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Sweet Evil
Als Burt auf einem Highway durch die Wüste Arizonas die hübsche Suzanne aufgabelt, geben sich die beiden geradezu zwanghaft ihren brutalen sexuellen Begierden hin.
Nachdem bei einem ihrer sadistischen Sexspiele eine junge Anhalterin stirbt, entwickelt sich ihr Roadtrip zu einer irren Odyssee aus Wollust, Vergewaltigung und Mord.
Band 9 der Buchreihe "Pulp Legends". Privatdruck, ohne ISBN.
Nachdem bei einem ihrer sadistischen Sexspiele eine junge Anhalterin stirbt, entwickelt sich ihr Roadtrip zu einer irren Odyssee aus Wollust, Vergewaltigung und Mord.
Band 9 der Buchreihe "Pulp Legends". Privatdruck, ohne ISBN.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Charles Platt
173 books57 followersFrom wikipedia:
Charles Platt (born in London, England, 1945) is the author of 41 fiction and nonfiction books, including science-fiction novels such as The Silicon Man and Protektor (published in paperback by Avon Books). He has also written non-fiction, particularly on the subjects of computer technology and cryonics, as well as teaching and working in these fields. Platt relocated from England to the United States in 1970 and is a naturalized U. S. citizen.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
See:
Charles Platt, born 1869
Charles Platt (born in London, England, 1945) is the author of 41 fiction and nonfiction books, including science-fiction novels such as The Silicon Man and Protektor (published in paperback by Avon Books). He has also written non-fiction, particularly on the subjects of computer technology and cryonics, as well as teaching and working in these fields. Platt relocated from England to the United States in 1970 and is a naturalized U. S. citizen.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
See:
Charles Platt, born 1869
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 20, 2021
Death’s Head Press’s re-release of this 1977 novel by prolific author Charles Michael Platt comes with a certain level of expectation. It is an erotic crime thriller, being marketed to the extreme horror crowd in 2021 due to content. While Platt has a long list of sci-fi and non-fiction credits, his name may be most familiar to UK based horror fans as the author of ‘The Gas’, a book that was seized by order of the UK’s Director of Public Prosecutions upon publication in 1980 for being ‘transgressive’ and ‘pornographic’. While this isn’t the book I’m reviewing today, this fact certainly set the scene for what I’d let myself in for.
The book, broadly speaking, reads like a Richard Laymon take on Bonnie and Clyde, focusing on a chance meeting of an unemployed young man and an attractive and dangerous woman in a diner. From there the two go on a cross-country trip involving sexual exploration and devolving into murder, rape and kidnap in a journey destined to end in tragedy.
Set during a particularly volatile time in US history, a time of anti-war and anti-Government sentiment, and civil unrest, this book focuses on two lead characters who are very much embittered by both their lives and their country in general. Both are looking for a change and are afforded the opportunity when they meet unexpectedly and fall in love. He has dark fantasies that he has never considered making a reality and is almost given permission to do so by this woman, who freely admits to hurting and killing people in her past. She, in turn, sees this meeting as a sign that her current path is not one she wants to be part of anymore, and both serve as a catalyst for change for the other.
Your mileage with this book will depend on whether you make it past a particular scene early on. The kidnapping a rape of a woman the pair meet whilst driving cross-country makes for uncomfortable reading and the author doesn’t shy away from the act itself. I personally don’t believe anything should be considered too taboo, particularly in horror fiction, but something so emotive needs to be handled correctly and this leads into what was ultimately my major issue with this book.
Had the scene more relevance, or had the consequences or aftermath been handled differently, this could have been a challenging yet important part of the story. As it is, it felt more exploitative than it should, serving little more point than to say ‘these are bad people’. It was unnecessary in the context of the story and could have (and should have) been handled better.
This is a problem that pervades the entire book. It would be tough to argue against those who claim the story is little more than a literary male gaze fantasy. The lead female character has more page time dedicated to descriptions of, and mentions of, her breasts than she does any kind of character development, and the male lead gets no development at all, his thoughts and actions all being based around his sexual desire for her.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that the book itself is very well written and often hints at a number of intriguing directions the story could go. The power dynamic between the pair often shifts and had the novel developed into a more psychological look into this aspect, the story would have been far more interesting. The history of the period and general public apathy toward authority is sometimes mentioned but never explored. The book offers up so many genuinely fascinating directions it could go in, but never fully commits.
Sweet Evil is very well written and presents an intriguing set-up, which never quite delivers on its promise of being something more than the sum of its parts. Disappointingly, it feels like there is a truly great book in here somewhere, but there are just too many sacrifices to the story to allow it to be all it could be.
You can read more reviews of new and upcoming horror releases at www.myindiemuse.com/category/genre/ho...
I also promote indie horror via Twitter - @RickReadsHorror
The book, broadly speaking, reads like a Richard Laymon take on Bonnie and Clyde, focusing on a chance meeting of an unemployed young man and an attractive and dangerous woman in a diner. From there the two go on a cross-country trip involving sexual exploration and devolving into murder, rape and kidnap in a journey destined to end in tragedy.
Set during a particularly volatile time in US history, a time of anti-war and anti-Government sentiment, and civil unrest, this book focuses on two lead characters who are very much embittered by both their lives and their country in general. Both are looking for a change and are afforded the opportunity when they meet unexpectedly and fall in love. He has dark fantasies that he has never considered making a reality and is almost given permission to do so by this woman, who freely admits to hurting and killing people in her past. She, in turn, sees this meeting as a sign that her current path is not one she wants to be part of anymore, and both serve as a catalyst for change for the other.
Your mileage with this book will depend on whether you make it past a particular scene early on. The kidnapping a rape of a woman the pair meet whilst driving cross-country makes for uncomfortable reading and the author doesn’t shy away from the act itself. I personally don’t believe anything should be considered too taboo, particularly in horror fiction, but something so emotive needs to be handled correctly and this leads into what was ultimately my major issue with this book.
Had the scene more relevance, or had the consequences or aftermath been handled differently, this could have been a challenging yet important part of the story. As it is, it felt more exploitative than it should, serving little more point than to say ‘these are bad people’. It was unnecessary in the context of the story and could have (and should have) been handled better.
This is a problem that pervades the entire book. It would be tough to argue against those who claim the story is little more than a literary male gaze fantasy. The lead female character has more page time dedicated to descriptions of, and mentions of, her breasts than she does any kind of character development, and the male lead gets no development at all, his thoughts and actions all being based around his sexual desire for her.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that the book itself is very well written and often hints at a number of intriguing directions the story could go. The power dynamic between the pair often shifts and had the novel developed into a more psychological look into this aspect, the story would have been far more interesting. The history of the period and general public apathy toward authority is sometimes mentioned but never explored. The book offers up so many genuinely fascinating directions it could go in, but never fully commits.
Sweet Evil is very well written and presents an intriguing set-up, which never quite delivers on its promise of being something more than the sum of its parts. Disappointingly, it feels like there is a truly great book in here somewhere, but there are just too many sacrifices to the story to allow it to be all it could be.
You can read more reviews of new and upcoming horror releases at www.myindiemuse.com/category/genre/ho...
I also promote indie horror via Twitter - @RickReadsHorror
November 16, 2025
Judging by the other reviews on here this is an unpopular opinion, but I thought this was pretty great.
March 19, 2021
Sweet Evil by Charles Michael Platt
Right off the bat I can say there isn’t anything sweet about this story. This was a DNF for me on account of the story being something akin to a sadistic wet dream for a certain type of male mind. Why a male mind? Because all the female characters in this act like there being directed by a cult porno director that specialises in ‘edgy’ films. The type of edginess that has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with abuse of power.
The story - of which I only read seventeen percent of before getting to a rape scene - is a Thelma and Louise type deal. Burt is travelling across the United States by transporting his friends car from the eastern seaboard to the west. He meets Suzanne in a roadside diner and straight away the reader is assaulted with Burt’s desire to take her outside and force himself on her. When he admits this to Suzanne a short while later it seems to be in the deciding factor for her to stay with him, she is drawn to him rather than repelled. Burt quickly discovers that Suzanne is not your normal hitchhiker after agreeing to take her to Vegas.
It should be said that there is nothing wrong with writing sexually liberated characters, or characters that enjoy sex that’s considered ‘unconventional’ or even heavy topics such as sexual abuse as long as they are treated correctly. There have been many great books and stories written about such subjects. This story does not do that. It does not even aspire to treat this subjects right, instead in wallows in the perverse, and unfortunately with modern society exposing more people with the same mindsets as those of the characters in this it’s a timely story for all the wrong reasons.
Right off the bat I can say there isn’t anything sweet about this story. This was a DNF for me on account of the story being something akin to a sadistic wet dream for a certain type of male mind. Why a male mind? Because all the female characters in this act like there being directed by a cult porno director that specialises in ‘edgy’ films. The type of edginess that has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with abuse of power.
The story - of which I only read seventeen percent of before getting to a rape scene - is a Thelma and Louise type deal. Burt is travelling across the United States by transporting his friends car from the eastern seaboard to the west. He meets Suzanne in a roadside diner and straight away the reader is assaulted with Burt’s desire to take her outside and force himself on her. When he admits this to Suzanne a short while later it seems to be in the deciding factor for her to stay with him, she is drawn to him rather than repelled. Burt quickly discovers that Suzanne is not your normal hitchhiker after agreeing to take her to Vegas.
It should be said that there is nothing wrong with writing sexually liberated characters, or characters that enjoy sex that’s considered ‘unconventional’ or even heavy topics such as sexual abuse as long as they are treated correctly. There have been many great books and stories written about such subjects. This story does not do that. It does not even aspire to treat this subjects right, instead in wallows in the perverse, and unfortunately with modern society exposing more people with the same mindsets as those of the characters in this it’s a timely story for all the wrong reasons.
Read
March 19, 2021Quit at 18%. I'm sure this book will find its audience, it's just not for me. You gotta show up for a lot of porny, rapey, stuff and if that's not your bag, don't pick it up.
Read
March 19, 2021DNF - not working for me.
March 23, 2021
DNF @ 19%.
Generally for me, there’s two kinds of WTF am I reading; the good and the bad. This one falls into the bad.
Now, I don’t mind sexually liberated characters or sex scenes. I’m not a prude. However, that’s the only thing happening in this book so far. And while I’m on the topic, there’s also a rape scene where the main character, Suzanna, basically tells the girl to “stop being negative” because she’s telling her she doesn’t want to have sex.
Also, I’m bored. We know your characters are obviously into kink...but honestly, I don’t know anything besides that.
Generally for me, there’s two kinds of WTF am I reading; the good and the bad. This one falls into the bad.
Now, I don’t mind sexually liberated characters or sex scenes. I’m not a prude. However, that’s the only thing happening in this book so far. And while I’m on the topic, there’s also a rape scene where the main character, Suzanna, basically tells the girl to “stop being negative” because she’s telling her she doesn’t want to have sex.
Also, I’m bored. We know your characters are obviously into kink...but honestly, I don’t know anything besides that.
March 21, 2021
“Thus we could be free spirits—or outlaws, if we wished. I chose the latter because I was angry at the world and felt justified in doing whatever I wanted. I was untroubled by conscience, compassion, or regret.”
First published in 1977 this story was completely revised when there was interest in publishing it in German. It will be released this year by @deaths_head_press
It was 1971 and Burt was 21 years old when he first saw Suzanne at a restaurant wearing a t-shirt with The Temptations print tautly across her breasts. What occurs over the next six days is a mixture of debauchery and violence for pleasure as they drive from New Mexico to California. Fantasy becomes nightmare but some people enjoy their nightmares and push the limits to the extreme with dominance, submission, rape, bondage, and manipulation. Graphic sex scenes throughout made me uncomfortable at times.
The writing style is easy and I hated that I liked the main characters. A few things were never explained, like why they were so mad at the world. It was interesting to watch as the submissive became the dominant and the dom became the sub. The ending was really good in what was becoming a repetitive theme but a moral emerged in a quote that I think most of us can relate to.
“Love turned out to be a much more effective motivator than law enforcement, to keep us honest.”
First published in 1977 this story was completely revised when there was interest in publishing it in German. It will be released this year by @deaths_head_press
It was 1971 and Burt was 21 years old when he first saw Suzanne at a restaurant wearing a t-shirt with The Temptations print tautly across her breasts. What occurs over the next six days is a mixture of debauchery and violence for pleasure as they drive from New Mexico to California. Fantasy becomes nightmare but some people enjoy their nightmares and push the limits to the extreme with dominance, submission, rape, bondage, and manipulation. Graphic sex scenes throughout made me uncomfortable at times.
The writing style is easy and I hated that I liked the main characters. A few things were never explained, like why they were so mad at the world. It was interesting to watch as the submissive became the dominant and the dom became the sub. The ending was really good in what was becoming a repetitive theme but a moral emerged in a quote that I think most of us can relate to.
“Love turned out to be a much more effective motivator than law enforcement, to keep us honest.”
September 20, 2021
This is a hard book for me to review. This novel is really graphic. I don't think i would recommend this to anyone. The story is shocking. I was actually disturbed with some of the scenes in this book. The ending was surprising. Death's Head Press releases some really good books. I wasn't sure how to rate this book with stars I wasn't sure if I wanted to give it 1 star or 4. This was a reprint of a novel from the 70's.
April 25, 2021
Both our main characters are definitely messed up individuals and that’s probably putting it lightly! Is there a reason for this? Well we don’t really know, all that’s mentioned is both had fairly traumatic childhoods but the book doesn’t go into much detail about that. The pairing of these two characters made me think of them as a 70s Bonnie and Clyde.
This is a book with a lot of sex and violence, often these two things overlap. I mean that shouldn’t come as a shock after reading the blurb for this book but still I didn’t expect so much sex! So if that’s not your sort of thing then maybe give this book a miss.
It’s definitely one of the more disturbing books I’ve read but I found myself invested in the characters. It was interesting to see the relationship between our two main characters develop throughout this wild chain of events, wondering what line they would cross next!
Overall it was one of those books I just couldn’t stop reading, I just had to know how the escalation of violence and crime was going to end!
This is a book with a lot of sex and violence, often these two things overlap. I mean that shouldn’t come as a shock after reading the blurb for this book but still I didn’t expect so much sex! So if that’s not your sort of thing then maybe give this book a miss.
It’s definitely one of the more disturbing books I’ve read but I found myself invested in the characters. It was interesting to see the relationship between our two main characters develop throughout this wild chain of events, wondering what line they would cross next!
Overall it was one of those books I just couldn’t stop reading, I just had to know how the escalation of violence and crime was going to end!
March 26, 2021
Before I begin my review I think it is important to mention that Sweet Evil is a Death's Head Press reprint of the 1977 work of Charles Michael Platt. Because of the era and subject material, I believe this novel falls under the category of a "Paperback From Hell".
Paperbacks From Hell are seeing a fairly recent resurgence thanks to Grady Hendrix and Will Erickson's bible-like encyclopedia of books from this Golden Age of Horror called Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. It is worth noting that there are books from this era that have some issues that would need a disclaimer warning in today's time, sometimes they are just plain out of touch and inappropriate.
With that being said, there are so many awesome old works that are now among some of my favorite reads. Another element of these Paperbacks From Hell is that they are transgressive. They live to shock, entertain, horrify, amaze, and sometimes take hold of a deep rooted taboo just to hold it in your face as if to say "Here I am, now what are you going to do about it??". Sometimes Paperbacks From Hell are deep, they make you ponder and question everything you thought before. Other times, the writing is poor and goofy, but it is fun as hell and will stick in your memory for years.
Which brings me to my thoughts on Sweet Evil. I gave Sweet Evil 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3 for Goodreads). Now this is a pretty typical rating with this era of books. It doesn't mean the book should be skipped or passed over. I liked some things about Sweet Evil, while other times I didn't care for it. I would compare this book to the works of Richard Laymon. Laymon's characters usually suck, it's hard to find one you can remotely like, there is excessive and senseless sex and violence, and often an aimless plot.
This is the case with Platt's Sweet Evil. Literally everything Burt and Suzanne do is motivated by sex. There is no sense of urgency, they are basically on a joyride in which they indulge every sadistic whim they can think of. There are some moments where the characters discuss their pasts, and the things that have obviously led them to where they are today. I felt like some of these moments were lost in what could've been a further developed plot line. This is pretty much a fantasy novel for a pervert's idea of a woman who loves sex, and of course it's over the top and offensive. There is also a rape scene early on in the book that is pretty nonsensical and is hard to get through. I think this is where most people would put the book down and pass on it. However, I continued to read on.
Now to the things I liked about it. I enjoyed their journey from New Mexico, to Las Vegas, then to LA. The 70's era definitely has an influence in the events of the story, which I liked. This was a time of upheaval, there were many transient souls roaming America during this era, which definitely added a lax vibe to the attitudes of characters in the book. There are some entertaining side characters, and although it's not a very thought provoking book, I did find myself entertained the whole time, and at the end of the day, that is why I read. The writing is also very good. It is descriptive and I felt like I was there with the characters, riding thru the desert and canyons, and idling around the seedy streets of LA, and sticking up a drug dealer in his mansion. One of the best things about this book is that you never knew what these two wild and dark souls are going to do next. I had to find out where these two crime-loving awful people were headed, because I knew their demise would be pretty rough.
I would recommend this book to people who are fans of pulpy, seedy reads. Fans of Richard Laymon will surely find interest with this one. Also fans of the Paperbacks from Hell era, especially ones of this type of writing will also surely enjoy this one. I am always a strong supporter of reprints of old works from this era, even if we don't agree with the content, we can often take something away from the reading experience. When it comes to horror literature, I don't really see much as being off limits. Larry David has often said that there is nothing that would be too taboo for him if he could make it funny, and I have the same mentality with horror.
I was provided a copy for an honest review! Thank you!
You can find more of my reviewing here at ScareTissue: https://www.scaretissue.com/author/th....
You can also find me on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/itsweevildead
Paperbacks From Hell are seeing a fairly recent resurgence thanks to Grady Hendrix and Will Erickson's bible-like encyclopedia of books from this Golden Age of Horror called Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. It is worth noting that there are books from this era that have some issues that would need a disclaimer warning in today's time, sometimes they are just plain out of touch and inappropriate.
With that being said, there are so many awesome old works that are now among some of my favorite reads. Another element of these Paperbacks From Hell is that they are transgressive. They live to shock, entertain, horrify, amaze, and sometimes take hold of a deep rooted taboo just to hold it in your face as if to say "Here I am, now what are you going to do about it??". Sometimes Paperbacks From Hell are deep, they make you ponder and question everything you thought before. Other times, the writing is poor and goofy, but it is fun as hell and will stick in your memory for years.
Which brings me to my thoughts on Sweet Evil. I gave Sweet Evil 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3 for Goodreads). Now this is a pretty typical rating with this era of books. It doesn't mean the book should be skipped or passed over. I liked some things about Sweet Evil, while other times I didn't care for it. I would compare this book to the works of Richard Laymon. Laymon's characters usually suck, it's hard to find one you can remotely like, there is excessive and senseless sex and violence, and often an aimless plot.
This is the case with Platt's Sweet Evil. Literally everything Burt and Suzanne do is motivated by sex. There is no sense of urgency, they are basically on a joyride in which they indulge every sadistic whim they can think of. There are some moments where the characters discuss their pasts, and the things that have obviously led them to where they are today. I felt like some of these moments were lost in what could've been a further developed plot line. This is pretty much a fantasy novel for a pervert's idea of a woman who loves sex, and of course it's over the top and offensive. There is also a rape scene early on in the book that is pretty nonsensical and is hard to get through. I think this is where most people would put the book down and pass on it. However, I continued to read on.
Now to the things I liked about it. I enjoyed their journey from New Mexico, to Las Vegas, then to LA. The 70's era definitely has an influence in the events of the story, which I liked. This was a time of upheaval, there were many transient souls roaming America during this era, which definitely added a lax vibe to the attitudes of characters in the book. There are some entertaining side characters, and although it's not a very thought provoking book, I did find myself entertained the whole time, and at the end of the day, that is why I read. The writing is also very good. It is descriptive and I felt like I was there with the characters, riding thru the desert and canyons, and idling around the seedy streets of LA, and sticking up a drug dealer in his mansion. One of the best things about this book is that you never knew what these two wild and dark souls are going to do next. I had to find out where these two crime-loving awful people were headed, because I knew their demise would be pretty rough.
I would recommend this book to people who are fans of pulpy, seedy reads. Fans of Richard Laymon will surely find interest with this one. Also fans of the Paperbacks from Hell era, especially ones of this type of writing will also surely enjoy this one. I am always a strong supporter of reprints of old works from this era, even if we don't agree with the content, we can often take something away from the reading experience. When it comes to horror literature, I don't really see much as being off limits. Larry David has often said that there is nothing that would be too taboo for him if he could make it funny, and I have the same mentality with horror.
I was provided a copy for an honest review! Thank you!
You can find more of my reviewing here at ScareTissue: https://www.scaretissue.com/author/th....
You can also find me on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/itsweevildead
April 25, 2021
It's still kind of crazy that I just finished reading this on Kindle. I think it was about a year ago that I became briefly obsessed with tracking down a copy; Worldcat shows there are two copies (!) in library circulation (one copy being in, I believe, Japan), Amazon, Abebooks, etc, all come up with no hits. Not to mention it wasn't even listed on Goodreads! And now here we are, with Deaths Head Press coming through in the clutch to release this completely obscure 70s artifact and man am I glad they decided to do it.
Charles Platt might just be one of the most underrated authors of the New Wave sci-fi era; I find his biography fascinating. He pivoted from sci-fi into writing transgressive works like this one, pivoted back to sci-fi, and then went and became a contributor to Wired.
Anyway, this book is the real deal; a sleazy, violent, lurid piece of 70s crime fiction that could not be written today. The book centers on Burt, obviously a representative of the intended audience, a "nice young man" with some fucked-up sexual desires and a boatload of repressed rage. He meets Suzanne while driving cross-country with his buddy's classic car and gets sucked into a week of rape, murder, and criminality. He also falls deeply in love with Suzanne, leading to the novel's title--"Sweet Evil"--in which the evil these two do is tied up with their burgeoning love affair.
The book is written in an almost nostalgic tone; you are sucked deeply into the author's POV as he pushes further against socially-imposed morality on the path to "finding himself." Taking place in the 1970s, it captures the counterculture in a descent into post-Manson nihilism, read figuratively, the book can be construed as a prescient critique of emerging baby boomer self-centeredness. Regardless of whatever meaning you want to graft on it to excuse your consumption of what is an essentially pornographic novel, this book hits hard and doesn't make any excuses for "going there."
A lost classic fortunately rediscovered.
Charles Platt might just be one of the most underrated authors of the New Wave sci-fi era; I find his biography fascinating. He pivoted from sci-fi into writing transgressive works like this one, pivoted back to sci-fi, and then went and became a contributor to Wired.
Anyway, this book is the real deal; a sleazy, violent, lurid piece of 70s crime fiction that could not be written today. The book centers on Burt, obviously a representative of the intended audience, a "nice young man" with some fucked-up sexual desires and a boatload of repressed rage. He meets Suzanne while driving cross-country with his buddy's classic car and gets sucked into a week of rape, murder, and criminality. He also falls deeply in love with Suzanne, leading to the novel's title--"Sweet Evil"--in which the evil these two do is tied up with their burgeoning love affair.
The book is written in an almost nostalgic tone; you are sucked deeply into the author's POV as he pushes further against socially-imposed morality on the path to "finding himself." Taking place in the 1970s, it captures the counterculture in a descent into post-Manson nihilism, read figuratively, the book can be construed as a prescient critique of emerging baby boomer self-centeredness. Regardless of whatever meaning you want to graft on it to excuse your consumption of what is an essentially pornographic novel, this book hits hard and doesn't make any excuses for "going there."
A lost classic fortunately rediscovered.
August 21, 2024
A much different book than its first printing way back in the 70s.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews