Title: Tense and nasty horror
Product review: It's difficult to describe the appeal of this book. It would be naive to deny that at some level, Johnson titillates by drawing heavily on the scenarios of bondage pornography. And yet he simultaneously undermines that titillation by deconstructing any fantasy elements in favour of the likely reality of the main character's growing discomfort and claustrophobia. The resultant impression is tense and highly unsettling. Further distanced from more lurid genres by Johnson's unsensational literate style, this detailed study of the character dynamics of collective evil is an under-rated classic of horror. (Mendal Johnson, incidentally, died in 1976 and never finished any other novels).
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