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3.0 out of 5 stars
A Bizarre Mix of Genres along with the Unsafest Sex Ever, May 20 2004
Perhaps no published writer has had more fun crisscrossing different genres than Phil Farmer. In this particular volume, he puts a science-fiction overlay on some very traditional gothic horror themes, in the context of a classic detective novel, but don't go thinking you've seen this before. Forget that Farmer's explanations of lycanthrope and vampirism are much further out than anything you've heard previously, because that's not even the tip of the iceberg. What really sets this book apart from the crowd is the infusion of bizarre (often inhuman) sexuality that goes well beyond anything in the annals of science fiction. This isn't just the obligatory sex scene to make a weak book marketable - the wild, sadistic, and often scary sex is almost the main thrust of the book.Harold Childe isn't exactly the typical hard-boiled private investigator who is so essential to the detective genre, although he's pretty close. But the videotape of his partner's murder is anything but typical, and when he fights through the acid-smog of L.A. to the mansion of a rich eccentric, the reader quickly becomes aware that this is not your father's detective novel. Fans already know that Farmer has a real gift for telling action tales, but how many suspected he was capable of dreaming up such twisted sexual fantasies - many of them terrifying, many of them disgusting, and all of them completely over the top? The main novel in this book, Image of the Beast, is pretty powerful stuff - a brutal murder, a cynical detective, a misery-laden city, a haunted mansion, extra-terrestrials, deviant sexual behavior - something for everyone, really. By itself, it might rate four stars for sheer audacity if only it had a legitimate ending. Sadly, this story has more loose ends than a shag carpet, and the sequel, originally published as the longish short story "Blown", is just plain silly. Farmer gets away from slam/bang action and the detective format, and starts bringing in references to Byron and Joan of Arc, all to no real purpose. The three star rating reflects the fact that this book is so unlike anything else this reviewer has ever read, that one might be willing to overlook some of its obvious flaws just on the basis of originality, or perhaps more accurately, audacity. The prudish, the squeamish, and the conventionally logical will probably not like this book at all. Recommended only for adult genre fans who aren't afraid to step through a twisted looking glass.
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