Necessary Evil by
Shaun Hutson
pbk out March 05
(Time Warner)
at £5.99
Shaun Hutson has been writing professionally for more than twenty years. His
horror stories have earned him the title of 'Godfather of Gore'. Necessary Evil is
categorised as a thriller, rather than a horror story. But it fills me with horror.
A no-doubt cleverly scribed work in the genre of horror, it targets those who
like plenty of gore and not a lot of characterisation. It dwells lovingly on the details
of weaponry and the effects guns have on the human body. It graphically describes
bodies torn apart by all sorts of means. It throws in the odd gratuitous car chase and
crash, not caring about what innocent bodies may be strewn in its wake. The
characters are hard, cleft-chinned individuals with little reality attached to them. Our
hero is a thief who professes to rob without hurting anyone, but still carries an
armoury of deadly guns when he goes out on a job. Not a lot of conscience there then.
Of course, the story is improbable, involving our hero crossing the UK
government picking up on a Saddam Hussein project to create automaton warriors
with super-strength. I don't know how it panned out, because I didn't believe it to
begin with. And I didn't care how it ended.
Well-crafted, gruesome trash. Go and see a Rambo movie instead, it'll take up less of
your time.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
Necessary Evil by
Shaun Hutson
