The Scarlet Gospels

March 23, 2015
Harry D’Amour, the psychically sensitive detective from Barker’s Books of Blood, faces off with Pinhead, the sadistic Cenobite star of the Hellraiser series, in this gory battle royal that takes the reader literally to hell and back. Following a blood-spattered prologue that sets the tone for the rest of the novel, Pinhead—here portrayed as a demon residing in hell—lures D’Amour and his entourage of mortal sidekicks to the infernal realm to serve as “witness” to what the demon calls “my gospels”: a succession of gruesome atrocities whose purpose is revealed in the tale’s outrageous climax. Barker’s depiction of hell is Dantesque in scope and scale, and his descriptions of its architecture and denizens form an awesomely creative display of imagination. The visceral horrors that clot nearly every page of this novel are not for the squeamish, but the reader who stomachs them to the end will be impressed by the audacity of the author’s ambitions.

March 15, 2015
Horror master Barker (Absolute Midnight, 2011, etc.) brings down the lights on two of his most enduring creations: the Cenobite hell priest Pinhead and private eye Harry D'Amour. This long-awaited final chapter about characters that inspired the films of the Hellraiser series and Lord of Illusions may or may not satisfy the intense fan anticipation, but it's still a hell of a spectacle. The novel opens as a group of magicians have resurrected one of their comrades from the dead. When Pinhead arrives to kill him again, he warns, "You are the last. After you, there'll be no more games. Only war." The survivors are massacred (except for one who becomes Pinhead's slave), complete with gleefully gory descriptions of corporeal punishment. Meanwhile, Harry D'Amour is in New Orleans at the request of his blind friend, Norma Paine, who can speak to ghosts. While covering up a sex den for one of Norma's deceased clients, Harry discovers a Lament Configuration-those would be the creepy puzzle boxes you might remember from Hellraiser or Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart (1986). This attracts Pinhead, who has now been banished from his order. Pinhead declares that Harry must bear witness to his "sublime labor" and write in his gospels of all the carnage to follow. To trigger Harry's role in his final play, Pinhead kidnaps Norma and drags her to hell, forcing Harry and three friends to follow the demon into the breach. Once in the inferno, the ragtag band must navigate monsters, deadly fog, and the scorched landscape to follow their quarry to his final conflagration. This is graphic horror on a gargantuan scale but with some great character beats, too. When Harry growls, "This is between me and Pinfuck," it's a fist-in-the-air moment for Barker's patient and passionate fans. Perhaps not the best jumping-on point into Barker's twisted universe, but a fun, gory roller-coaster ride for horror fans and a worthy ending for an iconic villain.

May 15, 2015
Horror master Barker brings together two of his iconic characters, Cenobite hell-priest Pinhead and occult detective Harry D'Amour, in this long-awaited epic that ranges from the dark corners of New York to the pits of hell. Barker sets the tone immediately as he launches into his unique brand of abhorrent violence, depicting Pinhead ravaging a group of human magicians to find the keys to their power. Harry D'Amour has been battling demons for 20 years, and when he is called to a hidden apartment to destroy the evidence of a dead magician, he is surprised by Pinhead, and their strange and malevolent dance begins. Pinhead kidnaps D'Amour's longtime confidant, blind psychic Norma Paine, prompting Harry and his band of cohorts to travel to hell to rescue her. Barker's depiction of hell is surreal, vicious, oddly logical (there's a cruel but orderly political hierarchy), and somehow strangely compelling, The repulsive if perversely glorious viciousness is offset by quip-heavy dialogue and humor from D'Amour's crew. This one's a must for bloodthirsty horror fans everywhere. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A 200,000 first printing assures that Barker's latest bucket of blood will be spilled far and wide.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2014

Barker's first adult novel since 2007 brings back Hellraiser icons Harry D'Amour and unimaginably evil Pinhead. It's their final showdown, and whatever the outcome, Barker has announced (spoiler alert) that Pinhead has reached the end of the road. The original Hellraiser is getting a remake, and Boom! Studios is launching a new "Hellraiser" comic book miniseries.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2015

Two characters from Barker's early work--former cop Harry D'Amour from his novel Everville and Pinhead, the demonic Cenobite from the Hellraiser films and Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart--face off in a blood-soaked return to the author's horror roots. Supernatural investigator Harry goes after Pinhead when the creature kidnaps his friend Norma and takes her to hell. Pinhead desires a witness to his plans to destroy his own order and confront Lucifer himself. VERDICT Not for the squeamish, this novel will best appeal to fans of Hellraiser, with callbacks to other films in the series and the book that inspired it. It's enormously violent, both with straight-up gore and scenes of fairly extreme sexual depravity, but fans have been waiting for the return of these characters for years. [See Prepub Alert, 11/24/14.]

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.