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Succubus
Uncanny things began to happen to Peter Conway almost as soon as he set foot in the remote Cornish village of Penthor. First there was the ship wreck, those two rotting corpses alongside the perfectly preserved body of the sea's third victim. Then there was the beautiful, mauve-eyed woman whom he had greedily watched making love on the clifftop, her aura of erotic energy seemingly reaching out to flicker all around him. And there was the reunion with his old friend Andrew, long devoted to otherworldly pursuits, who in the few short years since he had last seen him had aged by a quarter-century or more.
Yes, he thought with a shudder, there was in Penthor an unmistakable sense of evil, spiced with the heady, musky scent of forbidden lusts and passions. And even as he pondered on what he had seen, Penthor's macabre miasma was sucking him in, enticing him deeper and deeper into a dark and fearsome mystery enshrouded in necromancy, terror and death...
Yes, he thought with a shudder, there was in Penthor an unmistakable sense of evil, spiced with the heady, musky scent of forbidden lusts and passions. And even as he pondered on what he had seen, Penthor's macabre miasma was sucking him in, enticing him deeper and deeper into a dark and fearsome mystery enshrouded in necromancy, terror and death...
- GenresHorror
184 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 22, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2026
My tastes in horror run the full gamut, and I enjoy reading the trashy end of the spectrum on occasion, as it’s almost like comfort food to me. Even the truly terrible ones can be fun when I’m in the right mindset, which makes it difficult to assign a rating to these sorts of books. This one wasn’t terrible by any means, and I found it pretty entertaining overall. Another review mentioned how it would have made for a good Hammer Horror flick, and I agree. Too bad it was published about a decade too late.
The basic deal is that 20-something Peter has come to visit his old school buddy Andrew in the secluded Cornish town of Penthor, and immediately something seems off about the entire place. Why has friend Andrew aged several decades, looking like a husk of his former self, even though it’s only been a few years since Peter has seen him? Does it have something to do with his paranormal studies? What’s with all the mysterious deaths? Somehow it all seems centered on Andrew’s new-ish wife, the beautiful and seductive Samantha.
The title pretty much gives it away, but that didn’t detract too much as it’s pretty obvious from the get-go what’s going on. More intriguing is the mystery of her origins, and Andrew’s likely role in them through possible nefarious deeds. It all has the feel of a late 60s/early 70s British occult novel, with a hint of the gothics from that same era, only sexed up for the 80s (though come to think of it, those books were already pretty sexed up).
At 180-some pages, it moves at a decent clip, and is a good time if you’re into this sort of thing. But the main issue is that there’s nothing really here besides one’s love for pulpy goodness to keep the reader totally engaged. The characters are all one-note, and there’s no real insight into their motivations. Also, the writing style can be a bit bland, though there are lots of exclamation marks!
It’s ridiculous, convoluted, somewhat predictable, and the characters make nonsensical decisions throughout. Mildly recommended.
Or avoid at all costs. Depending on who’s reading this review.
(That cover though, 10 out of 10.)
*ETA: according to ISFDB, John Stockholm was a pseudonym for Robert Holdstock, of Mythago Wood fame, and Malcom Edwards, an editor who later launched the SF Masterworks series for Orion in the late 90s.
The basic deal is that 20-something Peter has come to visit his old school buddy Andrew in the secluded Cornish town of Penthor, and immediately something seems off about the entire place. Why has friend Andrew aged several decades, looking like a husk of his former self, even though it’s only been a few years since Peter has seen him? Does it have something to do with his paranormal studies? What’s with all the mysterious deaths? Somehow it all seems centered on Andrew’s new-ish wife, the beautiful and seductive Samantha.
The title pretty much gives it away, but that didn’t detract too much as it’s pretty obvious from the get-go what’s going on. More intriguing is the mystery of her origins, and Andrew’s likely role in them through possible nefarious deeds. It all has the feel of a late 60s/early 70s British occult novel, with a hint of the gothics from that same era, only sexed up for the 80s (though come to think of it, those books were already pretty sexed up).
At 180-some pages, it moves at a decent clip, and is a good time if you’re into this sort of thing. But the main issue is that there’s nothing really here besides one’s love for pulpy goodness to keep the reader totally engaged. The characters are all one-note, and there’s no real insight into their motivations. Also, the writing style can be a bit bland, though there are lots of exclamation marks!
It’s ridiculous, convoluted, somewhat predictable, and the characters make nonsensical decisions throughout. Mildly recommended.
Or avoid at all costs. Depending on who’s reading this review.
(That cover though, 10 out of 10.)
*ETA: according to ISFDB, John Stockholm was a pseudonym for Robert Holdstock, of Mythago Wood fame, and Malcom Edwards, an editor who later launched the SF Masterworks series for Orion in the late 90s.
August 15, 2020
It’s not too bad, as supernatural horror stories go. The timeline seems to be a bit muddled as, at certain points, it feels as though some time has passed, and yet at others, it seems as though no narrative time has passed at all. There is some sexual content, but it is all written in that peculiarly over-wrought mid-eighties way, where it often seems more laughable than legitimately erotic. Still, the “creature” is effectively realized, and the isolated, coastal village setting is suitably gothic. One could almost see the “Hammer Horror” film version of it - ten or fifteen years earlier on, anyway.
It alludes to a lot of backstory that is mostly left completely unexplained, which is a bit of an irritation, and the late-stage appearance of a pseudo “Van Helsing” type feels a bit disingenuous - and a bit of a cheat to the finale, since that character mostly ribs the climax of the catharsis that the two lead characters would seem to be otherwise deserving of. The ending, of course, in true horror franchise style, is left completely open since, after all, you just can’t keep a good horror villain down for the count.
It is a nice enough book, and a very quick read - but it is, when all else is said and done - pretty much by the numbers. Still a diverting enough little time-waster, though.
It alludes to a lot of backstory that is mostly left completely unexplained, which is a bit of an irritation, and the late-stage appearance of a pseudo “Van Helsing” type feels a bit disingenuous - and a bit of a cheat to the finale, since that character mostly ribs the climax of the catharsis that the two lead characters would seem to be otherwise deserving of. The ending, of course, in true horror franchise style, is left completely open since, after all, you just can’t keep a good horror villain down for the count.
It is a nice enough book, and a very quick read - but it is, when all else is said and done - pretty much by the numbers. Still a diverting enough little time-waster, though.
September 26, 2023
Another obscure horror novel from the 80s I never heard before. Can the promising cover fulfill its expectations? Peter visits his dying friend Andrew in Penthor (Cornwall). He becomes acquainted with his beautiful sirenlike wife Samantha. What is her secret? Why is William Hobson, a mysterious blind man, trying to root out evil from the small Cornish town? What's the role of Samantha's brother Daniel and Peter's cousin Mary? Things get complicated after Andrew's funeral. Intriguing and very uncanny novel about black magic, summoning up of demonic forces with lots of sexual encounters (Samantha is quite nymphomaniac). Really enjoyed this creepy tale set in Cornwall with its remarkable characters and evil sorcerers. Highly recommended blast from the mid 80s!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews