Monday, August 1, 2011

Skin Medicine by Tim Curran, A Bloody, Disturbing Horror Novel

Skin Medicine, written by Tim Curran, is a great gothic horror fiction: a wide range of horror elements can be found in the novel, from Lovecraftian atmosphere and plot to blood-soaked, disturbing graphic violence that recalls Edward Lee – readers even get a glimpse of the Civil War times and a gory wild West.



At the beginning of the story two men transport a coffin of a dead man in a wagon to Whisper Lake; the year is 1882. During their journey in the night, they experience something strange and frightening with the body. When the coffin at last reaches its destination, a local man tries to enbalm the corpse – and the next day he is found dead, whilst the dead man is not found at all.
Seven months later Tyler Cabe, once a Confederation soldier, came to the said town to find a serial killer the Sin City Strangler who murders prostitutes (and indulges in atrocities like dismembering them and eating their flesh). The sheriff of the town, Dirker, is a former Union soldier; he and Cabe has already met before, and their memories are bitter. Other townspeople are not much nicer: the brother of the murdered undertaker wants to lead a vigilante group against a Mormon community; whilst a trouble-making denizen Virgil Clay attacks Cabe – he defends himself, but the enraged father of Clay wants to avenge his son’s death…
In the meanwhile, the passenger of the coffin, James Lee Cobb, murders the residents of a nearby mining town Sunrise. Now is the time for Dirker and Cabe to ally in order to save the inhabitants of Deliverance – those few who are still alive.

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