Creekers

This will not be my last Lee book. It was creepy gory and addictive. How could I have missed this author? I'll tell ya... very rarely do I get caught by an ending... it floored me! Must read for horror fans.

Phil Straker, a police lieutenant in the big city's narcotic's division, moves to Crick City where he grew up, after being forced to resign his city position after accidentally shooting a child. Crick City is a wasted, po-dunk, redneck town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by other tiny townships of the same low class. He's invited to work on the police force by Chief Of Police Lawrence Mullins, the man who practically raised him. Mullins wants Straker on his force because of Straker's narcotics background; he suspects a PCP drug ring is doing business in his town. Crick City has something most towns don't - Creekers. The most backwoods of all societies, Creekers go beyond redneck. The live high in the hills, off the land with no electricity or water, in lean-to's and shanties. They've been inbreeding for years, so all creekers have certain traits common to them: gross deformities, black hair, and red-tinged irises. The only town-creeker is Cody Natter, ugly but smart, and Straker discovers he owns and operates Krazy Sallee's, the local strip club. Even worse, Straker's old girlfriend Vicki Steele is now Natter's wife and works the club as a stripper and prostitute. Straker uses old childhood chum Eagle, and Vicki, to set up his undercover identity as a good-ol-boy so he can investigate the PCP distribution ring. Just as he fell for Vicki so many years ago, Straker finds himself falling for dispatcher Susan Ryder, though his feelings for Vicki still remain. Despite work problems and love problems, Straker must infiltrate the drug ring to get at the one person he feels responsible for the crimes and murders in Crick City; Cody Natter and his battalion of Creekers. Watch out for some great twists and turns in the book. 'Creekers' was originally published in 1994, and re-released in 2008. Fans of Lee will be able to tell that this is one of his earlier pieces of horror fiction. Ed Lee has a unique talent of capturing the soul of the deep-woods, uneducated redneck. 'Creekers' is definitely hardcore horror, using colorful language, disgusting and deviant $exual scenes, buggering, bestiality, and gross disfigurement. Throw in some demonic rituals (you'll love the "Reverend's" vision of the eternal harvest), a cop who hates drugs (an "industry that perpetuates slavery"), a vulgar strip joint, and a race of eerily malformed people, and you have one of Lee's better early novels. 'Creekers' is a delightful addition to your horror collection. Enjoy!

In short, I've read a lot of Edward Lee's books and this one is at the top of the list...so far. If you have a taste for the weird, you gotta read this one. Go ahead...I dare ya!

Edward Lee is one of my favorite Horror Writer's. I haven't read a book of his yet that I have not loved, and Creekers has to be one of his best stories to date. Creekers are a family of outcasts that live in the woods outside the small town of Crick City. They are a mysterious clan that has been inbreeding for centuries. They are hideously deformed with blood red eyes. Phil Straker a homicide cop has come back to the town of his childhood in hopes of solving a bunch of gruesome murders that have been taken place in Crick City. There are rumors flying around that the Creekers are the ones responsible, and he is determined to bring them to justice. He has no idea what he about to get himself into. I could not put Creekers down. I was glued to it the moment I started. I devoured it in two nights, and hated to see it end. It is an original story full of Blood, Guts, and Sex. There are scenes that will have your stomach churning, and heart racing. Creekers is a must read for any fan of Lee's work. I was happy to see that it is reprint. Now more people will get a chance to read one of the best stories Lee has ever written. 5 Stars

This is actually one of Lee's best books, and it is supposed to be reprinted in hardcover by Necro Press very soon. It's a shame this one is so hard to find when "Messenger" and "Monstrosity" are still in print. In this one Philip Straker (Lee's pen name for his first two novels) is a down and out cop (the best kind) who leaves the big city to go to a small town police department. He is placed undercover and ends up in a strip bar which features Creeker girls. Creekers, for those that don't know, are rednecks who are inbred to the point that they look like Thalidomide babies. These girls, with their missing and deformed limbs, work at a strip club that doubles for illegal operations that involve higher ups in the community. Straker gets wise, and he is warned to back off. He must now decide whether to back off or to alienate himself with the entire town. Chock full of the trademark Lee sex and violence, this features names drawn from other Lee works, and references that true Lee fans will appreciate. Hopefully this will be reprinted soon, as the original printing is very scarce.