Savage Membrane

Cal McDonald Mystery #1

by Steve Niles, Ashley Wood

A hardboiled horror novel featuring two-fisted occult detective, Cal McDonald -- a gumshoe with no love for ghosts and ghouls alike. Featuring illustrations by award-winning artist Ashley Wood, this high-caliber conjuring of classic detective fiction, horror, and comedy finds McDonald (a tough-as-nails private dick in the same vein as Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe) stumbling on a mystery in the nation's capital, where people are dropping dead all over the place -- with all the brain matter missing from their skulls! What follows makes this novel a monster read.

Genres: Horror, Comics, Noir, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Fantasy

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

STEVE NILES is one of the writers responsible for bringing horror comics back to prominence, and was recently named by Fangoria magazine as one of it's "13 rising talents who promise to keep us terrified for the next 25 years."

Niles is currently working for the four top American comic publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. He got his start in the industry when he formed his own publishing company called Arcane Comix, where he published, edited and adapted several comics and anthologies for Eclipse Comics. His adaptations include works by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.

Steve resides in Los Angeles in his bachelor pad with one cat. While there's no crawlspace, there is a questionable closet in one corner and no one is quite sure what is hidden in there...but we have an idea.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[K.N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can honestly say I fell madly, deeply and irrevocably in love with Cal McDonald. Steve Niles gives us a fresh twist on the tired Noir genre by adding monsters and drugs to the mix.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Steve Niles fairs better in comic format. Very formulaic, lots of gross out details, drugs, violence and swearing, though I didn't find most of these elements shocking, interesting or engaging. If you're looking for a supernatural hard-boiled detective novel by a comic writer try Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels.

[Chris Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun quick read, along the lines of the Sandman Slim books.

I got three of these at a book sale, and will probably read the other two eventually, nothing binge-worthy, but a good read if you're in the mood..

[Adam D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the character, but cal the main character broke like half his ribs and his entire face as well as 3 gun shots and his entire body covered in a continuous bruise but then when Blout rolled his ankle he had to rest. Like be so real ☠️☠️
Still I enjoyed reading it bc sometimes it was kinda funny and there were some pretty good disturbing scenes.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hardboiled horror novel featuring two-fisted occult detective, Cal McDonald -- a gumshoe with no love for ghosts and ghouls alike.

I am a bit mixed on this one, overall I did enjoy it – I read it in two days – but it was a bit...rougher then I was expecting perhaps and I found some of the fights and action scenes distractingly violent and unbelievable. As in, I have a very hard time believing the main character survived any ONE of his battles never mind all of them combined and that kept pulling me out of the story.

The character of Cal McDonald himself was not particularly likable and that often keeps me from getting to invested in a character and their story, but in this case the reason for his unlikeability made so much sense and didn't make him and unreasonable bastard that I found myself caring about him and being invested in his actions.
I really liked Mo'Lock and I overall I found myself sympathizing way more with the ghouls and undead in the story than most of the humans, I would love to learn more about what their lives and world is like, though I find it unlikely to happen.
I enjoyed the overall mythos and structure of the world and it's magic which I found quite believable and fascinating and while this is not quite my typical type of story I am looking forward to reading the next one.

[Willow Redd · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a rough night at a raucous Halloween party, lawsuit pending, Cal McDonald is awakened by a call from his one remaining police friend who desperately needs his help. While Blout doesn't really believe in all the weird nonsense Cal supposedly investigates, he knows when he's out of his element, and this one rings uncomfortably familiar to a previous case Cal worked on.

So, Cal is on the job. Along the way he has to avoid someone out to kill him and a real tool of a cop who also wouldn't mind seeing Cal dead. Hopefully he can figure this out before he becomes a victim of one or all of these problems.

In the great tradition of the hard-boiled detective story, Steve Niles gives us Cal McDonald, a detective of occult phenomena. He's seen this weird shit all his life, so why not get payed for it.

[Andrew Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savage Membrane Jefferson Blount, Cal MacDonald, and Michael Locke have some dark dealings about. One a cop, one an ex-cop-turned-private-eye, and the other a hundred plus year old ghoul all fighting against evil monsters and humans. In this tale, it's Edgar Cain, a man who developed the psychic ability to absorb the brain matter of any sober-minded, lonely, hopeless, homeless soul. Good thing Cal knows how to get his brain high to fight back. Edgar uses mythology from different cultures and religions and thinks them into existence, guarded by reanimated zombies and Frankenstein teens created by a pedophilic human trafficking scientist. Wow.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niles creates a somewhat new twist on the detective/nior genre with his hard-drinking, down-on-his-luck PI Cal McDonald. Really deserving of 3.5 stars, it is a fun read with fast paced action for a short, lazy afternoon on the couch. By no means was this an incredibly well written book, it was rife with tired cliches, sentence fragments and even typesetting errors. However, his portrayal of dark desperation and frantic pacing made it a page turner for me. This kind of book makes me smile with its lack of literary pretension.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. I don't think I loved it, just because there is way too much fiction out there about uber tough paranormal detectives and I'm just not really into that. This detective, Cal McDonald has a great sidekick, a ghoul name Mo'Lock. Some interesting twists in the story, nothing spectacular. Definitely enough blood and gore for horror fans. Steve Niles can write, the story flows well and fast. The art was good, but a bit too ambiguous for the story, in my opinion. Overall, a pretty good way to spend a few hours.

[Du4 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE best horror novel I have ever read. Cal McDonald is a monster detective, the only human who can "see" vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. So what does he do to deal with this horror? He drinks constantly, stays on a steady stream of cocaine, pills, and painkillers, and he picks fights with cops. I give this book a FUCKING BRILLIANT on Du4's scale of awesome.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just a few chapters in, but I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the Cal McDonald comics. It's got the same world-weary noir tone, and monsters. Lots of them. Niles currently has it available as a PDF for Name Your Price on his website (http://www.steveniles.com/).

[Gen · Rating 5 out of 5]

good, original creepy fun courtesy of steve niles

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super duper yucky enjoyable must-read addition to the Cal McDonald/ Crriminal Macabre series. Works well a a non-graphic novel... Yay!