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Coldheart Canyon
In Coldheart Canyon acclaimed horror writer Clive Barker takes us to the dirty secret of ageless sexual power and half-understood contracts with evil that lies at the heart of Hollywood.
In the 1920s, magnate Zeffer buys his mistress Katya a room decorated with Boschian mosaics of sex and violence and in the 1990s, Todd Pickett decides he needs a face-lift to save his career; both do not know that they have made a decision which risks their lives and their souls. And somehow, sooner or later, everyone from Tammy, the overweight, obsessive, good president of Todd's fan club, to Micky, a dying former child star with a life full of secrets, ends up in the rich cloying jungle that the gardens of Coldheart Canyon have become, finding out things they never wanted to know about sex, madness, courage and generosity.
Barker has always been brilliant at showing us just how bad things can get--the games of sexual power, the corrupting metamorphoses; here he adds something: a genuine conviction of the possibility of human goodness and kindness that saves people. --Roz Kaveney
751 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
366 people are currently reading
5794 people want to read
About the author
Clive Barker
706 books15.2k followersClive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker's second long-term relationship, with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.
In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.
Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.
Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,
In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.
Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.
Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 652 reviews
December 6, 2020
Preposterous yet emblematic; never restrained, overly graphic, written handsomely... it's less of a mess than previous novels surely, though undoubtedly nowhere near as great as his short stories are. ("The Forbidden", for me, reigns supreme in that category-- it may just be my favorite short story OF ALL time.)
Yup, LA is rife with possibilities of the supernatural & evil forces colliding isnt too much of a stretch. The ironies, nay, the gruesome details, is what makes Barker such a supernova. Let me just say that when some human/peacock hybrid begins to rape an overweight woman, pinning her like some ancient dinosaur to the ground, well, there's simply no other like Clive Barker!
Yup, LA is rife with possibilities of the supernatural & evil forces colliding isnt too much of a stretch. The ironies, nay, the gruesome details, is what makes Barker such a supernova. Let me just say that when some human/peacock hybrid begins to rape an overweight woman, pinning her like some ancient dinosaur to the ground, well, there's simply no other like Clive Barker!
December 4, 2013
I picked up this audio book because it had 19 discs and it was $8.00. I also knew Clive Barker was a fairly popular horror author - and having read almost all of Stephen Kings and Dean Koontz's books I thought this would be a good intro to Clive Barker.
You know how you pull up to a stoplight and you can hear the music in the car next to you and you kind of start singing along? Keep that in mind when choosing an Audio Book. This audio book had a LOT of sex in it. Described in a nice deep man voice that I am sure carried quite nicely to the cars around me. I always crank audio books really loudly so I can hear what they are saying - so you can imagine. And this book is a horror book - not a paranormal romance - so....yeah.
I thought the book was fairly good. But I did think - even in audio book form - that you probably could have cut the book in half and had a much better book. Do people in this genre get paid by the page or what? I feel like I am often complaining about the unnecessary length of books in this genre. I think some authors delude themselves that they are building suspense by taking forever to get to the point. Nope. Your just being long winded and self-important. (Take that you successful rich talented writer you!)
You know how you pull up to a stoplight and you can hear the music in the car next to you and you kind of start singing along? Keep that in mind when choosing an Audio Book. This audio book had a LOT of sex in it. Described in a nice deep man voice that I am sure carried quite nicely to the cars around me. I always crank audio books really loudly so I can hear what they are saying - so you can imagine. And this book is a horror book - not a paranormal romance - so....yeah.
I thought the book was fairly good. But I did think - even in audio book form - that you probably could have cut the book in half and had a much better book. Do people in this genre get paid by the page or what? I feel like I am often complaining about the unnecessary length of books in this genre. I think some authors delude themselves that they are building suspense by taking forever to get to the point. Nope. Your just being long winded and self-important. (Take that you successful rich talented writer you!)
May 2, 2009
First published back in 2001, ‘Coldheart Canyon’ came three years after the publication of Barker’s epic love story ‘Galilee’. With many fans of Barker’s work expecting the sequel to ‘Galilee’ to be following, or indeed the first instalment of the long awaited ‘Abarat’ quartet to emerge, ‘Coldheart Canynon’ was an interesting return to Barker’s darker, more apocalyptic and dare I say more depraved side of his fiction.
Written during a very difficult period of Barker’s life, with the unfortunate and sad death of his father, Barker takes it onboard to tackle face on some of the demons that are obviously surrounding him at the time of writing. In doing this the book takes on some heavy emotional aspects that hold such an obvious and predominant personal weight.
The novel starts off, setting down the fabric from which this intricate tale with be woven. With an intentionally muddled feel to the early pages of the book, the pieces of the storyline quickly start to weave themselves together until the storyline is firmly set on its way.
Barker soon unleashes a magical glimpse of the dark, depraved and damn right sadistic underbelly of Hollywood. With a satirical eye on the shallow vanity of the rich and famous, Barker creates the character of Todd Pickett; a hugely famous and adored movie star whose age is beginning to catch up with him.
This seemingly unconnected subplot, soon takes dominance over the storyline, allowing the otherwise dishevelled remaining pieces of story to merge around its main thrust. The unlikely character of Tammy Lauper, one of Todd Pickett’s obsessive fans, soon takes a surprising main position within the unfolding tale.
With the thick pulse of the story now underway, Barker delves into his dark and deeply disturbing imagination, to bring to the tale a turn towards to his earlier fiction. Very possibly Barker’s most sexually explicit piece of written work so far, the reader is thrust into a monstrous playground for Barker’s mind to unleash all hell.
All taboos are hit head-on within the space of a chapter, without a shameful look back. Definite elements of S&M infiltrate the pages, bringing back fond memories of Barker’s ‘Hellraiser’ work. The erotic elements of the novel, spiral deeper and deeper into the depraved, leaving even the most hardened reader of bizarre sexual practices left gasping for air.
The characters within ‘Coldheart Canyon’ , however irrelevant they appear to be, are all beautifully portrayed with a delicately created personality to each, that is breathed into life by Barker’s carefully crafted use of the written word.
With the tale now fully underway, Barker never lets up from the accelerator, with each chapter hurtling further and further into the depths of the ‘world-within-a-world’ that Barker has unleashed upon his readers.
The novel draws to an end, with a definite slowing down of pace, with Barker taking on once again more emotional aspects of the characters. This creates a tidy yet subtle bookend structure to the book as a whole. The final conclusion is wholeheartedly satisfying and well delivered to the very last word.
‘Coldheart Canyon’ is by no means a novel for the faint hearted. The sexual depravities explored to a limitless excess are nothing short of disturbing. The book is a respected and deserved return to Barker’s core of writing styles. This is certainly a spectacular read and one that offers up a good glimpse of what lays behind the eyes of this incredible author.
Written during a very difficult period of Barker’s life, with the unfortunate and sad death of his father, Barker takes it onboard to tackle face on some of the demons that are obviously surrounding him at the time of writing. In doing this the book takes on some heavy emotional aspects that hold such an obvious and predominant personal weight.
The novel starts off, setting down the fabric from which this intricate tale with be woven. With an intentionally muddled feel to the early pages of the book, the pieces of the storyline quickly start to weave themselves together until the storyline is firmly set on its way.
Barker soon unleashes a magical glimpse of the dark, depraved and damn right sadistic underbelly of Hollywood. With a satirical eye on the shallow vanity of the rich and famous, Barker creates the character of Todd Pickett; a hugely famous and adored movie star whose age is beginning to catch up with him.
This seemingly unconnected subplot, soon takes dominance over the storyline, allowing the otherwise dishevelled remaining pieces of story to merge around its main thrust. The unlikely character of Tammy Lauper, one of Todd Pickett’s obsessive fans, soon takes a surprising main position within the unfolding tale.
With the thick pulse of the story now underway, Barker delves into his dark and deeply disturbing imagination, to bring to the tale a turn towards to his earlier fiction. Very possibly Barker’s most sexually explicit piece of written work so far, the reader is thrust into a monstrous playground for Barker’s mind to unleash all hell.
All taboos are hit head-on within the space of a chapter, without a shameful look back. Definite elements of S&M infiltrate the pages, bringing back fond memories of Barker’s ‘Hellraiser’ work. The erotic elements of the novel, spiral deeper and deeper into the depraved, leaving even the most hardened reader of bizarre sexual practices left gasping for air.
The characters within ‘Coldheart Canyon’ , however irrelevant they appear to be, are all beautifully portrayed with a delicately created personality to each, that is breathed into life by Barker’s carefully crafted use of the written word.
With the tale now fully underway, Barker never lets up from the accelerator, with each chapter hurtling further and further into the depths of the ‘world-within-a-world’ that Barker has unleashed upon his readers.
The novel draws to an end, with a definite slowing down of pace, with Barker taking on once again more emotional aspects of the characters. This creates a tidy yet subtle bookend structure to the book as a whole. The final conclusion is wholeheartedly satisfying and well delivered to the very last word.
‘Coldheart Canyon’ is by no means a novel for the faint hearted. The sexual depravities explored to a limitless excess are nothing short of disturbing. The book is a respected and deserved return to Barker’s core of writing styles. This is certainly a spectacular read and one that offers up a good glimpse of what lays behind the eyes of this incredible author.
May 23, 2011
Ugh. I’ve been sat here for a good 10 minutes now, staring at a seemingly ever-blankening screen because I simply don’t know where to start. This book has left my mind in a state of turmoil, thoughts and ideas tripping over themselves to get to the forefront of my brain. I want to say how much I hated the book but I can’t, because I didn’t hate it. But that said, I didn’t like it either. Or, more truthfully, I hated it and liked it all at the same time.
To strip it back to its bare bones, the basic story and idea is good. I enjoyed it. The idea that there is this room that is the Devil’s Country, that keeps you forever young…all that was interesting and the basic structure of the story – man discovers room, likes it then realises it’s bad and then realises it needs to be destroyed – that was almost gripping. I had a few major issues with this book though, that really, seriously put a dampener on my enjoyment.
Firstly, the story didn’t properly begin until a good 200 pages into the book (putting aside the prologue) and it ended a good 200 pages before the end of the book! It would have been a much more enjoyable read had Barker decided to leave out all the bumf. Ok, maybe I could be persuaded to accept all the rubbish about Pickett’s flailing career, maybe (even though all the Hollywood crap reminded me way too much of Jackie Collins’ type novels, something that I doubt Barker was going for). But, take for example the long winded description of the death of Pickett’s dog. Why was it there? It bore absolutely no relation to the story and, as far as I could see, what entirely unnecessary. In fact, it was positively boring. Again, at the end of the novel – all that nonsense about are they/aren’t they lesbians?! What the hell was that all about? I doubt anyone would have assumed they were (they went through a lot together and Tammy was staying in Maxine’s house for a while – hardly grounds to start gossip) but even if they had, who cares if they were lesbians in the end? Again, it has absolutely nothing to do with the story! Maybe it was the only thing Barker had left out and had to find some way of fitting it in…
Secondly, the sex. And not just sex either. A lot of perverse sex - group sex (more and more the norm now-a-days) and whipping and bondage (mildly shocking) and then onto bestiality - and the production of human/animal offspring (more shocking but clearly put in for that purpose) and then paedophilia (wholly unnecessary). In one scene, Katya actually pleasures herself with a snail - REALLY?? That’s not even realistic! I am more than sure that Barker included most of this because of some overwhelming desire to shock. Through most of the sex scenes, the book was screaming look at me, I know about these dirty things, aren’t I big and clever? Well, no actually. I’m not a prude by any length and have in the past, read erotic literature. Had this been categorised as such, I wouldn’t have minded so much but it was far from categorised as such. It’s meant to be horror. Well, I’m sure most would agree that paedophilia and scat-play are rather horrific but again, they didn’t entirely fit with the story of this room that created ever-lasting youth and how addicting it became. Was it perhaps a simple demonstration of how perverse and evil Katya is? Maybe…except it seemed that most, if not all, the characters in the book partook in some such behaviour. Is it what the canyon does to you? Maybe…except some who hadn’t been at the canyon or in the room partook in such behaviour. Was its purpose to make the reader uncomfortable and squirmish, maybe…but it didn’t work.
I’ve since discovered that it had been made into a film. Oh dear. I have a very clear picture of this in my head. It reads and I imagine it would watch as a cheap, poorly made b-movie that you watch on the off chance that you’ll enjoy it (some are good, after all) but that turns out to be a nasty way of getting pornography into mainstream film. Many, I’m sure, will tell me that I have missed the point; that it’s meant to be satire. Well it’s not very good if that is the case. It takes itself too seriously to be decent satire.
When all is said and done, the main feeling I get when I think about this book is disappointment and something that can only be described as ‘ugh’. The basic story had so much potential and did, in fact, keep me wanting to read more and Barker himself is a decent enough writer; but it was poorly executed and included way too much that it didn’t need to include. This leaves me with a massive dilemma as to how to score it. 3 seems too high and 2 seems too low. I just don’t know…
To strip it back to its bare bones, the basic story and idea is good. I enjoyed it. The idea that there is this room that is the Devil’s Country, that keeps you forever young…all that was interesting and the basic structure of the story – man discovers room, likes it then realises it’s bad and then realises it needs to be destroyed – that was almost gripping. I had a few major issues with this book though, that really, seriously put a dampener on my enjoyment.
Firstly, the story didn’t properly begin until a good 200 pages into the book (putting aside the prologue) and it ended a good 200 pages before the end of the book! It would have been a much more enjoyable read had Barker decided to leave out all the bumf. Ok, maybe I could be persuaded to accept all the rubbish about Pickett’s flailing career, maybe (even though all the Hollywood crap reminded me way too much of Jackie Collins’ type novels, something that I doubt Barker was going for). But, take for example the long winded description of the death of Pickett’s dog. Why was it there? It bore absolutely no relation to the story and, as far as I could see, what entirely unnecessary. In fact, it was positively boring. Again, at the end of the novel – all that nonsense about are they/aren’t they lesbians?! What the hell was that all about? I doubt anyone would have assumed they were (they went through a lot together and Tammy was staying in Maxine’s house for a while – hardly grounds to start gossip) but even if they had, who cares if they were lesbians in the end? Again, it has absolutely nothing to do with the story! Maybe it was the only thing Barker had left out and had to find some way of fitting it in…
Secondly, the sex. And not just sex either. A lot of perverse sex - group sex (more and more the norm now-a-days) and whipping and bondage (mildly shocking) and then onto bestiality - and the production of human/animal offspring (more shocking but clearly put in for that purpose) and then paedophilia (wholly unnecessary). In one scene, Katya actually pleasures herself with a snail - REALLY?? That’s not even realistic! I am more than sure that Barker included most of this because of some overwhelming desire to shock. Through most of the sex scenes, the book was screaming look at me, I know about these dirty things, aren’t I big and clever? Well, no actually. I’m not a prude by any length and have in the past, read erotic literature. Had this been categorised as such, I wouldn’t have minded so much but it was far from categorised as such. It’s meant to be horror. Well, I’m sure most would agree that paedophilia and scat-play are rather horrific but again, they didn’t entirely fit with the story of this room that created ever-lasting youth and how addicting it became. Was it perhaps a simple demonstration of how perverse and evil Katya is? Maybe…except it seemed that most, if not all, the characters in the book partook in some such behaviour. Is it what the canyon does to you? Maybe…except some who hadn’t been at the canyon or in the room partook in such behaviour. Was its purpose to make the reader uncomfortable and squirmish, maybe…but it didn’t work.
I’ve since discovered that it had been made into a film. Oh dear. I have a very clear picture of this in my head. It reads and I imagine it would watch as a cheap, poorly made b-movie that you watch on the off chance that you’ll enjoy it (some are good, after all) but that turns out to be a nasty way of getting pornography into mainstream film. Many, I’m sure, will tell me that I have missed the point; that it’s meant to be satire. Well it’s not very good if that is the case. It takes itself too seriously to be decent satire.
When all is said and done, the main feeling I get when I think about this book is disappointment and something that can only be described as ‘ugh’. The basic story had so much potential and did, in fact, keep me wanting to read more and Barker himself is a decent enough writer; but it was poorly executed and included way too much that it didn’t need to include. This leaves me with a massive dilemma as to how to score it. 3 seems too high and 2 seems too low. I just don’t know…
May 6, 2011
I have read nearly the entire collection of Clive Barker novels in existence.
While I enjoyed them, each for their unique plots and tantilizing hints at sexual prowess, this book is my all time favorite.
The canyon is a mystery that anyone would want to explore.
It is a place where you have to ask yourself, if you could, would you? And if you saw it on an active night, could you look away, or would you be enticed to peep on.
While the protagonist, Todd is trying out sort out his Past and Present place in fame's spotlight~he also has to face his inner demons in the house in the canyon.
The woman he meets is unlike anyone he's ever known, and her pull at his soul is a strong one.
I think reading this book, slowly at first, is the best advice I can give.
Then, go back and re-read it, just to be sure that it all sunk in.
Mr. Barker is a master weaver of sensual delights and situational scenarios that captivate our most basis human instincts.
It's one hell of a ride, and worth an E-ticket.
While I enjoyed them, each for their unique plots and tantilizing hints at sexual prowess, this book is my all time favorite.
The canyon is a mystery that anyone would want to explore.
It is a place where you have to ask yourself, if you could, would you? And if you saw it on an active night, could you look away, or would you be enticed to peep on.
While the protagonist, Todd is trying out sort out his Past and Present place in fame's spotlight~he also has to face his inner demons in the house in the canyon.
The woman he meets is unlike anyone he's ever known, and her pull at his soul is a strong one.
I think reading this book, slowly at first, is the best advice I can give.
Then, go back and re-read it, just to be sure that it all sunk in.
Mr. Barker is a master weaver of sensual delights and situational scenarios that captivate our most basis human instincts.
It's one hell of a ride, and worth an E-ticket.
January 22, 2016
It's not often that I get REALLY excited about a book release, but I remember eagerly awaiting publication day for Coldheart Canyon, and running off to Waterstones in Yeovil (where I was living at the time) to pick up a hardback copy of this book.
Definitely one of my favourites. Dark and twisted as always!
Definitely one of my favourites. Dark and twisted as always!
December 22, 2024
Re-read this after watching the recent film The Substance.
And the two works seem almost like twins.
Both deal with the conflict between fame and the loss of self and the struggle between appearances and identity. Not to mention objectification and exploitation.
Barker goes absolutely ape-shit in this novel. He's all-in as he fills the world with horrific celebrity/monster by-blows, breast-honking demon kids, sexually assaulting feathered giant birds, forbidden art that makes you live forever with a horrible price, ghost blow-jobs and celebrity conspiracies that would make Alex Jones shit frogs.
Plus the book is full of remarkably fun and believable characters.
The main hero turns out to be almost a sort of lovable Annie Wilkes. She's an overweight ageing super-fan obsessed with a Hollywood leading man who's gone missing. She suspects foul-play and completely upends her life to run to California to rescue him.
At first you think things are going to go bad for her (and you're absolutely right) but she also turns into a redeemable, likeable and interesting horror protagonist.
Which is just wildly funny and out of pocket for these kinds of stories, where the super-fan is seen as odious and toxic. And Barker doesn't shy from that criticism either, he's just brave enough to admit it's not the entirety of her character. That people like this are obsessive and weird (and sometimes scary) but judging them completely from these superficial interactions with celebrities displays more of a problem with how Hollywood views normal people, than the obsessed fan.
This isn't one of my favourite Barker books, it hits a lot of lulls in the third act and the first act has pacing problems. But like a lot of Barker books this one was way, way ahead of its time. Everything from Me Too to recent films like The Substance are catching up to Barker's own criticism of Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry.
It's on the nose, but it's also hilarious, provocative and wildly strange.
This is another book where Barker is trying to thread ancient folklore and fantasy and horror concepts with modern American celebrity culture and mythology. It doesn't quite work as well as Galilee, but it's very, very interesting.
8/10
And the two works seem almost like twins.
Both deal with the conflict between fame and the loss of self and the struggle between appearances and identity. Not to mention objectification and exploitation.
Barker goes absolutely ape-shit in this novel. He's all-in as he fills the world with horrific celebrity/monster by-blows, breast-honking demon kids, sexually assaulting feathered giant birds, forbidden art that makes you live forever with a horrible price, ghost blow-jobs and celebrity conspiracies that would make Alex Jones shit frogs.
Plus the book is full of remarkably fun and believable characters.
The main hero turns out to be almost a sort of lovable Annie Wilkes. She's an overweight ageing super-fan obsessed with a Hollywood leading man who's gone missing. She suspects foul-play and completely upends her life to run to California to rescue him.
At first you think things are going to go bad for her (and you're absolutely right) but she also turns into a redeemable, likeable and interesting horror protagonist.
Which is just wildly funny and out of pocket for these kinds of stories, where the super-fan is seen as odious and toxic. And Barker doesn't shy from that criticism either, he's just brave enough to admit it's not the entirety of her character. That people like this are obsessive and weird (and sometimes scary) but judging them completely from these superficial interactions with celebrities displays more of a problem with how Hollywood views normal people, than the obsessed fan.
This isn't one of my favourite Barker books, it hits a lot of lulls in the third act and the first act has pacing problems. But like a lot of Barker books this one was way, way ahead of its time. Everything from Me Too to recent films like The Substance are catching up to Barker's own criticism of Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry.
It's on the nose, but it's also hilarious, provocative and wildly strange.
This is another book where Barker is trying to thread ancient folklore and fantasy and horror concepts with modern American celebrity culture and mythology. It doesn't quite work as well as Galilee, but it's very, very interesting.
8/10
August 28, 2008
Ugh. I like Clive Barker movies, but his books are hit and miss. This one started off promisingly. I do like haunted house stories, and this one had a nice "golden age of hollywood" twist to it. But halfway through it started getting really dumb, and by the end, I was totally turned off. RIDICULOUS ending. You just want to smack all the characters. How many times can the main character be saved, and then go back, and then be saved, and then go back, and then be saved, etc. Stupid.
January 23, 2026
“Hollywood’s always had its share of little Caligulas.”
Easily 100 pages too long, easily a bizarrely paced muscle car cartwheeling its way down the fury road, easily… really fun.
A behind the scenes late night Cinemax parody of Eyes Wide Shut with lavish and gleefully described carnage through the eyes of a sleazy Hollywood version of Dante.. it’s all out, balls out ideas, Barker is throwing genitals at the tile shower wall and seeing which dildo with a suction bottom sticks best.. and I loved it.
Low art, high art, Barker always jitterbugged between the two and this one might be his most outrageous. Loved it. 3.75/5
Easily 100 pages too long, easily a bizarrely paced muscle car cartwheeling its way down the fury road, easily… really fun.
A behind the scenes late night Cinemax parody of Eyes Wide Shut with lavish and gleefully described carnage through the eyes of a sleazy Hollywood version of Dante.. it’s all out, balls out ideas, Barker is throwing genitals at the tile shower wall and seeing which dildo with a suction bottom sticks best.. and I loved it.
Low art, high art, Barker always jitterbugged between the two and this one might be his most outrageous. Loved it. 3.75/5
November 20, 2019
Like all Clive Barker’s tales this is unique, strange, sexy and original. Coldheart Canyon follows no formula, it is a story that is completely it’s own were no character is safe. The premise concerns a Moroccan style palace set in a canyon close to LA’s Hollywood elite. Back in the 1920s the place was known of its wild excess but has since been forgotten until present time. Todd Pickett has been top of the Hollywood A-List for the past ten years but a recent bomb at the box office leads his agent to recommend undergoing plastic surgery to look younger. The surgery goes horrible wrong and in order to hide from the media while he recovers his agent rents Coldheart Canyon, where there are more than just the ghosts of Hollywood past waiting for him. What follows is an incredible descent into personal vanity, ego and excess. As already mentioned Clive Barker writes to no formula, though Todd Pickett is the readers entrance into this tale there’s times when characters are introduced in their supporting roles only for them to feel like they have become the main characters. This is welcomed as Todd is a vain dick for most of the novels duration and many of the supporting characters are well fleshed out, particularly the character, Tammy. Clive Barker does the same with the telling of a ghost story in itself, this is unlike any ghost story I have ever read. In Coldheart Canyon the ghosts have physical form, participate in orgies and even mate with animals. I think anyone coming to this story expecting something they’ve read before will be greatly stunned by the originality and choices made by its author. For those wanting to read something different and boundary pushing in the horror genre I couldn’t recommend this more. However, I will add that despite its gruesome contents this novel challenges what horror can be and thus sometimes feels like a different genre entirely.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2025
Wildly entertaining for the first 2/3rds, but it lost some of its momentum after that. 700 pages (or over 21 hours of audiobook narration, in my case) is just too long for a book like this. But as usual, I'm impressed by Barker's bizarre and highly original imagination!
June 18, 2015
While I appreciate a good epic as much as the next movie nerd, I’ve always sort of felt like there are few good reasons for a director to take more than 120 minutes to tell a story. I’m thinking here of people like Judd Apatow (whom I love) and Michael Bay (whom I don’t). As much as I like Funny People, 146 minutes is about 30 too many, and anyone who has the patience for a 150-minute Transformers movie has a greater tolerance for watching cars fall from the sky than I do. Ditto Peter Jackson’s three Hobbit movies, which are entertaining enough but seem to exist for little reason other than finding new and inventive ways to feature CGI orc slaughter. It’s okay in moderation, but nine hours’ worth?
Of course there are exceptions. For my tastes, three hours of Quentin Tarantino is rarely enough, and a sun-blasted epic like Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West earns every second of its 165-minute running time. I also admit to a soft spot for admittedly self-indulgent monsters like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. Sure, they could be trimmed, but when what we’re seeing is so good, who’s complaining? The point is: If you can’t tell your story in two hours, you’d better have a damn good reason for taking up more of my time.
The same holds true for novels. Give me 400 pages or less, and I’m yours for the duration, usually without question. The higher above 400 you go, the more pushback you’re going to get. 600 or more pages and it needs to be a cracking good story that moves, or it better be something that justifies the length, something that needs to be woven in an epic tapestry. I usually don’t mind an 800-page Stephen King novel because I know the kind of momentum he gathers – it’s going to be a quick read regardless of length. And it’s folly to think a novel as rich as David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas can be told in anything less than 500 pages. Both authors earn the length through style and content. And that’s really the key with both movies and books: I’m giving you my time, so earn it.
Therein lies the problem with Clive Barker’s 800-page Coldheart Canyon, a book seemingly tailor-made for the expression spinning its wheels. It’s intermittently fascinating, but it’s also tedious, long-winded, and masturbatory, with lengthy sequences that could be excised without losing much of anything other than bulk.
And that really pains me.
When I name the authors who were influential to my development as a reader (and writer), I immediately name the usual suspects: King, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury. But Clive Barker would absolutely be a little further down the list. His short story cycle The Books of Blood was hugely important to me in high school. Its graphic depiction of violence and frank handling of sexuality was new to me, and the way Barker suffused each of the stories – even the most sensational ones – with a sense of creeping dread haunted my waking and sleeping moments alike. And I don’t remember many of the details of his lengthy novels Imajica, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show, but I devoured them whole, regardless of length. The latter book made an especially big impression, so much so that I remember reading it aloud to my college girlfriend, savoring again the chance to immerse myself in its story and characters.
But I knew Coldheart Canyon was going to be trouble from the get-go. It begins with a lengthy prologue where Zeffer, an actress’ assistant, buys a tiled room from an alcoholic Romanian priest in the 1920s. The room is important, the tiles are important, the actress is important, the assistant is important, and, yes, foreshadowing – but the execution is soporific. It’s a meandering start that features none of the atmosphere I always appreciated in Barker’s work, and the effect I think he’s after with this section – to set the stage for the gruesome details to come – is dulled because the sequence itself doesn’t really work. It’s hard to build tension with fifty pages of tedium.
Fast-forward seventyish years, and we’re introduced to Todd Pickett, an actor of the pretty but vacuous variety; an empty head who’s nonetheless on top of the world thanks to starring in a series of popular action movies where things blow up real good. He’s at the point in his career where his looks are starting to fade, his career is starting to falter, and insecurity is setting in. At this especially susceptible point, Todd is told by his manager and a Hollywood producer that he could benefit from a little plastic surgery. This procedure goes horribly wrong, and he’s ferreted away to heal in a dilapidated mansion in a hidden canyon in the Hollywood Hills.
In this house in the titular canyon, Todd meets the actress from the 1920s prologue who has miraculously been kept young by the tiled room shipped back from Romania and installed in the mansion. As it turns out, though (because this is a Clive Barker book), the actress and the tiled room and the mansion all harbor a secret that proves to be disastrous to Todd (hint: it rhymes with “Rates of Bell”).
There’s a good novel in here, but Barker buries it in byzantine digressions: passages on Todd’s career and the destructive nature of Hollywood; a long section on the death of his dog; the introduction to the president of Todd’s fan club (who comes to play a major role in the story); some late-book chapters focusing on an ex-cop writing a book; and more gratuitous sex scenes between the dead and the living than you can shake a tumescent stick at. I experienced a moment of pure despondence at the point when the book seemed to be at a climax yet still had 200 pages to go. This isn’t something I’m accustomed to feeling with Barker’s work, which I always recalled as being streamlined and relentless. Coldheart Canyon, by contrast, seemed like a flabby houseguest who overstayed his welcome by a week and a half.
It’s not a total loss. The central conceit – basically a tiled mosaic that comes to life to possess and obsess the living – is certainly cool (especially once Barker reveals the mosaic’s specific history), and there are haunting passages galore, especially the sections that focus on the half-animal/half-human creatures that dwell in the mansion’s overgrown garden. But man: Coldheart Canyon is unnecessarily long and unpleasantly loquacious. After twenty years of not reading Barker, this was an unfortunate way to get reacquainted.
Read all my reviews at goldstarforrobotboy.net
Of course there are exceptions. For my tastes, three hours of Quentin Tarantino is rarely enough, and a sun-blasted epic like Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West earns every second of its 165-minute running time. I also admit to a soft spot for admittedly self-indulgent monsters like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. Sure, they could be trimmed, but when what we’re seeing is so good, who’s complaining? The point is: If you can’t tell your story in two hours, you’d better have a damn good reason for taking up more of my time.
The same holds true for novels. Give me 400 pages or less, and I’m yours for the duration, usually without question. The higher above 400 you go, the more pushback you’re going to get. 600 or more pages and it needs to be a cracking good story that moves, or it better be something that justifies the length, something that needs to be woven in an epic tapestry. I usually don’t mind an 800-page Stephen King novel because I know the kind of momentum he gathers – it’s going to be a quick read regardless of length. And it’s folly to think a novel as rich as David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas can be told in anything less than 500 pages. Both authors earn the length through style and content. And that’s really the key with both movies and books: I’m giving you my time, so earn it.
Therein lies the problem with Clive Barker’s 800-page Coldheart Canyon, a book seemingly tailor-made for the expression spinning its wheels. It’s intermittently fascinating, but it’s also tedious, long-winded, and masturbatory, with lengthy sequences that could be excised without losing much of anything other than bulk.
And that really pains me.
When I name the authors who were influential to my development as a reader (and writer), I immediately name the usual suspects: King, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury. But Clive Barker would absolutely be a little further down the list. His short story cycle The Books of Blood was hugely important to me in high school. Its graphic depiction of violence and frank handling of sexuality was new to me, and the way Barker suffused each of the stories – even the most sensational ones – with a sense of creeping dread haunted my waking and sleeping moments alike. And I don’t remember many of the details of his lengthy novels Imajica, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show, but I devoured them whole, regardless of length. The latter book made an especially big impression, so much so that I remember reading it aloud to my college girlfriend, savoring again the chance to immerse myself in its story and characters.
But I knew Coldheart Canyon was going to be trouble from the get-go. It begins with a lengthy prologue where Zeffer, an actress’ assistant, buys a tiled room from an alcoholic Romanian priest in the 1920s. The room is important, the tiles are important, the actress is important, the assistant is important, and, yes, foreshadowing – but the execution is soporific. It’s a meandering start that features none of the atmosphere I always appreciated in Barker’s work, and the effect I think he’s after with this section – to set the stage for the gruesome details to come – is dulled because the sequence itself doesn’t really work. It’s hard to build tension with fifty pages of tedium.
Fast-forward seventyish years, and we’re introduced to Todd Pickett, an actor of the pretty but vacuous variety; an empty head who’s nonetheless on top of the world thanks to starring in a series of popular action movies where things blow up real good. He’s at the point in his career where his looks are starting to fade, his career is starting to falter, and insecurity is setting in. At this especially susceptible point, Todd is told by his manager and a Hollywood producer that he could benefit from a little plastic surgery. This procedure goes horribly wrong, and he’s ferreted away to heal in a dilapidated mansion in a hidden canyon in the Hollywood Hills.
In this house in the titular canyon, Todd meets the actress from the 1920s prologue who has miraculously been kept young by the tiled room shipped back from Romania and installed in the mansion. As it turns out, though (because this is a Clive Barker book), the actress and the tiled room and the mansion all harbor a secret that proves to be disastrous to Todd (hint: it rhymes with “Rates of Bell”).
There’s a good novel in here, but Barker buries it in byzantine digressions: passages on Todd’s career and the destructive nature of Hollywood; a long section on the death of his dog; the introduction to the president of Todd’s fan club (who comes to play a major role in the story); some late-book chapters focusing on an ex-cop writing a book; and more gratuitous sex scenes between the dead and the living than you can shake a tumescent stick at. I experienced a moment of pure despondence at the point when the book seemed to be at a climax yet still had 200 pages to go. This isn’t something I’m accustomed to feeling with Barker’s work, which I always recalled as being streamlined and relentless. Coldheart Canyon, by contrast, seemed like a flabby houseguest who overstayed his welcome by a week and a half.
It’s not a total loss. The central conceit – basically a tiled mosaic that comes to life to possess and obsess the living – is certainly cool (especially once Barker reveals the mosaic’s specific history), and there are haunting passages galore, especially the sections that focus on the half-animal/half-human creatures that dwell in the mansion’s overgrown garden. But man: Coldheart Canyon is unnecessarily long and unpleasantly loquacious. After twenty years of not reading Barker, this was an unfortunate way to get reacquainted.
Read all my reviews at goldstarforrobotboy.net
January 20, 2016
Κατά γενική ομολογία (δηλαδή επειδή το λέω εγώ και όσοι φουκαράδες διάβασαν το Mister B. Gone) ο Clive Barker το έχει χάσει. Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο (Τα μυστικά της Βαβυλώνας στα Ελληνικά) είναι ίσως από τα τελευταία καλά του. Ή, μάλλον, ένα από τα λίγα πριν το χάσει εντελώς.
Το στόρυ: ένας ματαιόδοξος σταρ του χόλυγουντ κάνει ένα αποτυχημένο λιφτινγκ και κρύβεται σε μία έπαυλη όπου υπάρχει ένας μυστηριώδης θάλαμος που μία σταρ του βωβού κινηματογράφου έφερε από τη Ρουμανία. Σε μία βίλα όπου στην χρυσή εποχή γίνονταν ακατανόμαστα όργια και που τα φαντάσματα παλιών αστέρων ζουν εκεί.
Το βιβλίο: είναι σαν τους πρωταγωνιστές του: όμορφο (εξαίσια η γραφή του Μπάρκερ γεμάτο με πλούσιες ποιητικές εικόνες) αλλά αδιάφορο, κενό και που δίνει στον εαυτό του περισσότερη αξία από όση του αξίζει. Η μόνη ίσως ειληκρινής και δυνατή στιγμή του είναι το κατεβατό στην αρχή με τον πρωταγωνιστή να χάνει το σκύλο του (κάτι που συνέβη την ίδια περίοδο και στο συγγραφέα, και το οποίο ΔΕΝ ΕΧΕΙ ΚΑΜΙΑ ΣΧΕΣΗ ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΛΟΚΗ). Κατά τα άλλα η πλοκή έχει πολλά επίπεδα και πολλές ιδέες (κλασικός Μπάρκερ σε αυτό) που δεν δένουν και τόσο καλά μεταξύ τους (επίσης κλασικός Μπάρκερ), οι χαρακτήρες δεν έχουν συνέπεια και απλά κινούνται για να προωθήσουν την πλοκή και γενικά, αν εξαιρέσει κανείς την εξαίσια γραφή και κάποιες ενδιαφέρουσες ιδέες, πρόκειται για ένα μάλλον αδιάφορο και άνισο βιβλίο.
Το στόρυ: ένας ματαιόδοξος σταρ του χόλυγουντ κάνει ένα αποτυχημένο λιφτινγκ και κρύβεται σε μία έπαυλη όπου υπάρχει ένας μυστηριώδης θάλαμος που μία σταρ του βωβού κινηματογράφου έφερε από τη Ρουμανία. Σε μία βίλα όπου στην χρυσή εποχή γίνονταν ακατανόμαστα όργια και που τα φαντάσματα παλιών αστέρων ζουν εκεί.
Το βιβλίο: είναι σαν τους πρωταγωνιστές του: όμορφο (εξαίσια η γραφή του Μπάρκερ γεμάτο με πλούσιες ποιητικές εικόνες) αλλά αδιάφορο, κενό και που δίνει στον εαυτό του περισσότερη αξία από όση του αξίζει. Η μόνη ίσως ειληκρινής και δυνατή στιγμή του είναι το κατεβατό στην αρχή με τον πρωταγωνιστή να χάνει το σκύλο του (κάτι που συνέβη την ίδια περίοδο και στο συγγραφέα, και το οποίο ΔΕΝ ΕΧΕΙ ΚΑΜΙΑ ΣΧΕΣΗ ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΛΟΚΗ). Κατά τα άλλα η πλοκή έχει πολλά επίπεδα και πολλές ιδέες (κλασικός Μπάρκερ σε αυτό) που δεν δένουν και τόσο καλά μεταξύ τους (επίσης κλασικός Μπάρκερ), οι χαρακτήρες δεν έχουν συνέπεια και απλά κινούνται για να προωθήσουν την πλοκή και γενικά, αν εξαιρέσει κανείς την εξαίσια γραφή και κάποιες ενδιαφέρουσες ιδέες, πρόκειται για ένα μάλλον αδιάφορο και άνισο βιβλίο.
September 11, 2016
I have to say this book highly surprised me! When I saw this in the library I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. After being so heart trodden with the scarlet gospels, This was amazing!
The story started in Romania in the 1920s when a famous film starlot Katya Lupi returns to visit to return to her family with her talent agent Willem Zeffer. Zeffer visits an old medieval castle, which has been turned into a monastery and decides to buy a unique work of art, a series of sculpted and painted tiles depicting, in a grotesque and obscene manner, the local legend of a Count who was cursed to haunt the nearby wilderness for all eternity. Upon seeing this art he decided Katya has to have it and take's it back with them the hills of L.A
Cut to the current times we then meet Todd. The curse that goes to the tiles are soon to fall on him, but will those around him help him in time?
The story and plot line to this is insane! The chars are very well written too was this ever made into a film? If not it should be! I honestly couldn't put this book down. Clive baker's mind is like a den of sordid pleasures, but he makes his written work so addictive! There are graphic scenes in this book so I will say if you're a bit sensitive to that then this book isn't for you. However Clive just has a way of letting his stories flow so you really get a sense of were hes put you in the hot canyons of L.A and i absolutely loved the tale because of that. A read i really enjoyed!
The story started in Romania in the 1920s when a famous film starlot Katya Lupi returns to visit to return to her family with her talent agent Willem Zeffer. Zeffer visits an old medieval castle, which has been turned into a monastery and decides to buy a unique work of art, a series of sculpted and painted tiles depicting, in a grotesque and obscene manner, the local legend of a Count who was cursed to haunt the nearby wilderness for all eternity. Upon seeing this art he decided Katya has to have it and take's it back with them the hills of L.A
Cut to the current times we then meet Todd. The curse that goes to the tiles are soon to fall on him, but will those around him help him in time?
The story and plot line to this is insane! The chars are very well written too was this ever made into a film? If not it should be! I honestly couldn't put this book down. Clive baker's mind is like a den of sordid pleasures, but he makes his written work so addictive! There are graphic scenes in this book so I will say if you're a bit sensitive to that then this book isn't for you. However Clive just has a way of letting his stories flow so you really get a sense of were hes put you in the hot canyons of L.A and i absolutely loved the tale because of that. A read i really enjoyed!
May 17, 2011
This is about moviestar Todd Pickett, whose career comes somewhat to a dead end. He finds it difficult to accept, and endures a furtive facelift to improve his features.
The unknown surgeon makes a mistake and this goes wrong. To avoid the press, Todd hides in a resort in Coldheart Canyon, where he can heal, or awaits the healing of his face.
Tammie, the chubby founder of Todd's fanclub (who is in love with him), gets hints of his new whereabouts, and is looking for him through the desert nearby Hollywood.
The resort Todd is staying is haunted. The spirit of Katya Lupi, the beautiful ex-moviestar makes her presence more and often. Todd is seduced by Katya and from here, everything goes in a rapid.
I liked this book very much because there are 3 story lines which come together. Todd, Tammie and the history of (bad and sexy Katya).
This book is full of mystery, erotic, horror, death, drama and infernal business and their creatures.
As well an outstanding created world around Hollywood. All was very imaginable. One of the best Barker's I've read.
Very highly recommended to all who love haunted houses.
The unknown surgeon makes a mistake and this goes wrong. To avoid the press, Todd hides in a resort in Coldheart Canyon, where he can heal, or awaits the healing of his face.
Tammie, the chubby founder of Todd's fanclub (who is in love with him), gets hints of his new whereabouts, and is looking for him through the desert nearby Hollywood.
The resort Todd is staying is haunted. The spirit of Katya Lupi, the beautiful ex-moviestar makes her presence more and often. Todd is seduced by Katya and from here, everything goes in a rapid.
I liked this book very much because there are 3 story lines which come together. Todd, Tammie and the history of (bad and sexy Katya).
This book is full of mystery, erotic, horror, death, drama and infernal business and their creatures.
As well an outstanding created world around Hollywood. All was very imaginable. One of the best Barker's I've read.
Very highly recommended to all who love haunted houses.
August 16, 2014
This book is absolutely wretched and I'm totally embarrassed that I read an almost 700 page book that is just plain bad. The book is billed as a 'Hollywood Ghost Story' and I was excited about its promise. It did not live up to its promise in any way. I have never read Clive Barker so I have no idea if this is typical for him or not - regardless, I can't imagine ever putting more time into reading him again. The book is disjointed and rambling - several times I thought it was finally ending but instead it would go off into some new, and barely related direction. The writing style seemed to change with every new story line, characters were brought together for manufactured reasons and changed allegiance on a whim. There are completely unnecessary graphic descriptions of sex - over and over again, and made all the more despicable because Barker repeatedly populates his pornographic orgies with real actors from the 20s & 30s - apparently that's what makes it a 'Hollywood Ghost Story'. This is not a ghost story - it is barely a story at all. Just bad - don't waste your time.
May 4, 2012
Clive Barker is a sick man. And that's it. No buts here. I'm not, like, judging him for it. Lord knows I've read sick, grand guignol stuff before. I would say that his writing is sicker than anything else I've ever read, but I think that's what he's striving for. Unfortunately, we're supposed to think it's important, and those into BDSM would read Coldheart and think they've found something important to justify being turned on by the ENDLESS sick sex scenes in this book. My problem with the book stems from the fact that it forgets to be about something. It resides on the base level of exploring the "darkest parts of the human psyche." That's not a quote from the book. That's a quote from people who justify Barker's writing and others like it. The problem is, when you have your main characters, whom you're supposed to be rooting for, engaged in unbelievably salacious behavior for 20 pages on end and then you try to get us to cry for them somehow at some other point, you've totally lost us. Well, me, at least. I can deal with somebody getting a little out of control, doing stuff occasionally out of character for him, but if you're going to try to set him up as a sensitive character, you need to have some measure of consequences for his actions. Todd's psyche or his soul has nary a scratch, or if there is some sort of indication of a consequence to his conscience, such consequences are easily forsaken at the expense of whatever passes for plot in this mess. Passages of this book are so over-the-top that it gets quite laughable after a while. Trying to be modest here, but there are points where the entirety of the narration, it's entire drive, is simply to describe the private and graphic parts of the male and female anatomy, their functions and many uses, in as varied ways as possible, at length. Every time you turn around, somebody is getting aroused and then tearing each other's aroused flesh apart, usually when Barker's narrative was about to begin being about something.
It may be sounding like I wasn't exactly paying attention as I read, but I was. The plot description on this book's page on goodreads is correct. A Hollywood star retreats to a haunted mansion in a long-forgotten canyon on the outskirts of Hollywood, and the ghosts have spent the past several decades having sex in every way imaginable. There's a room in the basement with elaborate artwork on the wall tiles that comes to life. And there's a lot of stuff added on top of all that that tries to string it all together. But half of this book is taboo sex. And it's a big book. That's a big half. If you like that sort of thing, Barker's your man. You won't be bored.
And there are good ideas in the mix here that could have, if developed properly by a writer who's not distracted by his own perverted mind, made for a great story. The basement room, its origins and what takes place there, would have made an effective and extremely frightening horror story of its own. I wrote something similar when I was 13 and think the basic conceit of this idea was (potentially) genius in Coldheart. The idea of old Hollywood icons haunting this mansion and beseeching the attention of its owner was good, in basic theory, minus the fact that they just wanted to have unbelievably aberrant sex with each other.
Also, the part about Todd's dog was very well-written, very touching. I came close to shedding a tear. It's the only part of the narrative that made me actually care for this guy. But it was so out of place in this book that it became as laughable as anything else, and Barker says in his intro/foreword/lengthy acknowledgements that he essentially only included it to work out his own issues with a recently departed canine friend. That's fine, but if you're going to write it into a book, make sure it doesn't get rendered pathetically useless by a narrative that's not worthy of it.
Stephen King once famously said, "I have seen the future of horror, and its name is Clive Barker." No Steve, you're still it. I recently read just ONE paragraph of Under the Dome that proves it. Barker could do to take some notes from King. If King's going to shock you, he'll do it quickly and then put it to service of the story. He rarely spends more than a couple of pages on a sex scene or some grossout violence. It's quick and MUCH more effective. He is, above all, a master storyteller. Barker's a drug pusher for the BDSM set. I've read enough of his work to know.
It may be sounding like I wasn't exactly paying attention as I read, but I was. The plot description on this book's page on goodreads is correct. A Hollywood star retreats to a haunted mansion in a long-forgotten canyon on the outskirts of Hollywood, and the ghosts have spent the past several decades having sex in every way imaginable. There's a room in the basement with elaborate artwork on the wall tiles that comes to life. And there's a lot of stuff added on top of all that that tries to string it all together. But half of this book is taboo sex. And it's a big book. That's a big half. If you like that sort of thing, Barker's your man. You won't be bored.
And there are good ideas in the mix here that could have, if developed properly by a writer who's not distracted by his own perverted mind, made for a great story. The basement room, its origins and what takes place there, would have made an effective and extremely frightening horror story of its own. I wrote something similar when I was 13 and think the basic conceit of this idea was (potentially) genius in Coldheart. The idea of old Hollywood icons haunting this mansion and beseeching the attention of its owner was good, in basic theory, minus the fact that they just wanted to have unbelievably aberrant sex with each other.
Also, the part about Todd's dog was very well-written, very touching. I came close to shedding a tear. It's the only part of the narrative that made me actually care for this guy. But it was so out of place in this book that it became as laughable as anything else, and Barker says in his intro/foreword/lengthy acknowledgements that he essentially only included it to work out his own issues with a recently departed canine friend. That's fine, but if you're going to write it into a book, make sure it doesn't get rendered pathetically useless by a narrative that's not worthy of it.
Stephen King once famously said, "I have seen the future of horror, and its name is Clive Barker." No Steve, you're still it. I recently read just ONE paragraph of Under the Dome that proves it. Barker could do to take some notes from King. If King's going to shock you, he'll do it quickly and then put it to service of the story. He rarely spends more than a couple of pages on a sex scene or some grossout violence. It's quick and MUCH more effective. He is, above all, a master storyteller. Barker's a drug pusher for the BDSM set. I've read enough of his work to know.
November 3, 2018
Barker through and through but half a book too long. The mystery and lore is all great and a fascinating part of the book, but the story dragged on far too much. Just when you think it’s over, another 100 pages get tacked on to the end.. and again.. and again.
November 29, 2015
I did not finish this book. it started off great but the sex scenes were too much and did not appear to be ceasing at all.
July 21, 2009
I like Clive Barker or I wouldn't have read this, but I'm far from just trusting him blindly. He is either fantastic or awful with nary a warning in between.
Truth be told although I gobbled this greedily I couldn't help but form an opinion of meh, it was a boring story prettied up with kink. The villainess seemed nasty until it was revealed she was just a bully who had been given a fragment of power that she didn't understand, and that she just squanders.
The monsters were barely there and not particularly frightening, neither were the ghosts. There is a point very early on where it looks like a horror about plastic surgery which would have been fantastic, a sort of modern day version of the Tortured Souls Novella which was interesting.
The thing was I found I didn't care about the main characters, the only part I liked was the bit with the dog.
The thing is this book is beautifully written, it's just not a very good story. The villain is a schoolyard bully, given a truly fantastic power, the Devil's Country is an amazing idea, but really she lets the book down.
Truth be told although I gobbled this greedily I couldn't help but form an opinion of meh, it was a boring story prettied up with kink. The villainess seemed nasty until it was revealed she was just a bully who had been given a fragment of power that she didn't understand, and that she just squanders.
The monsters were barely there and not particularly frightening, neither were the ghosts. There is a point very early on where it looks like a horror about plastic surgery which would have been fantastic, a sort of modern day version of the Tortured Souls Novella which was interesting.
The thing was I found I didn't care about the main characters, the only part I liked was the bit with the dog.
The thing is this book is beautifully written, it's just not a very good story. The villain is a schoolyard bully, given a truly fantastic power, the Devil's Country is an amazing idea, but really she lets the book down.
September 12, 2017
Whether you're studying a magic carpet, decoding abandoned mail, or reconstructing a mosaic worthy of Bosch. Clive Barker's projections are unequivocal in there grotesque seductiveness. Let him lead you into hell. You won't regret the tour.
tbr-fantasy-and-scifi
April 28, 2016Right now 1.99 on Kindle
November 6, 2019
I felt some of the stuff in this book could have been left out. Would have been a five star book for me if that was the case because it had everything I love about Barker books in it.
February 1, 2017
**Mild Spoiler Warning**
I'd read this book when it was first released and recently decided to give it a listen when I saw that the late, great Frank Muller had performed the audio edition. I had forgotten much of the story over the years and had always enjoyed Barker's writing.
It was a bit of a letdown. Muller's reading was top-notch, of course, but it seems that my memory of the book was a bit biased based off of my general love for Barker. My love of him aside, the book just wasn't as good as I'd remembered.
Barker's prose are wonderful as always. The man can turn a phrase beautifully and his imagination is astounding. But Coldheart Canyon isn't a great book. For one it takes entirely too long to get started. We spend chapter upon chapter getting to know these characters and while much of the story of actor Todd Pickett's fall from grace in important to the story, an editor could have cut 20-25% of it out and it would have played just fine and gotten to the story faster.
Once we do finally get to the house with its mysteries and horrors the pacing speeds up. However, it feels a bit rushed at times. At one point a character dies and I was wondering when Todd would find out and how he'd react, but then suddenly he already knew about it and he gives it a few second's thought before the deceased character is forgotten forever. That was...odd. It felt like Barker just needed to get rid of the character after they'd served their purpose and sort of hastily deleted them, hoping no one would think about it too hard.
Later, we have a moment when Todd makes a very public escape into the Pacific and then a bit later he's back at the canyon with a hasty story of how he pulled off the escape, and it too felt sort of cheap.
The book is far longer than it needs to be, and while some parts are beautiful and wonderful and everything good that I remembered, the rest feels either overly padded for word-count or messily thrown together.
Barker's beautiful prose pulls the novel up to a 3-star.
I'd read this book when it was first released and recently decided to give it a listen when I saw that the late, great Frank Muller had performed the audio edition. I had forgotten much of the story over the years and had always enjoyed Barker's writing.
It was a bit of a letdown. Muller's reading was top-notch, of course, but it seems that my memory of the book was a bit biased based off of my general love for Barker. My love of him aside, the book just wasn't as good as I'd remembered.
Barker's prose are wonderful as always. The man can turn a phrase beautifully and his imagination is astounding. But Coldheart Canyon isn't a great book. For one it takes entirely too long to get started. We spend chapter upon chapter getting to know these characters and while much of the story of actor Todd Pickett's fall from grace in important to the story, an editor could have cut 20-25% of it out and it would have played just fine and gotten to the story faster.
Once we do finally get to the house with its mysteries and horrors the pacing speeds up. However, it feels a bit rushed at times. At one point a character dies and I was wondering when Todd would find out and how he'd react, but then suddenly he already knew about it and he gives it a few second's thought before the deceased character is forgotten forever. That was...odd. It felt like Barker just needed to get rid of the character after they'd served their purpose and sort of hastily deleted them, hoping no one would think about it too hard.
Later, we have a moment when Todd makes a very public escape into the Pacific and then a bit later he's back at the canyon with a hasty story of how he pulled off the escape, and it too felt sort of cheap.
The book is far longer than it needs to be, and while some parts are beautiful and wonderful and everything good that I remembered, the rest feels either overly padded for word-count or messily thrown together.
Barker's beautiful prose pulls the novel up to a 3-star.
February 20, 2018
The only Barker novel I hadn’t read. It’s superb, such an epic fuck you to everything Hollywood.
July 6, 2022
So weird and fascinating 🤩
July 8, 2025
It's rare that I read two books so closely together that I'm so bitterly disappointed in (See my review of King of Ashes for the other). Still, to be disappointed means that you had expectations of greatness, and in both cases it was because the authors in question have a strong track record with me. Specifically here, while I wouldn't claim to be a Barker super fan, I have liked everything I've read by him up until this point. The central conceit of this novel is quite excellent, and that's not surprising as Barker is wonderfully creative - his ideas always seem to be pushing things beyond the realm of wildly inventive - and this book is no exception in that regard. There are some great moments and scenes throughout the novel, and while I found most of the characters to be unrelatable, Tammy was an exception. Unfortunately, while the concepts are great, the execution is lacking in my view. The books is frankly, a total mess. Disjointed, messy, it never settles on what it wants to be, changing gears and never finding a groove. The characters behave inconsistently and the editing is very poor, clearly leaving out key moments which end up making the narrative somewhat broken. And worst of all, it's way too fucking long. This is almost 700 pages, and you could easily lose 300 of those. This misstep isn't going to prevent me from reading more of Barker's work, but I did not enjoy this experience.
June 11, 2021
I've always been a fan of Barker's and this one, which took me a long time to get around to reading, had a lot of strength in its lyrical descriptions of southern California and the fantastic creatures, mostly monstrous, inhabiting the canyon. I deducted a star because I felt the book simply rambled on too long. For the first time with a Barker book, I felt it was a bit of a slog, especially toward the end, when I found myself skimming. With a bit of editing and tightening, this could have been a masterpiece. But even with my misgivings, this is a superior offering in the horror genre and I'm glad I made the journey.
August 30, 2013
Certainly not Clive's best, but it could have been much worse
Todd Pickett, one of the hottest movie stars of the last decade, faces the downfall of his career when extensive plastic surgery goes terribly wrong. On the run from his fans and the ever bloodthirsty press he hides in the deep woods of Hollywood. The luxurious mansion of the long deceased silent movie actress Katya Lupi seems at first the ideal hiding place. But when he discovers that the house is still inhabited by the ghost of Katya Lupi the place changes into a death trap. The house itself turns out to be a place of evil, where Lilith, the wife of the Devil, is still out for revenge on the murderers of her son. Todd's biggest fan, Tammy Lauper, worried by the sudden disappearance of her idol starts a search for Todd and she creates, without knowing it, what is likely to be the only chance for redemption Todd has left.
Let's start with the weakest point of Coldheart Canyon: the plot. Not that it is really bad, but it just does not honour the previous works of Clive. The building-up of the storyline is comparable to what Dean Koontz does in almost all his novels: a normal situation turns bad, then even a bit worse and in the end everything is back to normal after some apocalyptical struggle. Clive Barker can do a lot better. Look at Imajica, to name just one example of a story with a much more original plot.
But luckily the king of 'strange' horror can turn a plot that is not that strong into something that is far beyond average, just by applying his personal style. That is exactly what happened with Coldheart Canyon. The complete atmosphere of the book breathes the competence of an extremely talented writer: even the most violent scenes or those weird erotic extravaganzas have something poetic about them. When skin is slowly pealed off the skull of a presumably living person, Clive makes it sound like a sensual act of love.
I am really glad that Clive still dares to write some controversially gruesome stuff. For me The Books of Blood still are his best works, because it is clear that while writing those Clive did not suffer from any limitations at all. His later works are a lot cleaner and tend to miss the real spirit of the earlier works. Nevertheless, Coldheart shows that he still masters the 'craft'.
Todd Pickett, one of the hottest movie stars of the last decade, faces the downfall of his career when extensive plastic surgery goes terribly wrong. On the run from his fans and the ever bloodthirsty press he hides in the deep woods of Hollywood. The luxurious mansion of the long deceased silent movie actress Katya Lupi seems at first the ideal hiding place. But when he discovers that the house is still inhabited by the ghost of Katya Lupi the place changes into a death trap. The house itself turns out to be a place of evil, where Lilith, the wife of the Devil, is still out for revenge on the murderers of her son. Todd's biggest fan, Tammy Lauper, worried by the sudden disappearance of her idol starts a search for Todd and she creates, without knowing it, what is likely to be the only chance for redemption Todd has left.
Let's start with the weakest point of Coldheart Canyon: the plot. Not that it is really bad, but it just does not honour the previous works of Clive. The building-up of the storyline is comparable to what Dean Koontz does in almost all his novels: a normal situation turns bad, then even a bit worse and in the end everything is back to normal after some apocalyptical struggle. Clive Barker can do a lot better. Look at Imajica, to name just one example of a story with a much more original plot.
But luckily the king of 'strange' horror can turn a plot that is not that strong into something that is far beyond average, just by applying his personal style. That is exactly what happened with Coldheart Canyon. The complete atmosphere of the book breathes the competence of an extremely talented writer: even the most violent scenes or those weird erotic extravaganzas have something poetic about them. When skin is slowly pealed off the skull of a presumably living person, Clive makes it sound like a sensual act of love.
I am really glad that Clive still dares to write some controversially gruesome stuff. For me The Books of Blood still are his best works, because it is clear that while writing those Clive did not suffer from any limitations at all. His later works are a lot cleaner and tend to miss the real spirit of the earlier works. Nevertheless, Coldheart shows that he still masters the 'craft'.
July 1, 2011
This book scared me a little. Todd Pickett is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. A producer advises him to get a facelift when he is in his early thirties and the surgeon botches the job. He hides out in an old movie stars dream palace. The palace grounds are in habited by ghosts and their offspring created by their liasons with animals. There is also a mysterious woman who owns the house and has control of the secrets locked within the walls.
Most of the characters in the book were true to type. The star's agent was bitchy, The producer was a self-centered egomaniac and so on. I liked the way Clive Barker handled the characters, some change, some stay the same. They seemed incredibly real. The book had an unlikely heroine in Tammy, President of the Todd Pickett appreciation society. When Todd hasn't been seen in a week she flies from Sacremento to L.A. to find out what happened to him. At first I thought she was pathetic. A married 36 year old woman who lives for a movie star, she has a room she spends time in with every article, picture, and piece of memorabilia she can get her hands on. Tammy turns out to be the sensible one in the story who brings down the perversity in Coldheart Canyon.
There was one section of the book when Todd first arrives in Coldheart Canyon and Tammy finds it shortly after that when they were establishing how twisted the place was that was a bit much. Igt was like falling down the rabbit hole and finding the biggest orgy on earth. Animals, ghosts, and humans all having sex, every kind imaginable. I had just read a book of short stories that was erotica, so by this point I had had my fill of sex. I think the sex in Coldheart Canyon was much more graphic.
Coldheart Canyon was a long book, just shy of 700 pages, there were several points where the book could have ended, but it just kept going. I liked the story, it was about obsession, greed and murder but it was very intricate and you couldn't skim much.
I wasn't sure if I was going to go three or four for a rating, but I'm not sure this is a book I would recommend to a lot of people so I went with a three.
Most of the characters in the book were true to type. The star's agent was bitchy, The producer was a self-centered egomaniac and so on. I liked the way Clive Barker handled the characters, some change, some stay the same. They seemed incredibly real. The book had an unlikely heroine in Tammy, President of the Todd Pickett appreciation society. When Todd hasn't been seen in a week she flies from Sacremento to L.A. to find out what happened to him. At first I thought she was pathetic. A married 36 year old woman who lives for a movie star, she has a room she spends time in with every article, picture, and piece of memorabilia she can get her hands on. Tammy turns out to be the sensible one in the story who brings down the perversity in Coldheart Canyon.
There was one section of the book when Todd first arrives in Coldheart Canyon and Tammy finds it shortly after that when they were establishing how twisted the place was that was a bit much. Igt was like falling down the rabbit hole and finding the biggest orgy on earth. Animals, ghosts, and humans all having sex, every kind imaginable. I had just read a book of short stories that was erotica, so by this point I had had my fill of sex. I think the sex in Coldheart Canyon was much more graphic.
Coldheart Canyon was a long book, just shy of 700 pages, there were several points where the book could have ended, but it just kept going. I liked the story, it was about obsession, greed and murder but it was very intricate and you couldn't skim much.
I wasn't sure if I was going to go three or four for a rating, but I'm not sure this is a book I would recommend to a lot of people so I went with a three.
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