The Damnation Game

Unique description title, eh?

Liverpudlian Clive Barker penned this disturbing gross-out about twenty years ago and most predicted it would be the novel that would launch him into fame and fortune and set him atop the throne of "Reigning Master of Horror" occupied by Stephen King. Well, that didn't happen, and I think the main reason---aside from the fact that King is simply a superior writer---is that Barker's tales, be they short stories or epic novels, concentrate so intently on being harshly disturbing in their details that the author forgets to include a character with any soul. Barker's one-dimensional paper-doll figures are simply there to move along the descriptions of visceral, gloomy, misdeeds, instead of ever for a single chapter being the focus of enough attention for us to care about them. They died? Who cares. They lived in the end? Yeah, so what? As a result, few to none of what constitutes the population of his books stick out in the mind hours after the completion of his read.

In The Damnation Game, we have a Barker-by-the-numbers story that begins, atmospherically, with a (very) high stakes poker game amid the rubble and ruin of 1940's Warsaw. The novel then skips ahead to 1980's Britain, where a billionaire industrialist (whom we learn was one of the figures in the card game forty years earlier) frees a convict from a high security prison and brings him to his intricately-fortified estate, in order for the paroled prisoner to protect him and his family from some vaguely-defined threat. On the estate, the convict, grateful to the industrialist for cutting his sentence in half, begins to catch on that some things are extremely wrong. His paranoid employer is clearly a man living in deep fear, but exactly what he fears is not immediately apparent. It seems to be less a flesh and blood foe that concerns the man, and more a sort of...retributive agent from times past. The convict falls in love (somewhat predictably) with the industrialist's heroin-addicted daughter (with whom the rich man, her father, has apparently been having a sexual relationship) and the focus of the story shifts to these two, the wealthy junky and the good-hearted badman. Meanwhile, Barker removes the suspense by revealing not only who the billionaire fears, but taking us into the supernatural villain's mind, making this dying being less an object of dread than a somewhat whiny Mephistophelean boogie man, who seeks the billionaire to be his (are you ready for this?) companion in the afterlife: the consummation of some never-defined bargain made long ago in Warsaw.

The Damnation Game is replete with gratuitous gross-outs, like characters dining---some unknowingly---on the raw flesh of a dead child's leg, and Barker tossed in inventive but pointless details like a razor blade-eating circus freak, all, I suspect, in order to differentiate his style of horror from the more traditional school of that genre King, Straub, Rice and others had been writing over the previous fifteen or so years. Ultimately, for all its toe-dipping into the supernatural (mainly zombies) this novel has far less in common with horror and is more akin to a slightly sci-fi-esque slasher flick, of the variety so popular at the time it was written. It's neither an extraordinarily good book nor a bad one, but in my opinion (Barker fans feel free to angrily disagree) it's not worth the six hours it probably requires to finish it.

Marty Strauss, a gambling addict, has just been released from prison when he gets hired as a personal bodyguard of Joseph Whitehead, one of the richest men on earth. What first seems as a common security assignment, quickly turns out to be much more dangerous. Joseph has some debt that he needs to repay and it is not to some earthly power. When the mansion gets invaded by a devilish man named Mamoulian, it becomes clear that a simple gun won't help against his powers.

The Damnation Game is the first novel by Clive Barker, directly written after he published his first trilogy of highly renowned Books of Blood. Although it is actually his debut, all the strong characteristics of his later works can be found in this Faustian story. Clive tackles subjects like incest, self-mutilation and cannibalism with a unseen rawness that makes the shivers run down your spine. Certainly the scene where Mamoulian first shows up at the mansion is horrendously detailed in its gruesomeness. If I only think about the description of the severed finger, I get the creeps. At first reading it might seem that the story is not very original, but that seems hardly an issue. The power of The Damnation Game lies mostly in its depiction of the deterioration of oneself due to the destructive power of an addiction.

To call this book a masterpiece might be going a bridge too far, but at least it great literature. But be warned: if you're looking for a feel-good story, go search somewhere else!

The Damnation Game was Clive Barker's first full-length novel. Therefore, in many ways it is closer to the type of story he wrote for the Books of Blood collections than the dark fantasy he has written since Weaveworld. It also owes a lot to Stephen King in my opinion (though not as much as Cabal), but it still has Barker's distinctive touches making it superior to most of King's works. There is less moral ambiguity in the Damnation Game than his later works. For example, the villians are clearly villians, as opposed to, e.g., the other-dimensional salesman in Weaveworld. Barker also nicely balances scenes of pure psychological horror with disturbing scenes of gore. And it has one of the most interesting cannibals I've come across outside of Hannibal. Not as thought-provoking as his later work, but far more entertaining.

Mr. Barker is indeed the true king of horror. This book was a hard one to put down. Through this book we meet the past of Joseph Whitehead and the game he played years ago with a man named Mammoulian, also known as the "Last European". Caught in between becomes Marty Strauss, who is asked to become Whitehead's bodyguard. Strauss learns his boss' past and learns that it becomes impossible to get out of this game unless someone stops Mammoulian. Mr. Barker once again demonstrated that he knows how to build up a scary book, fuelled with unique characters. I don't think there's no one out there, not even Stephen King, that knows how to imitate him. For anyone who indeed wants to read a good scary book try this book, and believe me, you won't even want to put it down until you read the very last page.VERY RECOMMENDED

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!

What is all the fuss about? This book, although somewhat enjoyable, is by no means a knockout. If you are like me and can't stand wasting time reading anything but the best, you probably won't like this book. It drags and the story isn't all that interesting to begin with. (Remember the movie Nightbreed by Barker?) However, if you really don't demand much from a novel and like your books to flow like a good all-around movie, read away.
This is no where near Barker's best work. Writing doesn't get much simpler than this. (Compare it to The Great and Secret Show and, ideas aside, you would think it was a totally different writer)
Still, I will give it this: I did finish it. But then again, being one of his first full-length novels, I wasn't really expecting much to begin with. I started reading because I was curious to what it was about. Sadly, by the end of the book I was still wondering.

Clive Barker and i have always had a wierd relationship--his Candyman was the only movie that has (and probably ever will) really scared me, and his Books of Blood were works i was a big fan of when i was first starting to write horror fiction . . . other than that, though, i've never been that interested in his stuff--for one reason or another, i've just never been enthralled with his stories (i'm from more the traditional, americana-type horror story background--a la King, Straub, McCammon, et al) . . . but when Barker is good, man alive is he good! Hearing all its accolades, i forced myself to read this book . . . or, really, forced myself to buy it--the book seemed to do more forcing than i did. The story, twists, and scenes in this novel are some of the most haunting i've pictured since i read the Exorcist, waaaay back when. Highly recommended.

Hellraiser is the scariest movie I've ever seen. Ever. Love it! So when I decided to read one of its writer's books, I was expecting to be scared senseless. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case. This is, I believe, one of Barker's early books, and it shows. He hadn't learned how to judiciously edit. Less is more. Endless description destroys suspense. And he hadn't learned how to pace a plot. Other than the prologue, the first 125 pages of the book, or so, are pure setup. Nothing really happens to advance the story. It would have been much more effective if he had conveyed that information amidst the plot advancement. Both aspects can be interwoven together. And he hadn't learned how to write in a way that terrifies, draws a reader in past the words, past the black and white page, into the living, breathing scene itself. I read the terrible scenes, but they didn't evoke any emotion whatsoever. Just words on the page. Flat and two-dimensional. Think I'll watch Hellraiser again :-)

Marty Strauss, an ex-con, is always interested in a gamble. Chance and a bit of luck on his side sees him gain employment as a bodyguard for Joseph Whitehead, a wealthy man who also gambles, but gambles with the forces of evil in an ancient game that has earned him wealth, power and immortality... put at a price. Strauss is directed to protect his master from the servants of Lucifer as they come back to seek what is theirs. With the power to raise the dead the scene is set for a battle between gangsters and demons. This is Barker's first full novel outside of his Books of Blood short stories. It is an excellent introduction into his creative fantasy mind.

This book has an excellent premise, but poor execution. There are some great moments, the prolouge and Marty's first encounter with the Last European are classic Barker, however the book waffles and comes to an end without fully explaining some major points in the book. The story's major weakness is it's ambiguity. While I do appreciate that aspect in most literary protagonists, it's simply too much here and the characters are ultimately unsympathetic. Nice effort, but Barker has handled better in other books. Also the reader comes away a descriptive defintion of coprophagia which, please forgive the pun, may not be to everyones taste. The Damnation Game is very good macabre. But the book is all technique and lacks the passion found in Thief of Always and Weaveworld.

The Damnation Game is my favorite Clive Barker novels to date. It is almost a tie with Everville, but just nudges past it. I think the reason is that we get to know both sides of the coin in this one, the hunter and the hunted. We learn their history and their reason for hating/fearing each other. This is an amazing tale, and I urge all Clive fans to give it a chance!

I had mixed feelings about this book. It started pretty well, pretty deep, but towards the middle it looses momentum. We can never exactly figure out what are the reasons of Mamoulian. Marty Strauss is really a great character, but is plagued by having to share his room with the old cliche of an ambiguos and insecure beautiful female main character, whose only job is to give incomplete answers and put the heroe in trouble. The end of the history is original in the terror genre, having a happy ending . Anyway, Barker can write as few people can, and it is a good book to start with.

From the opening scene of a thief wandering through the demolished city of Warsaw after World War II to the final conclusion, Damnation Game is a fast paced beautifully written horror novel. It is about a mysterious billionaire and his rise to power and the dark forces behind his success focusing on an ex-con who is a bodyguard to the wealthy tycoon. This book is truly original with unexpected plot twists and describes a horror beyond comprehension.

Being a devoted consumer of horror novel I know of the pitfalls of the genre. Many horror authors such as Stephen King, while entertaining, don't carefully write therefore their writing is less effective. This is not the case with Clive Barker. The way in which the book was written was one reason I enjoyed this book. Damnation Game reads as if every word was contemplated and carefully chosen by Clive Barker to produce his desired effect. The book seems to be written as a form of poetry with long prose and deliberate phrasing. Due to Barker's ability to capture the emotions and describe the horrors of his characters, the book can truly get inside your head and frighten you.

Another upside to Damnation game is that it doesn't fall into the cliché horror category. Clive Barker doesn't simply stick to demons and monsters but often delves into something much more profound, his character's souls. He creates a world in which the reader can inhabit and truly experience. Due to its originality, and Clive Barker's writing ability, I would recommend this book to any fan of horror novels.

Unlike his other novels that mixed fantasy with science fiction with horror with erotica, this novel is a book about pure horror. Barker throws away his fantasy tricks and brings us a book about evil incarnate. I have read many of Barker's works and I love all of them, but this was by far the best. I LOVED IT!!!!! Stephen King will never be de-throned, but this book is comparable to the master of the macabre. King may be the King of horror, but after reading this book Barker IS the prince!!!! A MUST READ!!!!

From the opening scene of a thief wandering through the demolished city of Warsaw after World War II to the final conclusion, Damnation Game is a fast paced beautifully written horror novel. It is about a mysterious billionaire and his rise to power and the dark forces behind his success focusing on an ex-con who is a bodyguard to the wealthy tycoon. This book is truly original with unexpected plot twists and describes a horror beyond comprehension.

Being a devoted consumer of horror novel I know of the pitfalls of the genre. Many horror authors such as Stephen King, while entertaining, don't carefully write therefore their writing is less effective. This is not the case with Clive Barker. The way in which the book was written was one reason I enjoyed this book. Damnation Game reads as if every word was contemplated and carefully chosen by Clive Barker to produce his desired effect. The book seems to be written as a form of poetry with long prose and deliberate phrasing. Due to Barker's ability to capture the emotions and describe the horrors of his characters, the book can truly get inside your head and frighten you.

Another upside to Damnation game is that it doesn't fall into the cliché horror category. Clive Barker doesn't simply stick to demons and monsters but often delves into something much more profound, his character's souls. He creates a world in which the reader can inhabit and truly experience. Due to its originality, and Clive Barker's writing ability, I would recommend this book to any fan of horror novels.

Unlike his other novels that mixed fantasy with science fiction with horror with erotica, this novel is a book about pure horror. Barker throws away his fantasy tricks and brings us a book about evil incarnate. I have read many of Barker's works and I love all of them, but this was by far the best. I LOVED IT!!!!! Stephen King will never be de-throned, but this book is comparable to the master of the macabre. King may be the King of horror, but after reading this book Barker IS the prince!!!! A MUST READ!!!!

Clive Barker always puts out good, original, quality books. The Damnation Game is no exception. Being so descriptive, the book came alive, and I could see the scenes in my head.
If you're looking for a great horror story, this should definately be on your purchase list. Great plot and action, and the main characters aren't your typical good-guy heros (an inmate, a heroin-addicted young woman, and her rich father). I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because it's a great read, but I do believe his Books of Blood was better.

Reading throught this book I couldn't help but think of this more as an adult, modern day, Huck-Fin adventure than a horror story. There were gross bits of course. But along with this came a lot of fantasy, and a belief in the main character that I couldn't shake. I enjoyed this book overall, and I can't wait to dig my teeth into more of the author's more fantastical books.
An another note, Barker's sex scenes are much better than King's. Every time a sex scene come's up in a King novel, I say "Oh God, not again."

Had I read Galilee or The Great & Secret Show prior to Damnation Game I would have never been a Barker fan for any other reason but the Hellraiser movies. In fact, it was because of those movies I sought out and read Damnation Game back in the early '90s when it was originally published.

Do yourself a favor if you're new to Barker - Read his early stuff like Damnation Game or The Books of Blood. Anything written thereafter is like eating carb free bread. You keep waiting to taste something of substance but it's all air.

I started with Imajica , which pales in comparison to t The Stand and The Talisman even though the story is more complex than both of those. After reading Damnation Game,, I'm starting to wonder if Barker can carry a Theme all the way through. He's wonderful at creating an amazing topic and subperb at giving horrific details of events, But this book, like Imajica left me wondering, WHY???? he seems to take another great story and makes it pointless by the time you finish the book. This is my third read from him and I have two other books I need to read. They better get better or Mr.Barker won't get anymore purchases from me.

Damnation Game
This is a very nice horror story easily one of the finest horror novels I've ever read. It's not a very easy story to explain to someone I wouldn't recommend it to somebody unless they truly want to read a horrifying story that I would highly recommend to virtually any horror fan. From beginning to end it entertains the characters are very well written and it's just a fun story that just gets better as it goes on.
It has very bizarre moments in it but very cool visuals as well. For instance there is a talking fly in it and woman who doesn't even know she's dead yet! There are other parts that are equally bizarre and horrifying but I don't want to give too much away. I love how the characters deal with the situations I just like how it's written. I can't really say anything bad about it. Because there'' a little bit of everything in it. Excellent story telling, very good characters and very horrifying scenes. This is easily a 5 star book and I recommend it to anybody who loves a good old-fashioned horror story.
Zombie Claus

Well, I just finished reading this book last night, and I have to say that I'm very impressed. This is my second trip into the imagination of Clive Barker, my first being The Hellbound Heart, and neither were a disappointment.
The book starts off at a slow pace, but Barker's unique writing style really draws you in. After the first hundred or so pages I started to get a few chills down my spine, but it was nothing compared to, say, a Stephen King novel.
Barker saves the best for last however, during the last 50 pages of the book. When the the barrier in the protagonist's mine breaks, yours does as well, letting in all the darkness coming off of the pages and forcing you to read at a faster pace every word so that you can reach the ending.
The ending is an absolute shock, filled with utter insanity and gore, one that kept me up at night in, not only fear, but wonder.
I suggest this book to any horror fan.

Folks, don't eat before reading this book. It truly made me sick to my stomach. I am truly amazed at the way Clive Barker can describe gore...This is the first book of his that I have read, and I was not all that impressed. The plot is really choppy, and at times it really drags. However, it is absolutley unique, and when it actually get s scary, it is SCARY. Barker sure does have imagination, but the book could have been written better.

A FANTASTIC BOOK, NOT OF THE SAME MOLD AS BARKERS LATER FANTASY NOVELS BUT PURE HORROR TOLD WITH INTELLIGENCE. ONE OF THE FEW BOOKS I'VE READ THAT COULD REALLY ESTABLISH ITS OWN RHYTHM AND MOOD, A TONE LIKE NO OTHER, NOT SOME COOKIE CUTTER HORROR GARBAGE LIKE KOONTZ OR MCCAMMON. THIS WILL SATISFY ANY FAN OF THE GENRE WHO HAS GONE UNFULFILLED FOR TOO LONG. WHY THERE HASN'T BEEN A MOVIE IS A MYSTERY TO ME, WHAT'S FRIEDKIN DOING LATELY?

The Damnation game is a roller coaster of terror. It contains some of Barker's most disturbing visions. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a millionare tycoon with the world at your feet? Who hasn't, but Barker puts a new spin on this old fantasy. Here the promise of power and riches comes with a terrible price and at a tremendous risk, yet the promise is real for those who dare to play the damnation game. After the close of WW2, in the fog shrouded rubble, Europe is a nightmare. In this blasted place there are no rules and no rulers. In this horrible setting one man, a thief has come to test his considerable skills against the master of life's darkest game. Years later another thief is released from prison and has been enlisted to serve an old dying man. This is no ordinary elderly man for he is one of the richest men on earth and the price of his wealth is about to come calling. Containing one of the vilest villians in literary history, the Damnation Game is a ghoulish feast for the senses.

I found this book when looking for a Clive Barker fix. I like his work a lot and loved Imajica and Weaveworld. This book is a new release of his first, or one of his first, and it should never have seen the light of day. There is an interesting premise (although he never delivers on the Faustian theme in the pretentious introduction) but the book degenerates into a series of "top that" scenes of virulent and unnecessary gore and violence. Barker's work always includes gore but they usually advance characterization and plot. The characters in Damnation Game are thinly developed and the plot winds around and around, never getting anywhere. I regularly fell asleep while I was reading it, which should have been a clue that I should have just stopped. I rarely give up on a book but I should have given up on this one. I find it amusing that the first "expert" review of it on the the store site was written by an anesthesiologist. The ending seems as though he just decided to stop writing.

MORE LIKE ****1/2 STARS

This is Clive's first full-length book (he had already written several short stories which were published as 'Books Of Blood' [those are highly recommended as well!])

A lot of people got turned on to Mr. Barker by way of Stephen King's recommendation, and at the time this book was first written (1985), horror novels were fed to the public in insatiable amounts. The eighties were a glorious time for horror fans as King, Barker, Saul and Koontz stalked the print-world and Jason, Michael and Freddy ruled cinema.

Mr. Barker does an excellent job of really describing the situations and worlds/locations around the main characters. There's a lot of european settings and I felt transposed to those areas by his vivid imagination. I could see the gray skies and smell the thick, smoky air. Clive says one of his influences is Poe, and it's easy to see why.

I hate spoilers, and there will not be one here...so, the story centers around a man, Marty Strauss who gets an early pardon from prison contingent upon him working for a client named Joseph Whitehead. This position is one that not only surprises Marty, but exceeds his wildest dreams (and nightmares). Whitehead needs Marty, as he is an expert/addicted gambler. But what does he need him for??

Other characters include Bill Toy - Whitehead's "bodyguard", Carys - Whitehead's drug-addled daughter, Tom and Chad - two overly eager religious minions, and more varied alive characters.

Barker admits in his intro that this story is Faustian based - one of selling souls to evil (or the devil) in return for great wealth, power and immortality.

As far as a first book goes...THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!!! At only 433 pages, it's not quite as long as some of his other works, but certainly one of his best.

Truly great. Although I love King, Barker is far superior in nearly everything. The Damnation Game, one of his best, is the story of marty strauss, convict and ex-boxer, hired randomly as the bodygaurd for a very private millionare/ gambler, Joseph Whitehead, who owes a mysterious and frightening debt to a man known only as Mamoulian. Athough he doesn't know it, Marty is hired to protect Whitehead from this Mamoulian, an undefeated gambler. Read this flawless book to find out what happens.

The Damnation Game surpasses any other of Barker's novels, including the phantasmagoric "Weaveworld", because of its graphic attention to the decay of the protangonists...Instead of it being a story about a man who lost a bet with the the Devil, this man lost a bet with a man who wishes he was the Devil, making him even more challenging to battle.

The opening of The Damnation Game is immediately engaging, with Barker painting a poetic vision of decay in post-WW2 Warsaw and introducing us to two characters we immediately want to know more about. The rest of the novel does not quite live up to this wonderful opening chapter, despite being consistently interesting and containing a number of suspenseful sections. Barker's unique, intoxicating style of near-psychedelic imagery is present throughout the book as well. The ending is somewhat ambigious, but this is not neccesarilly a flaw, though some readers might be dissapointed that some issues remain unrevealed. I myself didn't mind this aspect. So what is bad about the book? Nothing really, it's a good book, but overall it just lacks the mesmerizing spark of brilliance that I found in books like Imagica and The Great and Secret Show. Nevertheless, I reccomend it.

Clive Barker; the Legend that will prevail forever - has yet another time brought us what we need - an excellent story of deprevation, damnation, love and craving.
The Damnation Game has it all; all you'd ever expect from a horror story.
Horrific in detail, both bloody and in characterisation of the people involved - it never cease to amaze me, and trust me on this, I'veread the book well past 20 times.
My reccomendation is; buy this book, Mr. Mamoulian and Mr. Whitehead will have you paralyzed for days.
And I reccomend you buy it here -...(this website) just ROCKS!
(when you've read it, you'll know why my name is The Last European - the in-crowd will know instantly ;) Sincerly,
Mamoulian.

After reading this book, I almost can't believe that it's the same author that wrote Weaveworld and The Hellbound Heart! What started out as an interesting novel with a great and creative concept, was slowly dragged, and dragged, and dragged on WAY TOO LONG until it's creativity soon fizzled out. Honestly, if I were writing this book I would have chopped several hundred pages off the end of it. It's as though he through in a bunch of filler just to have a nice, thick novel to show off. Skip it! And skip Coldheart Canyon too!

Clive Barker supercedes the attempts of other pop horror writer, by tomenting the real and imagined areas in your brain by somehow transporting them to a playing field all his own to give us, his readers, an glimpse into the treasures of his mind.

This was my second extended trip with Mr. Barker. I fell in love with his work right after the Books of Blood trilogy. This book did nothing to halt the throws of passion. I felt, smelled, tasted, saw, and heard everything that he was describing. The visions of horror (The Razor Eater coming to grips with his condition), the Faust like plot (the card game), and all that followed, held me in it's greasy yet warm and loving hand. King can only hope to learn from this modern day Renaissance Man. A must read.

Beautiful and dark, as I would expect from Mr. Barker. I have read everything else this man has written. I put this one off for many years because I figured as an early attempt at the novel for Clive, this would fall short of my expectations. I need not have worried. If you are a Clive Barker fan, don't miss out. If you are not a fan, you probably should be. Give this one a try.

The Damnation Game is an exceedingly frustrating, inconsistent book. Some of the writing is terrible; some parts brilliant. The characters are deep, the next shallow, their actions properly motivated then not. They are as inconsistent in their emotions, convictions, and devotions. Likewise, the pacing fluctuates. The book starts out BAM! in a cleverly disguised prologue. That prologue is ATTENTION-GRABBING and it leaves you hanging. The book then fast-forwards from the ATTENTION-GRABBING past to the not so attention-grabbing present and while the present starts out all right, the MC does not quite capture the reader's imagination. You don't really care about him and sadly that doesn't truly change. Ditto for all the characters.

Back to the pacing...it slows and slows until you feel like you're walking in waist-deep mud. The book picks up speed again towards the end where the climax builds and builds and then...

The book peters out.

There is an end after the End, an epilogue not nearly so clever as the prologue and devoid of any real suspense. No suspense; therein is the major problem with the Damnation Game.

From the beginning, this book grips readers and doesn't let go. Reading this book was one of the best experiences of my life. I loved the dark tone, graphic detail, and awesome ending. Clive Barker knows the dark side of human mind very well, and he lets all hell rip loose here. I know I will take some scenes from this book to my grave.

Adventure, horror, suspense & the supernatural - this book has got it all! Barker's power of description has the effect of watching a movie in your head. You will become emotionally invested in the characters. Men & women alike will love this book!

Slow, dry, boring writing. winded.
I was thinking of doing an inter-library loan for Weaveworld after seeing all the 5 stars (and not caring for gorey stories) but figured I'd try this first just to see if I liked his style. Glad I did. Forget it.