Slaughter Beach

by Benedict J. Jones

When glamour photographer William Marshall charters Don Curtis’ boat The Ariadne for a photo-shoot on a remote tropical island it’s an offer too good to turn down. Beautiful scenery, beautiful girls… what could possibly go wrong?

The island hides a deadly secret though, and soon Don, the photographers and models find themselves involved in a terrifying game of cat and mouse with a deadly adversary where death lies in wait behind every tree and boulder…

Slaughter Beach—where paradise becomes a blood-drenched hell.

Genres: Horror

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2015

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don Curtis runs a boat called The Ariadne out of an unnamed island somewhere in the tropics. When it’s rented by glamour photographer William Marshall for a photo-shoot on a remote island, it’s an offer too good for Curtis to turn down, with its promise of beautiful girls, beautiful scenery and a big payday. But the island hides a deadly secret, starting off a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that quickly sees the body count rise. Set sometime in the late 70s, this takes its cue from the fiction and films of that era and presents a gleefully straightforward shocker that doesn’t skimp on the sex or gore. Curtis makes a good, solid hero that you really root for and although some of the characterisation is perfunctory (a couple of characters get killed before you really get to know who they are), the rest of the cast are quickly filled in with clever brushstrokes that let you know just who to root for. The location is well described and well used - from the horrible sticky heat to the bugs, from the dense foliage of the jungle that doesn’t quite show you everything you want and the wide open spaces where you know something terrible is going happen - and because the timeline of the story is so brief, the novella cracks along at a rapid pace. With some terrific gore sequences (you can almost imagine some of them on lurid VHS covers), nicely worked suspense sequences and an ending that I really wasn’t expecting, this is a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Ross Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve only recently discovered Benedict J. Jones through his collaboration with Tom Leins on Dirty Bullion which features Leins’s Joe Rey and Jones’s Charlie Bars. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of Jones’s publications that are widely available but I recently read his folk/horror short story and also found this novella, both on Amazon Kindle.
Curtis is an Aussie living in the South Pacific islands and charters his boat out to earn a living. He agrees to take a renowned photographer and his entourage to an isolated uninhabited island for a photo shoot, only to find that they are not alone. The visitors are picked off one by one as they try to evade their assailant and endeavour to escape their island hell.
It’s just a novella length story that kept me enthralled and I read it in just two short sittings. It reads very much like a film script and would translate quite well to the big or small screen, as the visitors to the island struggle through the jungle seeking refuge from their unknown attacker. Jones writing in spare and taught as he describes a myriad of ghastly deaths, each seemingly more horrific than the last !
I’ve certainly enjoyed what little of Jones’s writing that I’ve managed to find so far and hopefully more will become available, as I’d like to further explore his catalogue and especially the Charlie Bars novels.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book and a fun read. I came to this based on a recommendation so I wasn't sure what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised.

The premise is simple but perfectly conceived. A high profile photographer hires a private boat to take him along with several models to a remote island for a photo shoot. Upon arriving, the group quickly learns that they are not alone.

One thing I really appreciated is how the story is placed somewhat in the perspective of the antagonist, serving to humanize the monster somewhat.

If I had one critical note and probably the difference between four stars and five stars for me, it would be that once the story gets started, many of the secondary characters kind of blended together for me. It isn't a huge impediment to enjoying this book but i would have liked to have seen a bit more how differently the characters react to and deal with the horrific situation they find themselves in.

This is a fantastic book. Highly recommended.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr Jones turns in a page turner of a novella that I devoured in one sitting. Taking the classic survival trope, throwing in an original 'monster' and putting it all in a sun drenched setting, the author turns the dial to relentless and barely allows time for a breather. The pace is perfect, the horrible severe but apt and the tone just right. This is a fun read for the horror fan and kudos goes to Benedict J Jones for his smooth handling of the whole nightmarish affair. I could imagine this as a full length old school horror novel, digging deeper into each of the characters, but that's more of an observation than a complaint. This goes straight to the action and sometimes that's all that you need for a visceral thrill ride. Great stuff.

[Mr R · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine piece of gory pulp!

A worthy piece of short, sharp & cheesy exploitative pulp in a wonderful 1980's manner.

If you've got a couple of hours and a couple of quid to spare, give it a spin.