- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Signet (MM); First THUS edition (Jan 8 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0451205553
- ISBN-13: 978-0451205551
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.7 x 1.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 109 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,047,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Within the span of a couple hundred pages, prolific horror writer Masterton (Spirit; The Manitou, etc.) successfully spins an entertaining, fast and disturbing read packed with dramatic tension, tightly drawn characters and realistic dialogue. Bonnie Winter sells cosmetics for Glamorex of Hollywood Inc. and runs her own business cleaning up domestic crime scenes. The creepy task becomes even worse after she discovers infestations of maggot-like, black caterpillars at her clean-up sites. A local entomologist confirms that the caterpillars grow into Clouded Apollos large butterflies with white, black-veined wings. In Aztec culture, the insect is considered the daytime disguise of a demon named Itzpapalotl, who drives people to kill their loved ones. Indeed, each of the scenes at which Bonnie finds the insects involves family members killing each other. Masterton's descriptions of the grim crime scenes are intoxicating (a man's blown-off head had "fallen backward so that, juglike, it had emptied its blood all over the floor") yet never gratuitous, and he neatly intertwines the Clouded Apollo story line with the saga of Bonnie's lackluster home life and budding affair with her Glamorex boss. As the novel draws to a close, the two plot threads converge, triggering a sequence of events that is both chilling and tragic.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Masterton's best,
By gothic cowgirl (NorCal) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Trauma (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I was totally surprised by just how much I enjoyed it. It's got a completely different feel and atmosphere than his usual adventurous romps. It's moody, subtle, and very satisfying. Caution - by subtle, I mean it is not overtly scary or shocking. It is, however, pretty gross. Just FYI.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great storyline and theme.,
By
This review is from: Trauma (Paperback)
Again, another great book from the TRUE master of horror! Masterton takes you on a journey where people who clean up gruesome crime scenes go psycho themselves. Reason I gave it a four, was because I thought it could have been longer, but hey, cannot win them all. Great book, buy it!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly brilliant,
By
This review is from: Trauma (Paperback)
Bonnie Winter cleans up crime scenes. It is her job to use whatever cleaners it takes to remove the blood and gore. In a sense, her own life needs to be cleaned up as well. Her bigoted, lazy husband, so full of complaints, refuses to find work while Bonnie struggles to hold down two jobs. Her son appears to be heading down the same path as his Dad. Meanwhile, her boss at a cosmetics company is enamored with her. There is an underlying hint of evil in that a rare caterpillar is found by Bonnie at several particularly gruesome suicide scenes. Can this be an omen for disaster?TRAUMA is a novella. Yet, it manages to pack more of an emotional whollop than novels three times it's size. By limiting the length of the work, Graham Masterton wastes no time in setting up this dark tale of the unraveling of Bonnie Winter's life. It is actually a character study of a woman in distress-- being boxed in by the world around her. There is a refreshingly stark simplicity in the way the story unfolds. The author is an experienced writer of the horror genre. It would not be incorrect to place this into that category, as well. Truly brilliant.
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