic content can be a bit of a downer, as there are no sympathetic characters with any redeeming qualities. Similarly, I would not recommend this for someone sensitive to triggers regarding addiction or depression. "The Happy Man" is not happy reading.

But I felt this was one of the more thoughtful horrors I've encountered in quite a while, and so if that's what you are looking for, give this a try.

[Rob Twinem · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great pleasure to read this re published story some 30 years after the initial print run . In some ways I had become weary with the horror genre and was hoping that something fresh could grab my attention and rekindle my enthusiasm. The Happy Man is a classic edgy horror story that follows the fortunes of one suburban San Diego resident Charles Ripley. His everyday life is about to change when newcomer Ruskin Marsh and alluring wife Sybil move into the recently sold property next door. Charles is drawn unexpectedly to the charismatic lawyer Marsh a happy gregarious character not only an expert on art but also insatiable in his pursuit of young delectable females. The writings of the Marquis de Sade feature predominately in the world of Marsh and Charles offers himself as an eager scholar keen to understand and indeed partake in violent sexual acts depicted by De Sade.

What I particularly loved about this story was the build-up from a seemingly sedate middle class development to a world with no barriers where murder and sexual deviation are accepted as the norm. Was Charles Ripley prepared to sacrifice his home, job and wife in pursuit of excitement to feed his ever increasing need for gratification under the auspices of Ruskin Marsh? This is a great example of how horror can be used to structure the every ordinary day into a place of evil and pleasure with no responsibility nor limit. Many thanks to the good people at Valancourt Books for providing me with a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review. This small independent company specialize in rare neglected and out of print fiction promoting authors and works that might otherwise remain unknown. Recommended.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic, savage and creepy little book this was. Through the measured platonic seduction of Charles Ripley, Higgs throws us headlong into the dark heart of the human spirit, where cruelty and depravity lead to an ultimate happiness, but at the cost of the soul. A tense atmosphere of unease tightens its hold on the reader, with endless blackly comic scenes of yuppie parties, middle class snobbery, discussions of art and philosophy, always with a sneaky, violent edge waiting to be unleashed. I can't say much about this book without giving everything away, suffice to say that Higgs weaves a story with more skill and nuance in 166 pages than many authors do in 500 or more, with characters that feel terribly, horrifyingly real. If you can find this rare book for a decent price, snatch it up and be prepared to discover the true secret to a happy life.

[WJEP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripley is a happy man, living in the burbs in 80s. He's got a jacuzzi deck, a king-size waterbed, a Mazda RX-7, and a wife with a flat belly. But Ripley's new neighbor, Ruskin, is happier. Ripley needs to know Ruskin's secret.

Ruskin got out of his chair and went to the bookcase. "You’d probably like to take a look at this." He took out an old, leather-bound book and handed it over. "Consider this ransom for your lawn trimmer."

The book was Juliette written by Marquis de Sade in 1797. It sounds like a world-shattering book. I want to be a happy man too. I would consider reading it if it weren't 1200+ pages.

[Tenebrous Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wished that "American Psycho" was less... you know... Bret Easton Ellis-ey and more like the "Twilight Zone?" I didn't know that was an active wish of mine until reading "The Happy Man," a gleefully macabre little novel that explores the dark underbelly of upper middle class life. Morbidly spectacular from its opening lines to the very last syllable. To reveal too much would risk ruining the book's twists and turns, but suffice to say Valancourt Books has unearthed yet another under-appreciated 80s horror gem.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

My original THE HAPPY MAN: A TALE OF HORROR audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

In the opening moments of Eric C. Higgs’s The Happy Man: A Tale of Horror, we learn of a murder – the Marsh family has been shot dead next door. We’re told this by Charles Ripley, whose first-person account gives us insight into the San Diego neighborhood he inhabits. The victims next door are not the only murders this neighborhood has seen recently, and Ripley recounts the events leading up to this penultimate act of violence. In fact, strange things have been brewing ever since the Marshes moved in…

Outside of his marriage, Ripley doesn’t have a lot of friends and few men he can connect with. He quickly bonds with the newly arrived Ruskin Marsh, and their wives form a fast friendship. As Ripley and Marsh become better acquainted with each other, Charles is introduced to a very rare work of writing from the sexual libertine Marquis de Sade. Entranced by Marsh’s own sexual exploits and lack of inhibitions, Ripley soon finds his own constraints diminishing and begins straying into extramarital affairs and, soon enough, darker exploits encouraged in de Sade’s writings.

Narrated by Matt Godfrey, The Happy Man is a slow-burn work of suburban horror that finely balances placidity with hair-raising, horrifying drama. This is a well-crafted work of psychosexual drama, and Godfrey’s reading of the material captures the feel of a neighborhood friend telling you a crazy story. At only a bit over 5 hours long, Godfrey keeps the narrative moving along nicely. Higgs, meanwhile, keeps the work grounded, and the moments of horror are never implausible or outlandish. Higgs earns each of his twists and turns by giving us believable characters and a pot-boiler narrative that slowly builds toward the inevitable.

Written in 1985, and recently reissued by Valancourt Books, The Happy Man taps into the anxiety of The Other with its themes of sexual promiscuity, casual drug use, fear of immigrants, and the rise of the Christian Right and their idea of what constitutes family values. While this latter is never overtly mentioned, given the period Higgs was writing in I can’t help but feel like much of this book is a response to the political climate surrounding it. Marsh is very much a hedonistic figure, the kind of guy Nancy Reagan would encourage you to Just Say No! to, and his arrival to this suburban neighborhood threatens to destroy everything his fellow yuppies hold dear, upsetting the balance of their perfectly coiffed all-American lifestyles. With its themes of racism and the sexual objectification of women, The Happy Man is very much a product of the 1980s, yet much of horrors its reacting to, and certainly expounding upon, still feel topical today. Higgs takes all the fears of 80s Evangelicalism and runs with them toward their worst-case finale – the destruction of families at the hands of an outsider. It’s telling, though, that while Mexican immigrants are often blamed for some of the seedier aspects of this white collar, upper-crust San Diego subdivision, the root cause of their problems lie much, much closer to home. Perhaps, in between the moments of eroticism and shocking violence, Higgs was trying to tell us something after all.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ripleys have new neighbours - the Marshes - and with their arrival, the small cosy town of Mesa Vista will never be the same. At first, the two couples become fast friends and the Ripleys are attracted to the charismatic and powerful Ruskin Marsh but soon their relationship grows darker with each passing day. A simple barbecue turns into an orgy. Violence erupts. Gruesome murders are reported nearby. People begin to disappear. Finally Ruskin invites Charles Ripley to join his family in acts of murder and mutilation.
Starting with a terrific opening line - ‘The Marshes rotted in their house two full days before they were discovered by a delivery man from Sparkletts’ - this short-novel (only 166 pages) doesn’t disappoint or let up at all. It’s told in first person by Charles Ripley, who’s a wonderfully realised character and very easy to side with, especially when the book later takes several odd turns and he struggles to figure out what’s going on and how he fits into things.
The characterisation is good across the board - from Shelly Ripley, trying to recover from a miscarriage and Sybil Marsh, a vamp in every sense of the word to the minor characters, neighbours in the development who are given enough heft that you care and empathise with them - and none more so than Ruskin Marsh himself. He’s a superb character, a high-flying lawyer by day and voracious sexual adventurer all the time (his wife, others wives, random women he picks up, ladies he takes off other characters hands), an aesthete, purveyor of high quality drugs and a lover of guns. Ruskin belongs to an exclusive club he calls the ‘Society of Friends’ who appear to take their life philiosophy from De Sade’s Juliette or the Fortunes of Vice and when he hands a copy to Ripley (notably a translated version, which apparently doesn’t exist), Charles’ life begins to turn, with his attitude towards a woman at work who fancies him becomes much darker until she too is in mortal peril.
With some terrific set-pieces - the two women from the bar who drive off the road, meeting Angela in a funky restaurant, the skinny-dipping, the illegal alien being tortured to death in the valley that we only hear, rather than see - and a great sense of location - both the Mesa Vista estate and San Diego in general - this is assured and accomplished and a real page turner.
Told with good pace from the beginning, once the whole story starts to emerge - it’s alluded to in the blurb, but is much bigger - the book takes several shifts in tone until Ripley is forced into a position where he has nothing to lose and it ends as intense and bleak as it began.
A great little novel, told with style and wit and an eye for gruesome detail, this is well worth a read and I’d highly recommend it.


I’ve had this on my bookshelf since 1987 or so (the Paperjacks edition published in 1986) where it’s survived house moves, book culls and everything else, but having now read it (some 27 years after buying it), I wish I’d done so ages ago. It’s also nice to read a book from the late 80s, a period of time I remember vividly, where characters are excited about home computers, large screen TVs and Atari systems.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is quite an interesting story. The characters are very misogynistic, which is fitting with the nasty little story. I wouldn’t say this was scary but it was certainly a good listen. I’m just not sure I liked the twist at the end... it kind of came out of nowhere.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably more a 3.5-star book, but I can't see it being just 3, so I can't round it down. Four it is.

The Happy Man is a story of excess, of hedonism taken to its most extreme. It follows Charles Ripley, our narrator, as he strives to determine what it is that makes his new neighbor, Ruskin Marsh, so happy, so content. The novel is subtitled "A Tale of Horror", so I don't need to explain that what he discovers is not what he expects.

The book leads the reader to its inevitable conclusion, dragging them along unwillingly through its compelling prose. It's the kind of book that you have to keep reading, even if you're afraid of what you might find.

This is a dark work, probably best suited for readers of Chuck Palahniuk, Jack Ketchum, or Katherine Dunn, who can stomach a nihilistic outlook on the world. Casual readers should probably avoid it.

[Jason McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you jerk off too much to the Marquis de Sade you'll turn you into a psychopath 🤷‍♂️

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this in a few hours. Couldn't stop once I started. Such a deadly, deadly book.

[Ken Gooday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. This book had a lot to live up to after Thor by Wayne Smith. It was paced very well. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars was what felt like a rushed ending, and the writing seemed to change towards the end. The writing was fairly straightforward throughout the book, then about 3/4ths of the way through it got wordy with what felt like filler and overly descriptive language.

Entertaining nonetheless. This felt like a precursor to extreme horror or the modern day "splatterpunk" genre. This book did not feel gimmicky or shocking for the sake of shock. It definitely has more to say than your average "splatterpunk." I'm not saying there is anything wrong with splatterpunk being superficial, if it's entertaining, but if you want a book with something to say, this is more likely the way to go.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars....this was a fast-paced, absorbing read that unfortunately lost steam by the end. Our protagonist, Charles, develops a bit of a man crush on Ruskin, his new neighbor. Why? Ruskin seems to be genuinely happy and to have mastered the art of not giving a f***. Charles is ultimately led astray as the bromance with Ruskin takes on more of a student/mentor relationship. What’s the point of the story? Did the story even have a point? I have no clue! Minus the ending, it was a fun and quick read, so I’m just going to appreciate it for what it was as I move onto the next book!

[Hiba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of lost for words. It was good, unsettling, bizarre...
Who's guiltier? Is Charles guilty at all? Was it a terrible act done for the greater good? Who could say...
It's such a short novel but there is so much going on all at once and it really makes you think. What does it take for someone to completely unravel? Was Charles ever really happy or was he simply living the agreed-upon version of a happy life?

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

the worst part of this book is how realistically insufferable every character is. the second worst part is that the 2017 valancourt books edition cover art gives away the climactic reveal. I did enjoy the protagonist's descent into madness, though. very unsettling.

[Neil Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A macabre, insidious story of damnation by a thousand cuts; “The Happy Man” is a seductive surprise.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like one of those trashy 90s domestic/erotic thrillers that you'd catch late on HBO/Cinemax, until it starts to get extremely unhinged.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beware the new neighbor with a smile in his eye and a love of lending out de Sade. (Not to mention the MAC-10 nestled in his desk.)

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wicked, gruesome, and enthralling. Somewhere between Apt Pupil and American Psycho, this was a delightful journey into suburban depravity.

[Bill Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little unsettling read;

[tam tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mon Dieu! That is dark. Up there with The Cement Garden for inducing wide-eyed queasiness via simple yet powerful writing & the hidden (barely) depravity of the supposed-to-be-boring middle class. Dark I tells ya!