Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Satan's Seed - Chill 1 - Jory Sherman

Satan's Seed
Chill 1
by Jory Sherman
Pinnacle, 1978




I actually enjoyed a Chill novel!  If only for the reason that he actually does stuff in this one.  Goes to places, talks to people, has a seance, and does two exorcisms.

Chill is called to a ranch in California to investigate cattle mutilations that have graduated into child killings.  He brings assistant and "special lady" Laura Littlefawn, who is full blown psychic in this first installment - she seems notably depowered in later books.

We are introduced to a series of characters and are told via seance that one is the murderer.  I was expecting some Agatha Christie style stuff here, and I'd spoil it for you if I could figure out what the hell was going on.  It probably wasn't that complicated - just dumb enough that I didn't bother following it.

Chill performs a couple exorcisms, but instead of freeing their victims from possession, the rites cause their bodies to explode.  Which I'm not complaining about.

To remind you, Chill is an insufferable vegetarian, the kind that explains it to waitresses in patronizing detail.  He also brings up that he doesn't drink or smoke as often as he can.  Except for wine and beer.  And he does eat meat, just not meat from your kitchen.

The 2000 print on demand reprint was horribly packaged.  I'm actually glad I got the paperback, as it serves of an example of how horrible books look when certain conventions aren't followed.  Little things like a missing title page and having the page numbers on the top make a difference.  The blurb was barely readable, and included a review quote from "Buzzy" referencing a website that is now a malware site.  The quote reads like something you'd buy off fiverr from someone in Eastern Europe.

Available for Kindle, a titch pricier than it should be.

Read a sample.

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