John Farris – When Michael Calls

John Farris – When Michael Calls (New English Library, 1970)

“How could a series of phone calls… terrorize an entire community and lead to murder? Well, for one thing, because Michael Young was supposed to have died sixteen years ago. Who was calling then? Was it some fiendish prank, perhaps one of the boys from the nearby school for disturbed children? To Helen Connelly it seemed uncannily like the voice of the nephew she remembered so well. Besides, this Michael, whoever or whatever he might be, knew things about her that only the real Michael could have known!”

Thanks to Calenture  for the cover scan & Steve Goodwin for the blurb

John Farris – Minotaur

John Farris – Minotaur (New English Library, 1985)

Blurb:

Near-naked, flagrantly male, the Minotaur loomed out of the dark places of Greek mythology. Roaring, bull-headed, the creature advanced. The razor-sharp Cretan axe swung murderously, slicing through the air, through flesh, through bone.

One by one its enemies died.

Out of the past too came the plague – long-dormant seeds awakening to destroy. The victims would be legion, their deaths horrible.

Yet behind the killing lay a plan, a purpose.

A malign twentieth-century intelligence was calling up this hideous visitation.

‘Farris is one of the giants of contemporary psychological horror’ – Peter Straub

John Farris – The Uninvited

John Farris – The Uninvited (New English Library, 1984)

Blurb:

Suddenly the man was there, frozen in the pale beam of her headlights. The high white banks of piled snow channelled the car on to him with a sickening, shuddering inevitability. But in the seemingly flash-lit split second of still certainty before impact, two facts registered.

The man was naked. Naked and horribly familiar. She was staring at the stripped, perfect body of her former fiance Ned.

Except that he was dead already. Had been tragically killed in a car crash a full year ago.

At once there came the shock of the impact. An impact that did not wake her from her nightmare, that, instead, drove her and her family deeper into a waking trance of terror.

‘… one of the giants of contemporary psychological horror. The evil in THE UNINVITED is utterly convincing’ – Peter Straub

First Nel edition, 1984

John Farris – The Captors

John Farris – The Captors (NEL, August 1971)

First published in the USA by Trident Press, 1969
First NEL hardback edition 1970
First NEL paperback edition August 1971

John Farris - The Captors

Love this cover for some reason.

Some uncertainty initially as to whether The Captors should, strictly speaking, be included on the list of NEL Horrors. The back cover describes it as “an original spine-tingler” – “The story concerns the abduction of Carol Watterson. What was the point of the kidnapping? Was it someone’s idea of a joke? As the reader will find out to his horror, the outcome of this chilling new suspense novel is no laughing matter.”

Hmm, mystery & suspense..?

If in doubt, let’s have a look at an extract…

“He sat up with a gruesome strained elegance like an aged man welcoming sickroom visitors. The rain had partly cleansed his face but there were dark gobbets of blood everywhere. Blood had come from the ear suspended Dali-like and obscenely auditory by a scrap of tough gristle; from the steep gash which exposed pearly teeth deep in his jaw; from multiple stab wounds and a cut throat. He tried valiantly to speak to her. But obviously his vocal cords had been severely damaged, or sliced in two…”

Spine-tingling horror… ears suspended by scraps of gristle… severed vocal cords…

…sounds OK to me.

Steve Goodwin