Anthony Shriek

Anthony Shriek was, in my opinion, one of the best novels to be released on the shortlived Dell Abyss line (along with Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls and Tanith Lee's Dark Dance). The story itself seems pretty simple on the surface - the beginning and end of the relationship between two troubled lovers. However, Jessica Salmonson's beautiful (and disturbing) portrait of Anthony and Emily makes the novel much more than that. Anthony's downward spiral into madness and his vulnerability is heartbreaking. Emily is complicated and strange, and also not very easy to relate to or figure out but she's interesting. I've been disappointed to see many bad reviews for this book on the internet. While it's not a perfect book it is a good example of "dark fantasy" and I would recommend it to those that usually read within that genre.