What is it about Greg F Gifune that makes me want to write a review, spread his fame and share his innermost thoughts and feelings with the rest of the world. First can I say if you are a lover of dark fiction and have never heard of Greg (where have you been!) then you are in for a treat, a treat that is not always an easy ride, a treat with no happy ending, and a treat that contains a collection of tormented souls who will never attain nirvana and who face each day full of regret and misunderstanding….welcome to the darkside!

Lenny Gates a failed part time actor, living with an alcoholic girlfriend, is surprised when he receives information that his student love Sheena has died leaving all possessions to him. He sets out to investigate why this should be and is drawn deep into a nightmare of epic proportions. Sheena had discovered something, had unleashed something, never meant for it to happen but was afraid it could not now be stopped. It is the way that Gifune writes, more than the story itself, that makes Judas Goat a memorable journey into the mind of a lost soul full of regret and remorse…

“Fighting with everything he had to keep his mounting terror at bay, Lenny backed into a corner of the room and slowly sank to the floor. He wrapped his arms around himself and stared at the lamp. Its light provided some comfort, but the paranoia and fear were winning. ..Lenny watched the glow for what seemed hours, clinging desperately to whatever bits of control remained. He felt like a helpless child lost at sea and struggling to remain above water. No matter how hard he fought, eventually he’d slip beneath the surface and die. He knew this, yet he continued to struggle. Had it not been quite so hopeless, he might’ve claimed it valiant. But the doomed had no such luxuries. He told himself he would not sleep could not sleep-but eventually did just that. As the waves overtook him, he swallowed night and spiralled down through liquid darkness to all that waited for him. There, in the horrifying depths of his own torment”

The author treats the reader with respect and lays before him prose that allow him to question his own moralities and beliefs..”But one thing I do know is that we’ll never be alive again like we are right now. It’ll all be yesterdays and memories before you know it. And we’ll both look back and give anything to be young and free again just for a day, an hour. No matter what happens, good or bad, we’ll never feel this indestructible again”

I think “Judas Goat” is an inspired name for this book…”It’s a trained animal slaughterhouses and farmers use. It leads animals onto trucks or platforms and into pens, that kind of thing. It also leads them to slaughter. It betrays its own kind. You know, as in Judas Iscariot?” When Lenny last saw Sheena he would never commit and he left her when she was most vulnerable, now this inheritance she has bequeathed to him may become his Judas Goat.

So Lenny travels to Trapper Falls to confront his destiny and he is helped along this path by two memorable characters…Officer Meadows and his annoying scratching habit “Lenny was sorry he’d called the police in the first place. Meadows had been annoying enough, but what the hell was this incessant scratching about? Did he have lice?” and lets not forget big mean Gus Garvin the mad wielding Axe Man “ At close range the man smelled like he hadn’t bathed in eons. It’s ok, Lenny told him, fighting an urge to block his nose, you can put the ax down. I’m a friend….Without warning Gus lunged for him and swung the ax!.

So a highly enjoyable read by one of my favourite dark fiction authors who continues to probe the deeper recesses of the human mind and by doing so produce some magnificent storytelling.

Gary McMahon the thinking man's horror

Ok Gary bring it on...and boy have you brought it on!..just look at this for a bit of teasing and snaring the unprotected reader into a nightmare world of his darkest dreams..."It was exactly the kind of place they needed to heal their wounds, a quiet, almost lazy backwater where everyone knew everyone else's business but nobody really bothered to interfere" So you are curious we have just met a lovely sweet scented family Robert, Sarah and some wonderful kids Connor and cute little Molly but we the reader are told they need to heal their wounds...you are snared...you want to know more!!...a lovely little appetizer Gary :) So the story of this middle class family unfolds and we learn a little more about the tormented Sarah "She was beautiful. He had never stopped thinking so, even as she lay in a north London hospital bed, her face swollen and bruised and those full lips shredded by her attackers cheap gold rings" This family is wounded but they are a unit, a fighting family unit and have taken the decision to move up country to Battle (nice play on that word) to a new home and a new life only to find their dreams shattered by an evil moulded and created from the mean streets of Hell...the Corbeaus...and just before battle commences probably the greatest and most memorable line in the book is spoken "He could almost hear their laughter as the skin of the world began to slowly unpeel"

No life is ideal and no family is perfect and in a world of good and evil "you try to retain a sense of purity within the sanctity of your family, to do your best to keep the tide of filth at bay" Robert Miller is a duplicitous character, he purports to be a man of honour, and yet he has a somewhat unenviable core, he loves to delve into the low seedy life and has an attraction for short affairs and sexual adventures with ladies of the night...are we all not a little like this? I purely pose the question and suggest nothing is what it seems...At the core of this story the Corbeaus are the lowest of the low, the scum of society we fear, the embodiment of our darkest dreams and they exist in every part and facet of our lives and we use our best endeavours to avoid and ignore their very existence..their world is "littered with detritus: fast-food cartons, beercans, condoms, wooden crates, pages torn from pornographic magazines, and, oddly, cut flowers. The stems of the flowers were dry and brittle, and the petals had been scattered across the grubby carpet in decorative arcs. The room smelled bad, like backed-up sewage pipes." The Corbeaus were Robert's very own demons and wanted him dead...unless he could take the fight to them. Welcome to the underbelly of the world! "We're the flipside," said a soft, low voice from behind and somewhere off to his left. "We're the underside. We're the nightside. And we're never. Going. Away".......
A fantastic achievement by Mr McMahon, a brilliant, thought provoking and highly intelligent story by a British author mastering and developing his trade.

Articulate and intelligent short story

A fantastic thoughtful, articulate and highly readable short story by an author I have only recently discovered. From the opening paragraph..."Charlie Parkinson woke sometime in the middle of the night. He knew the fancy alarm clock Selina had given him last Christmas would be shouting the time in bright red numerals, but he didn't open his eyes....He didn't have to. He knew it would be 4.42 am"...go on admit it you are hooked! Why is Charlie so fascinated with 4.42...and why is he unable to sleep? Charlie is a photographer and his dreams direct him to photo opportunities that are tragic events in the making. Charlie's wife Selina is dying of cancer and he is completely unaware, equally his relationship with his daughter Rebecca is marred by..."He knew that he didn't notice because that's just the kind of person he was. Selfish. Only noticed things that directly affected him" The essence of a really good book is the ability of the author to plant his story within the mind of his reader...to make him think, to make him take that story and carry it with him and not only to enjoy but to learn from it... Charlie is selfish he ignores and therefore is unable to understand his family, and later with the offering of fame and riches for his work... " The Japanese would love them, Janis said. And the Brazilians. And her American regulars. Let's not forget them...What happened was the more than three million bucks he would be taking home from his death shots"....he is ignorant and unaware of the tragic events unfolding around him. Ultimately this is a story of loss and of the ability to grasp what is important to oneself as we travel through a life filled with opportunity and tragedy. A magical and important read for those who enjoy great story telling with deep emotional intelligence.

Brutal, godless journey into the mind of a psycho!

Stunning, brutal and not for the faint hearted...but if you like your horror on the extreme then come right in the waters warm!! At the end of the book there is a lovely quote which to me puts this story into some kind of perspective..." I didn't know why. Because everyone has a purpose, right? Because we're all part of God's master plan, a master plan that lets evil men take away the lives of innocent people, that lets some of us live while our friends and loved ones die before our eyes. Or maybe because God's just up there rolling some dice, using us as tokens in a universal board game. Or maybe it's bad luck, or maybe it's good luck, or maybe shit just happens and you deal with it. Or maybe the dice are loaded so your number never comes up, or maybe the game is fixed. Who knows?"... What is so amazing and diverse is the way this story starts out as a faint stroll...two friends Roger and Tooth enjoying the summer just partaking in a little target practice (although I did wonder at there somewhat crazy antics with a 44 magnum)Just before the action really kicks off, Roger contemplates how simple the act of murder is "I hefted the gun while he went and put the can back on the limb. When he was walking back he pretended to dodge bullets. And that was the first moment in my life I scared myself, because I felt how easy it would be to shoot someone in the head, dump the body in the woods, and walk away scot-free. The simplicity of it shook me...Or maybe Id just read too many comics.."

A simple act, a single moment can change our lives and for our two would be heroes that moment comes when they hear the screams of a woman, go to investigate and meet Skinny Man..from this moment on we are faced with butchery and brutality on an unprecedented level which makes for difficult yet essential reading. I think the brutality smoothly blended with Ryan C Thomas's depiction of good and evil and there is a certain justice in the conclusion that will most certainly leave the reader content and glad that he took the ride...but be warned this is a difficult read and in my mind of the best books of this type of horror I have ever read...enjoy but keep your doors tightly locked at night :)