The Damnation Game

Stephen King praised him and Clive Barker became a catchphrase and the all of the sudden people were saying he was better than King. Hmmmm. I've read everything that both Barker and King have published and I can say, without batting an eyelash, that they are two distinct authors, but neither is the supperior to the other. King is King and Barker is....well, twisted for one...very, very twisted. Awesome. Clive turned the horror genre on its ear with his flamboyance, his demented vision, and his sheer audacity for bringing anything and everything to light no matter how barbaric or pornographic it may be. The Damnation Game is no different from the chilling stories told in The Books Of Blood. It is stark, brutal, riveting and original in its brilliance. Mamoulian, The Cardplayer is an age-old being with the powers to make things go in the right direction. Joseph Whitehead made a deal with Mamoulian a long time ago to have power and wealth. Joseph is backing out of the deal. Ex-convict turned bodyguard Marty is right in the middle of things as Mamoulian exacts his revenge. Fresh, dark, and purely Clive Barker. The Damnation game is not for the weak, or the casual reader. There are things in here, in all of Barker's writing, that some people will not want to see. I, on the other hand, find Mr. Barker absolutely too f*cking cool. Dig it!

Two men meet in the ruins of WWII and play a game, which affects their ties for the rest of their lives. Years afterwards, one becomes a powerful business giant who must protect himself from the other, who wants to collect his prize, going back to the game. Gory, evil, supernatural and very darkly twisted tale of revenge and old debts. You will not be able to put it down.

Hang in there with me as I set an example here; it is going to get off topic of the book at hand for a moment, but there is method in my insanity:"Did you read Clive Barker's first novel: The Damnation Game?" "Uh, huh. What's it about?" "It's about...well...um..."This is not an easy novel to attempt to describe. Say I were asked to describe Stephen King's Salem's Lot; I could say it is about vampires who invade a small town. The listener knows about vampires and what they generally do (suck blood, and create new vampires); and they know how small town horror works (slow creeping suspense, as all the people in town everyone formerly thought they knew starts to turn evil. There is generally at least one outsider that is the center of this evil.) By identifying the basic concepts, the listener can put it together and get a good idea what the book is about...But Clive Barker's debut novel is far too original to even attempt to describe in any concise space. The story is original, absorbing, and told with a degree of beauty and compelling a way only Barker could achieve--and apparently masterered in the very beginning.I cannot tell you even vaguely what this book is about without telling you the majority of the plot, but I can tell you that it is not a book you will ever regret reading (and re-reading, and re-reading.)

To say that this book is good would be a terrible understatement to not only Clive Barker,but also to the Horror genre in the world today. The Damnation Game combines all the elements of a great story: Horror (Vile, Stomach-turning details), Passion, Disturbing visions, Fantasy, and most important, Imagination. I've been a Clive Barker fan for a little over a year, reading The Books of Blood, Sacrament, Galilee, The Great and Secret Show, and The Inhuman Condition, and with the exception of The Books of Blood, I think that this is one of his greatest books to date. Barker's imagery and details were so concrete..so real that I would shiver and sometimes have to stop reading for a minute or two so I could try to banish that certain vision or image from my thoughts. But, all along, the story was interesting, and very compelling to read. This book will have you at the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next, and who these people really are...and you won't be disappointed.