A Crying Shame

by William W. Johnstone

Each night they emerged from the murky depths of the swamp to claim another victim—a lovely, innocent, fertile female who would be carried off in huge hairy arms and plunged into a nightmare world of terror. Her screams would echo in the darkness. Her face would contort in the throes of horror and pain. But once taken, each became a mother of an unholy child, a link in the chain of madness and evil, a spawn to carry on the devil's name!DON’T MISS THESE WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE THRILLERS! The Devil’s Kiss The Devil’s Heart The Devil’s Touch The Devil’s Cat The Uninvited Them

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Thriller

287 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1983

About the author

William W. Johnstone is the #1 bestselling Western writer in America and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of hundreds of books, with over 50 million copies sold. Born in southern Missouri, he was raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and tutored by his schoolteacher mother. He left school at fifteen to work in a carnival and then as a deputy sheriff before serving in the army. He went on to become known as "the Greatest Western writer of the 21st Century." Visit him online at WilliamJohnstone.net.

Reviews

[Laura Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was wicked creepy. I love creatures with my horror and you get some new ones in this story.

I tried to visualize them and came up with a cross between a bigfoot from the movie Sasquatch and the vampire creatures in Priest. Probably not even close but that’s scary enough for me.

I know the blurb mentions these monsters emerging from the swamp to kidnap human females and impregnate them. That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But the author manages to pull it off, giving you a believable enough explanation for their actions and how it works.

That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. These creatures have super strength, are savage, and hungry. And we are on the menu.

Great characters too. Lots to like. And so many to pity when the creatures really get cranked up. A horror story wouldn’t be good without some killing off of likable characters and there’s some of that for sure. Don’t count on your favorite making it to the end. Lots don’t. This is home invasion on a whole new level.

For all of you horror fans, come and get it!

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read for fans of 80s horror. I remember the old Zebra paperbacks with the skulls and skeletons on the cover, great reads and very creepy.

This one has the not so original (kinky) premise of monsters wanting human females for breeding purposes, usually hot young nubile females. Hey, even the monsters know what they like, am I right? This plot reminded me a little of the movie Humanoids from the Deep, but there are some pretty big differences as well.

Johnstone manages to put plenty of sex in with the graphic violence, and his books always seem to contain references to, um, sex "the other way" let's say. There's the usual stupidity found in 80s horror as well. When monsters are literally at the door, what do you do? Why, have sex of course! This also happened in Richard Laymon's THE CELLAR, so it's not just Johnstone that has horny-to-the-point-of-stupid characters. Speaking of Laymon, if you are a fan of his work you should check Johnstone out, as I see similarities in their writings.

Overall, if you are a fan of gory, 80s horror with some far fetched scenes and "over-acted" characters, check this one out. It's a great read for fans of the genre.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the edge of a small Louisiana town lies a giant marshland known as the Crying Swamp, so-called because sometimes the sound of women weeping can be heard within its murky depths. Some say the swamp is haunted, but a few know the truth: the Crying Swamp is home to a tribe of Bigfoot-like wild men who do indeed capture wayward females and drag them into the swampland to serve as mates. When a researcher on the edge of the Crying Swamp is brutally murdered, his sister and a mysterious mercenary with motives of his own set out to solve the mystery of the Crying Swamp and put an end to the monsters dwelling within. But at what cost will their crusade come?

Exciting and action-packed, A CRYING SHAME is in some ways more of a hardcore adventure novel than a horror story, though make no mistake there are a number of extremely horrific scenes. The attacks of the monsters--which come to generally be referred to as Links--are described in gory detail and leave little to the imagination, and the setting of the desolate, nearly impenetrable Crying Swamp makes for a wonderfully eerie set piece. In addition to the horrors perpetrated by the Links, there's quite a bit of gun-slinging action as well, especially near the end, and the author does a great job of portraying all the blood-and-thunder as our hero--the aforementioned mercenary--and his allies fight it out with the berserk humanoids.

There are some interesting ethical debates inserted into the wild narrative as well, as the Links are decidedly more intelligent than it first appears and it's gradually revealed that only some of the creatures are guilty of the brutal attacks on the locals, as a deadly disease which brings madness with it has afflicted the tribe and driven many to a manic fury which is not typical of their kind. Is it just to kill the peaceful Links along with the infected ones? Things grow even more complicated when it's discovered a few of the townsfolk aren't fully human, but are in fact the children of the Links. All in all, A CRYING SHAME is a fun horror-action romp that even hides a bit of a heart beneath all the carnage.

[Angela Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought A Crying Shame because it was described as the prequel to Watchers In The Woods, my favorite horror story by William W. Johnstone. While it did take place before the events in Watchers I wouldn't really call it a prequel. It was more like an earlier, less pulled together version of the same story. I still thought that the plot was really good, just not as good. If you are easily offended by non-PC storylines this isn't the book for you. The scenes of horror are graphic and gory, and the tension is really well done. I really enjoyed this story! So why the 3.5 star rating??? The formatting in the eBook version is horrendous. The punctuation is in the wrong places and the upside down quotation marks drove me crazy. It honestly kept throwing me right out of the story when I had to go back to see if it was a description or dialogue I was reading. Books by Johnstone are usually a great read for me but not this time. If you can get past the formatting this is a decent story. A fast paced and frustrating 3.5 star read.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fun. Missing links (some good, some not) live in the swamp. As they have for years. The younger generation males are somewhat rogue. What follows is a book that is a little creepy, and folk lore like. I do think there might be things in the swamps of the South that we aren't (or maybe we are?) aware of. If you don't mind missing link SA? Or are able to skim? (and quite a few similar descriptions of their anatomy), and gore give it a read.
3.5 stars

[larry brashear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding!

I truly enjoyed this story and it is exciting and interesting all the way through. It is well written and edited with proper grammar use.

[D.L. Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspenseful & scary

The book gets right to it in the first few pages. Linda Breau and her brother Paul are alone in a big old mansion by the swamp in Louisiana when they hear a noise. In my mind I'm saying Don't go out there! But you know he does & you can guess what happens.
There are mutants in the swamp. Some are good & some aren't so good. Enter Jon Badon, a mercenary hired by the late Paul, to eliminate the missing Links.
Lots of violence, bloodshed suspense & explicit sex. Made for an interesting story. Keeps the reader entertained & on the edge of their seat.
Here's the reason I didn't give you a 5star review, Mr. Johnstone. Please consider hiring an editor. At first the upside-down quotation marks were off-putting but I got used to that. The no-separations-or ******* between --scenes was confusing.I had to re-read a few times to figure out how that character got to be in another place. Other than that, I really liked your book.

[Barbara Lee Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SWAMP IS ALIVE👀

Not bad for a mostly western writer. It's interestingly eerie and intriguing. It also makes you go hum hum maybe all these stories we've heard that have been circulating around for centuries may have some truth...who knows📉👀

[Kris Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best work but alright. Nice for nostalgia.

[Egghead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mercenary gives
speech on Africa between
killing missing links

[Sherrie Lynn Grimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

It was a very good monster story full of action from the start unlike other books I have read enjoyed