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Hellraiser #3
The Scarlet Gospels
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Horror (2015)The New York Times bestseller from Clive Barker, who brings his extraordinary universes of Hellraiser and Lord of Illusions together in a masterpiece of dark fantastic horror.
The Scarlet Gospels takes readers back many years to the early days of two of Barker's most iconic characters in a battle of good and evil as old as The long-beleaguered detective Harry D'Amour, investigator of all supernatural, magical, and malevolent crimes faces off against his formidable, and intensely evil rival, Pinhead, the priest of hell.
Barker devotees have been waiting for The Scarlet Gospels with bated breath for years, and it's everything they've begged for and more. Bloody, terrifying, and brilliantly complex, fans and newcomers alike will not be disappointed by the epic, visionary tale that is The Scarlet Gospels . Barker's horror will make your worst nightmares seem like bedtime stories. The Gospels are coming. Are you ready?
Readers can get more Pinhead from the direct to video Judgment movie coming February 2018.
The Scarlet Gospels takes readers back many years to the early days of two of Barker's most iconic characters in a battle of good and evil as old as The long-beleaguered detective Harry D'Amour, investigator of all supernatural, magical, and malevolent crimes faces off against his formidable, and intensely evil rival, Pinhead, the priest of hell.
Barker devotees have been waiting for The Scarlet Gospels with bated breath for years, and it's everything they've begged for and more. Bloody, terrifying, and brilliantly complex, fans and newcomers alike will not be disappointed by the epic, visionary tale that is The Scarlet Gospels . Barker's horror will make your worst nightmares seem like bedtime stories. The Gospels are coming. Are you ready?
Readers can get more Pinhead from the direct to video Judgment movie coming February 2018.
361 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2015
945 people are currently reading
15825 people want to read
About the author
Clive Barker
734 books14.9k followersClive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker's second long-term relationship, with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.
In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.
Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.
Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,
In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.
Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.
Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.
Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.
Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.
A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,
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March 2, 2024
“The Scarlet Gospels” by Clive Barker brings an end to the Hellraiser trilogy and I have to admit, it was quite the reading experience. Unfortunately, it’s not the epic kind of reading experience I look for when it comes to a famous series but more on that in a bit.
Before I start my review, I found two trigger warnings while reading. They were…
- Suicide
- Rape
If either of these triggers you, please do not read this novel. Also, for anyone who wants to read the entire Hellraiser trilogy, it’s best to read them in this order…
The Hellbound Heart -> Hellraiser: The Toll -> The Scarlet Gospels
Moving along, right off the bat I knew this would at least be somewhat better than “Hellraiser: The Toll” since this was entirely written by Barker and not Mark Alan Miller. This novel's start was incredible and excited me for what would await.
It gave me a huge sigh of relief after the ordeal I went through with the second book. You see, “Hellraiser: The Toll” isn’t a sequel to “The Hellbound Heart” or even a prequel to this novel as it is advertised. It’s a sequel to the original Hellraiser movie and NOT the first book which was a huge letdown. I gave that novel a 1/5 because it was that terrible and honestly, you could easily skip that one and read the first entry and then this book and be just fine.
Anywho, the start of this was awesome thanks to the sheer horror of letting the Hell Priest (Pinhead) do his thing. All that sheer brutality, body horror, and gore brought me to my happy place. I felt this was a return to form for this trilogy and hopefully, would balance things out from that abysmal second entry.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The excellent and gory intro to open things up never continued that momentum throughout the novel. I love Barker’s overall writing skills since he is one of the best when it comes to body and torture horror but this novel started to fizzle out from the 10% mark on and that annoyed me.
It was going great, I was reading with joy then here comes Harry D'Amour. Caz. Felixson. Characters that felt out of place and just added so much fluff to this novel it irked me. Why Barker went in this direction is beyond comprehension.
It fizzled out big time once the novel went more in Harry’s direction and not enough with the Hell Priest. Seriously, there were so many wasted chapters on endless dialogue that were irritating most of the time, didn’t have that much horror, and ended up being a convoluted mess. I wanted more Hell Priest, not these characters with so much cheesy dialogue.
I would have preferred if this novel was more like the original one with brutal horror mixed in with dark fantasy and where everything bleeds into real life. This had major religious overtones with angels, demons, and Lucifer that spiraled out of control. I also hated how as I kept reading, the character arc of the Hell Priest went from beyond cool to a shell of what pure evil could have been. The ending was a massive letdown because it took all the air out of one of the most famous antagonists ever in horror novels.
Don’t worry, I won’t ruin anything for you but I feel this would have been a better book if it was solely focused on the Hell Priest. Either his origin story or in the aftermath of the original book and keep it strictly around that. I even think that “Hellraiser: The Toll” and “The Scarlet Gospels” would have been better off never being written and leaving “The Hellbound Heart” as a standalone piece since it ends in a way that makes it its own unique story that can stand the test of time. Everything wraps up nicely and could have been a one-off horror book masterpiece.
The Hellraiser movies take the entire franchise in a different direction and it's rumored that Barker despises what Hollywood did to his franchise. Who knows, maybe he wanted to end it on his terms even if it meant writing this in a lackluster way to focus on other books and projects. I also think waiting over 30 years to write this after the massive success of the original book was a mistake. The writing feels a bit off here and it wasn’t scary enough since it had nowhere near the same impact as the original.
I give “The Scarlet Gospels” by Clive Barker a 2/5 for being a bit better than “Hellraiser: The Toll” (which I gave a 1/5 to) but only thanks to the incredible opening and all the eventual Hell Priest scenes. Those were the only chapters I enjoyed as everything else felt weird, out of place, boring, and filled with too much fluff. It was too silly when it should have been a more serious novel around the franchise but sadly, this was another dud. I will have many fond memories of “The Hellbound Heart” and will only remember that whenever I hear the name Hellraiser.
Jesus wept indeed.
Before I start my review, I found two trigger warnings while reading. They were…
- Suicide
- Rape
If either of these triggers you, please do not read this novel. Also, for anyone who wants to read the entire Hellraiser trilogy, it’s best to read them in this order…
The Hellbound Heart -> Hellraiser: The Toll -> The Scarlet Gospels
Moving along, right off the bat I knew this would at least be somewhat better than “Hellraiser: The Toll” since this was entirely written by Barker and not Mark Alan Miller. This novel's start was incredible and excited me for what would await.
It gave me a huge sigh of relief after the ordeal I went through with the second book. You see, “Hellraiser: The Toll” isn’t a sequel to “The Hellbound Heart” or even a prequel to this novel as it is advertised. It’s a sequel to the original Hellraiser movie and NOT the first book which was a huge letdown. I gave that novel a 1/5 because it was that terrible and honestly, you could easily skip that one and read the first entry and then this book and be just fine.
Anywho, the start of this was awesome thanks to the sheer horror of letting the Hell Priest (Pinhead) do his thing. All that sheer brutality, body horror, and gore brought me to my happy place. I felt this was a return to form for this trilogy and hopefully, would balance things out from that abysmal second entry.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The excellent and gory intro to open things up never continued that momentum throughout the novel. I love Barker’s overall writing skills since he is one of the best when it comes to body and torture horror but this novel started to fizzle out from the 10% mark on and that annoyed me.
It was going great, I was reading with joy then here comes Harry D'Amour. Caz. Felixson. Characters that felt out of place and just added so much fluff to this novel it irked me. Why Barker went in this direction is beyond comprehension.
It fizzled out big time once the novel went more in Harry’s direction and not enough with the Hell Priest. Seriously, there were so many wasted chapters on endless dialogue that were irritating most of the time, didn’t have that much horror, and ended up being a convoluted mess. I wanted more Hell Priest, not these characters with so much cheesy dialogue.
I would have preferred if this novel was more like the original one with brutal horror mixed in with dark fantasy and where everything bleeds into real life. This had major religious overtones with angels, demons, and Lucifer that spiraled out of control. I also hated how as I kept reading, the character arc of the Hell Priest went from beyond cool to a shell of what pure evil could have been. The ending was a massive letdown because it took all the air out of one of the most famous antagonists ever in horror novels.
Don’t worry, I won’t ruin anything for you but I feel this would have been a better book if it was solely focused on the Hell Priest. Either his origin story or in the aftermath of the original book and keep it strictly around that. I even think that “Hellraiser: The Toll” and “The Scarlet Gospels” would have been better off never being written and leaving “The Hellbound Heart” as a standalone piece since it ends in a way that makes it its own unique story that can stand the test of time. Everything wraps up nicely and could have been a one-off horror book masterpiece.
The Hellraiser movies take the entire franchise in a different direction and it's rumored that Barker despises what Hollywood did to his franchise. Who knows, maybe he wanted to end it on his terms even if it meant writing this in a lackluster way to focus on other books and projects. I also think waiting over 30 years to write this after the massive success of the original book was a mistake. The writing feels a bit off here and it wasn’t scary enough since it had nowhere near the same impact as the original.
I give “The Scarlet Gospels” by Clive Barker a 2/5 for being a bit better than “Hellraiser: The Toll” (which I gave a 1/5 to) but only thanks to the incredible opening and all the eventual Hell Priest scenes. Those were the only chapters I enjoyed as everything else felt weird, out of place, boring, and filled with too much fluff. It was too silly when it should have been a more serious novel around the franchise but sadly, this was another dud. I will have many fond memories of “The Hellbound Heart” and will only remember that whenever I hear the name Hellraiser.
Jesus wept indeed.
June 10, 2015
I was disappointed. I’m not sure what I was expecting but this wasn’t it. Clive Barker often blends urban fantasy in with his horror but this time the horror was almost completely overshadowed by the urban fantasy aspect. There was blood, and hooks, and hell, but I can’t remember any moments that compare to the uncomfortable horror of The Hellbound Heart. My friend, Gregor, called it cartoonish and I think he nailed it.
I had two major complaints. The setting in hell didn’t work for me. I thought Hellraiser II was the cheesiest of the original trilogy because it took place in a literal hell and Scarlet Gospels does the same thing. In The Hellbound Heart, the cenobites are distinctly alien, beyond our understanding of heaven and hell, pain and pleasure. When asked their identity, a cenobite famously replies “angels to some, demons to others.” They are unknown and that’s what makes them awesome.
Here we have such a literal translation of hell and its occupants that Lucifer himself becomes a main character. It all got a bit silly by this point and I couldn’t take it seriously. The mystery was gone. It became the same hell I’ve read about in everything from The Bible to Paradise Lost. It’s been done. I got bored.
I also didn’t care for the use of the name “Pinhead.” In Hellraiser, that dude was cast as “lead cenobite.” Fans later gave him the name Pinhead. It works for fans who want to use cute humor. It doesn’t in the actual horror story. Super cheesy. Not scary. It pulls me out of the story and that's never fun.
If you want to see Gregor’s thoughts on the book you can check it out here -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I can’t guarantee he’ll ever finish reading it, though. Neither of us is exactly bursting with enthusiasm.
I had two major complaints. The setting in hell didn’t work for me. I thought Hellraiser II was the cheesiest of the original trilogy because it took place in a literal hell and Scarlet Gospels does the same thing. In The Hellbound Heart, the cenobites are distinctly alien, beyond our understanding of heaven and hell, pain and pleasure. When asked their identity, a cenobite famously replies “angels to some, demons to others.” They are unknown and that’s what makes them awesome.
Here we have such a literal translation of hell and its occupants that Lucifer himself becomes a main character. It all got a bit silly by this point and I couldn’t take it seriously. The mystery was gone. It became the same hell I’ve read about in everything from The Bible to Paradise Lost. It’s been done. I got bored.
I also didn’t care for the use of the name “Pinhead.” In Hellraiser, that dude was cast as “lead cenobite.” Fans later gave him the name Pinhead. It works for fans who want to use cute humor. It doesn’t in the actual horror story. Super cheesy. Not scary. It pulls me out of the story and that's never fun.
If you want to see Gregor’s thoughts on the book you can check it out here -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I can’t guarantee he’ll ever finish reading it, though. Neither of us is exactly bursting with enthusiasm.
May 17, 2020
Clive Barker is one of my favorite horror authors. There was a point where I was devouring everything I could get my hands on by him... and this book, this was going to be something special. You see, for years before publication, Barker talked about this book in practically every interview. It was going to be an epic, it was going to huge, it was going to a crossover sequel to several of his stories, tying multiple together. It was going to be something no one had ever seen before.
When it arrived I bought it day one and dived in. The opening was everything I could hope for. The triumphant return of Pinhead absolutely tearing his way through a group of people in detail. It was wonderful.
...
The rest of the book completely pissed me off.
Okay, that's a lie. There were good aspects, moments of hope where I thought "ah, here we go, Barker's going to turn this around." Repeatedly these moments fell on their metaphoric face, driving those pins even further in. There are so many hints throughout the narrative of a better book that was intended, that was nowhere near the one we got. Possibly most insulting is when Pinhead and Harry D'Amour meet and Pinhead tells him that he wants him to chronicle his campaign of hell and write his "Scarlet Gospel." Pinhead wants a narration that will show him as he is, both the positives and negatives an outsider would see. This... this sounds amazing. When this line hit, I literally say down the book, pondering the possibilities. I mean look at the title, this is what it had obviously been leading up to... how awesome is this? We're going to have Harry acting as almost a Dante like figure as Pinhead leads him through hell... oh wait, no, he refused the offer the next page.
...
...
...
What's the goddamn point? We were being lead towards this narrative plot point only for it to feel like Barker looked at it and said, "Yeah, that's cool... but that sounds hard. Let's take the easy path."
I hate the story we received after years of wait. Hell, I got rid of my copy, making it the only Barker book I don't have in my collection. It's been years since I've read it and I'm still annoyed every time it comes up. In fact, this book was almost the first one I reviewed on goodreads. It came out before I actively posted on goodreads, but I had an account and almost made a rage post. Fortunately I stopped myself from posting an incoherent rant then... now I can post an only semi-incoherent rant now instead.
Let me close with one last disappointment. When I say above that there are hints of a better book here, I genuinely believe that was the book Barker intended to write. At one point Barker sent a message out on the internet saying, "the 243,000 words of The Scarlet Gospels merely lacks a publisher." What we got is a significantly shorter work than that. What are we missing? Well, there are several scenes we know for a fact as Barker talked about them. You can find mentions in interviews throughout the years about how the holy grail would be in it. We were supposed to get a scene of Jesus at the crucifixion. There's mention of an encounter between Pinhead and a 12 year old Harry D'Amour... frankly, what's missing sound significantly more interesting than what we got.
Even if it's not, It couldn't be much worse in my opinion.
1/5 stars
When it arrived I bought it day one and dived in. The opening was everything I could hope for. The triumphant return of Pinhead absolutely tearing his way through a group of people in detail. It was wonderful.
...
The rest of the book completely pissed me off.
Okay, that's a lie. There were good aspects, moments of hope where I thought "ah, here we go, Barker's going to turn this around." Repeatedly these moments fell on their metaphoric face, driving those pins even further in. There are so many hints throughout the narrative of a better book that was intended, that was nowhere near the one we got. Possibly most insulting is when Pinhead and Harry D'Amour meet and Pinhead tells him that he wants him to chronicle his campaign of hell and write his "Scarlet Gospel." Pinhead wants a narration that will show him as he is, both the positives and negatives an outsider would see. This... this sounds amazing. When this line hit, I literally say down the book, pondering the possibilities. I mean look at the title, this is what it had obviously been leading up to... how awesome is this? We're going to have Harry acting as almost a Dante like figure as Pinhead leads him through hell... oh wait, no, he refused the offer the next page.
...
...
...
What's the goddamn point? We were being lead towards this narrative plot point only for it to feel like Barker looked at it and said, "Yeah, that's cool... but that sounds hard. Let's take the easy path."
I hate the story we received after years of wait. Hell, I got rid of my copy, making it the only Barker book I don't have in my collection. It's been years since I've read it and I'm still annoyed every time it comes up. In fact, this book was almost the first one I reviewed on goodreads. It came out before I actively posted on goodreads, but I had an account and almost made a rage post. Fortunately I stopped myself from posting an incoherent rant then... now I can post an only semi-incoherent rant now instead.
Let me close with one last disappointment. When I say above that there are hints of a better book here, I genuinely believe that was the book Barker intended to write. At one point Barker sent a message out on the internet saying, "the 243,000 words of The Scarlet Gospels merely lacks a publisher." What we got is a significantly shorter work than that. What are we missing? Well, there are several scenes we know for a fact as Barker talked about them. You can find mentions in interviews throughout the years about how the holy grail would be in it. We were supposed to get a scene of Jesus at the crucifixion. There's mention of an encounter between Pinhead and a 12 year old Harry D'Amour... frankly, what's missing sound significantly more interesting than what we got.
Even if it's not, It couldn't be much worse in my opinion.
1/5 stars
April 8, 2020
Compare this to the recent attempt by Stephen King to unearth previous cinematographic glories: drumroll.... they both sucked. With "Dr. Sleep" the maestro of the macabre (King) tried to inject some life into the story of "The Shining", which seemed to everyone (me especially) pretty much a closed case. But not so. Also, the Pinhead/Hellraiser resurrection seemed to be a safe bet at the time, & it ALMOST was. The descent into hell is scrumptious, true: the descriptions are as indispensable as anything the British Monarch of Gore ever wrote.
But let's remember that Barker has already written the BEST horror collection of ALL TIME (!!!!... The Books of Blood Vol. 1 through 3); the best children's fable gone phantasmagorical, this side of Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (with "The Thief of Always"); AND the most brilliant horror short EVER ("The Forbidden" upon which the Candyman movie's based). So he has nothing to prove. It DOES feel good to have one of his tomes in your grubby hands. But, c'mon dude! The end of the Hell Priest? A battle royale to rival anything in any of the Castlevania videogames?! Even the tepid "Mister B. Gone" inspires more grotesque tableaus than this one. Aww, shucks, I feel really bad for Pinhead...
But let's remember that Barker has already written the BEST horror collection of ALL TIME (!!!!... The Books of Blood Vol. 1 through 3); the best children's fable gone phantasmagorical, this side of Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (with "The Thief of Always"); AND the most brilliant horror short EVER ("The Forbidden" upon which the Candyman movie's based). So he has nothing to prove. It DOES feel good to have one of his tomes in your grubby hands. But, c'mon dude! The end of the Hell Priest? A battle royale to rival anything in any of the Castlevania videogames?! Even the tepid "Mister B. Gone" inspires more grotesque tableaus than this one. Aww, shucks, I feel really bad for Pinhead...
September 28, 2022
"He aquí mis evangelios, ellos contienen mis hechos y mi doctrina revelada"
-Pinhead.
En "Los evangelios escarlata", Clive Barker traslada al lector al más remoto rincón del infierno.
Una isla llamada Yapora Yariziac, (la última de todas las posibilidades), donde sus personajes más icónicos, un detective de lo oculto, Harry D’Amour y Pinhead de la Orden de la Incisión, se enfrentarán en una encarnizada lucha en la que se decidirá el destino de la Tierra, el cielo y el infierno.
Tanto los devotos de Barker como los fans de Hellraiser hallarán en esta novela mucha acción y sangre a raudales, un humor bastante oscuro pero sobretodo, la ferocidad y brutalidad del Barker más salvaje e iconoclasta.
Ni fanáticos, ni los recién llegados se sentirán decepcionados con la historia épica y visionaria, aterradora y brillantemente compleja narrada.
El horror en estado puro de Barker hará que vuestras peores pesadillas parezcan cuentos infantiles.
Harry es un personaje que está superado en todo momento. Barker crea y fuerza varias situaciones en las que desesperas. Se lo carga, se lo va a cargar.. 😲
Un esclavo de su irresistible prosa y personajes de la novela. Lo que no mola nada es ser esclavo de Pinhead.
El primer libro, "El Corazón Condenado" es el mejor para muchos, con razón, se trata de una gran historia. Marcó un antes y un después, sin embargo esta novela tiene lugar principalmente en las entrañas del infierno, me gustó más. Y la razón es de lo más sencilla. ¡Pinhead!.
El cenobita, un sacerdote del infierno.. Y aquí muestra un aspecto que no me esperaba..
Barker nos pone a prueba con un mundo de sombras, castigo y cuanto gore puede soportar uno. Hueles, sientes y padeces lo que él pobre Harry, entre otros, padece. Una infinidad de sufrimiento, criaturas y eventos inspiradores, pero debajo de todo estaba el profundo sentido de la magia, el aprendizaje y el descubrimiento.
Pinhead, un personaje que no deja indiferente a ningun lector “Nada de lágrimas, por favor. Es un desperdicio de buen sufrimiento”. Cada vez que aparece es un escalofrío.
Me dejó alucinado su alcance y ambición. No lo vi venir. Su camino me encantó. Con escenas que fueron jodidamente geniales.
Entretenido, si lo que te gusta de Hellraiser son los cenobitas, aquí tienes una mejor dosis que el primero. Un ritmo ágil. Una prosa de la mano de Baker muy adictiva, sabe cómo sumergirte en la historia y hacerte sentir todo. Algo que sólo él ha conseguido comigo a ese nivel. Clive Barker es un maestro del horror.
Delicias y placeres mayores os estan esperando. Todos vuestros miedos, vuestro dolor, todo es para ellos. No apto para corazones débiles y esponjosos..✍️
“Te mostraré un sufrimiento exquisito“
-Pinhead.
En "Los evangelios escarlata", Clive Barker traslada al lector al más remoto rincón del infierno.
Una isla llamada Yapora Yariziac, (la última de todas las posibilidades), donde sus personajes más icónicos, un detective de lo oculto, Harry D’Amour y Pinhead de la Orden de la Incisión, se enfrentarán en una encarnizada lucha en la que se decidirá el destino de la Tierra, el cielo y el infierno.
Tanto los devotos de Barker como los fans de Hellraiser hallarán en esta novela mucha acción y sangre a raudales, un humor bastante oscuro pero sobretodo, la ferocidad y brutalidad del Barker más salvaje e iconoclasta.
Ni fanáticos, ni los recién llegados se sentirán decepcionados con la historia épica y visionaria, aterradora y brillantemente compleja narrada.
El horror en estado puro de Barker hará que vuestras peores pesadillas parezcan cuentos infantiles.
Harry es un personaje que está superado en todo momento. Barker crea y fuerza varias situaciones en las que desesperas. Se lo carga, se lo va a cargar.. 😲
Un esclavo de su irresistible prosa y personajes de la novela. Lo que no mola nada es ser esclavo de Pinhead.
El primer libro, "El Corazón Condenado" es el mejor para muchos, con razón, se trata de una gran historia. Marcó un antes y un después, sin embargo esta novela tiene lugar principalmente en las entrañas del infierno, me gustó más. Y la razón es de lo más sencilla. ¡Pinhead!.
El cenobita, un sacerdote del infierno.. Y aquí muestra un aspecto que no me esperaba..
Barker nos pone a prueba con un mundo de sombras, castigo y cuanto gore puede soportar uno. Hueles, sientes y padeces lo que él pobre Harry, entre otros, padece. Una infinidad de sufrimiento, criaturas y eventos inspiradores, pero debajo de todo estaba el profundo sentido de la magia, el aprendizaje y el descubrimiento.
Pinhead, un personaje que no deja indiferente a ningun lector “Nada de lágrimas, por favor. Es un desperdicio de buen sufrimiento”. Cada vez que aparece es un escalofrío.
Me dejó alucinado su alcance y ambición. No lo vi venir. Su camino me encantó. Con escenas que fueron jodidamente geniales.
Entretenido, si lo que te gusta de Hellraiser son los cenobitas, aquí tienes una mejor dosis que el primero. Un ritmo ágil. Una prosa de la mano de Baker muy adictiva, sabe cómo sumergirte en la historia y hacerte sentir todo. Algo que sólo él ha conseguido comigo a ese nivel. Clive Barker es un maestro del horror.
Delicias y placeres mayores os estan esperando. Todos vuestros miedos, vuestro dolor, todo es para ellos. No apto para corazones débiles y esponjosos..✍️
“Te mostraré un sufrimiento exquisito“
July 26, 2015
Bless Clive Barker, but this book is red-hot molten shit.
Alright, so, real talk. Hellbound Heart is a good book. It is an exquisitely intimate description of grand desires. In it, Barker already showcases two things: 1) He does not know when to stop. The opening chapter where Frank winds up masturbating on the floor is so sleazy. It's a shame because 2) Barker is a tight as hell writer. The first half of any given chapter in his books is a solid gold brick. He's as uncompromising a writer as his monsters are in their cruelty. So here we have The Scarlet Gospels, his decades-in-the-making story where he returns to the character Pinhead from Hellbound Heart, intent on killing him off once and for all.
The opening chapter is about Pinhead dispatching a group of magicians who resurrected their dead friend to save them from Pinhead's fury. That doesn't work out too well. For dozens of pages, Pinhead tears these people apart, makes the woman pregnant and give birth, leave the child to rot, make a dude lick some mommy milk from the ground, engulf a dude in flesh-eating tiny worms and more. As the book goes on this amount of pain and destruction becomes miniscule. Around the halfway point our heroes duke it out with a group of demons Barker spends pages describing. One has a vagina that extends from groin to neck, and she uses "her flabby wings, prepared for any beating the world is willing to dish out" and it's just.... soooooo bad.
In his attempt to create his ultimate vision of depraved violence and monstrosities he has forgotten that fear isn't born out of the existence of millions of monsters. It comes from the possible existence of a single entity. This focus of placing numbers before quality also clashes with basically making Pinhead the second lead of the book. And it hurts him as a character. His arc is he's a dick and becomes a bigger dick. His aspirations are uninteresting and clear within the first chapters of the book. The rest is just execution as he destroys Hell to take it over. And man, I know Barker probably has no love for the Hellraiser-films aside from the first, but he really should have taken some cues from the hell displayed in Hellbound, because his own version of it is absolute trash. It's a bureaucratic landscape with working class people and forms to fill out. There is no mysticism to any of it because it's just our world with different looking buildings and people. I don't give a fuck about very hastily set-up governmental constructs in this fictional creation.
I think it says a lot about Barker's efficiency as a writer that easily the best part of the book is a brief sequence during which our lead battles Pinhead's minion in a crumbling house. It's tiny. It has action rather than Barker's long-winded descriptions of how pretty Pinhead's hell-armor is. The whole book just feels so trite. It reminds me of the awful 90s shock gore anime films. Wicked City, you know the stuff. But it's in book form and so long. In the way it seems to lack grand themes and proper motivations for it's characters it feels like badly written fanfic. Eager to showcase familiar characters in "extreme" and "sick" locations while bearing no mind to the overall picture.
In short I'm just really fucking bummed out about this book because it was coming for so long and it just... disappoints. In all the ways.
Alright, so, real talk. Hellbound Heart is a good book. It is an exquisitely intimate description of grand desires. In it, Barker already showcases two things: 1) He does not know when to stop. The opening chapter where Frank winds up masturbating on the floor is so sleazy. It's a shame because 2) Barker is a tight as hell writer. The first half of any given chapter in his books is a solid gold brick. He's as uncompromising a writer as his monsters are in their cruelty. So here we have The Scarlet Gospels, his decades-in-the-making story where he returns to the character Pinhead from Hellbound Heart, intent on killing him off once and for all.
The opening chapter is about Pinhead dispatching a group of magicians who resurrected their dead friend to save them from Pinhead's fury. That doesn't work out too well. For dozens of pages, Pinhead tears these people apart, makes the woman pregnant and give birth, leave the child to rot, make a dude lick some mommy milk from the ground, engulf a dude in flesh-eating tiny worms and more. As the book goes on this amount of pain and destruction becomes miniscule. Around the halfway point our heroes duke it out with a group of demons Barker spends pages describing. One has a vagina that extends from groin to neck, and she uses "her flabby wings, prepared for any beating the world is willing to dish out" and it's just.... soooooo bad.
In his attempt to create his ultimate vision of depraved violence and monstrosities he has forgotten that fear isn't born out of the existence of millions of monsters. It comes from the possible existence of a single entity. This focus of placing numbers before quality also clashes with basically making Pinhead the second lead of the book. And it hurts him as a character. His arc is he's a dick and becomes a bigger dick. His aspirations are uninteresting and clear within the first chapters of the book. The rest is just execution as he destroys Hell to take it over. And man, I know Barker probably has no love for the Hellraiser-films aside from the first, but he really should have taken some cues from the hell displayed in Hellbound, because his own version of it is absolute trash. It's a bureaucratic landscape with working class people and forms to fill out. There is no mysticism to any of it because it's just our world with different looking buildings and people. I don't give a fuck about very hastily set-up governmental constructs in this fictional creation.
I think it says a lot about Barker's efficiency as a writer that easily the best part of the book is a brief sequence during which our lead battles Pinhead's minion in a crumbling house. It's tiny. It has action rather than Barker's long-winded descriptions of how pretty Pinhead's hell-armor is. The whole book just feels so trite. It reminds me of the awful 90s shock gore anime films. Wicked City, you know the stuff. But it's in book form and so long. In the way it seems to lack grand themes and proper motivations for it's characters it feels like badly written fanfic. Eager to showcase familiar characters in "extreme" and "sick" locations while bearing no mind to the overall picture.
In short I'm just really fucking bummed out about this book because it was coming for so long and it just... disappoints. In all the ways.
June 26, 2015
Had I never read Clive Barker, and if I was not a huge fan of his work, I might have enjoyed this novel. However, being a huge fan of Barker's, The Scarlet Gospels was a major disappointment.
The Scarlet Gospels lacks passion and depth. The characters are not well-developed and we’re dependent on prior knowledge to provide any background. It's hollow. It's like a movie sequel, deficient the complexity of the original. It feels as if Barker handed off an outline to a ghostwriter and then signed his name to the project. The writing level, plotting and characterization are just not there.
I know he can do better!
The Scarlet Gospels lacks passion and depth. The characters are not well-developed and we’re dependent on prior knowledge to provide any background. It's hollow. It's like a movie sequel, deficient the complexity of the original. It feels as if Barker handed off an outline to a ghostwriter and then signed his name to the project. The writing level, plotting and characterization are just not there.
I know he can do better!
April 12, 2015
The Scarlet Gospels sees the long awaited return and a crusade to the heart of purgatory for two of Clive Barkers most powerful and resolute characters.
The Cenobite Hell priest infamously known as Pinhead, although he's none too fond of that nickname and anyone using it will experience his knowledge of pain and its mechanisms, usually via the odd hook and chain attachment. And occult private investigator Harry D'Amour, a man tattooed to within an inch of life with elaborate warning and protective glyphs.
The story starts of course with the Hell priest and the last remnants of an order of magic that has moved behind the shades of civilisation for centuries. Five magicians bring one of their brethren back from the dead only to be interrupted in brutally gruesome fashion as our favourite priest literally takes them apart in his search for the last magical secrets to bolster his arsenal.
'He looked like a creature that had lived to long, his eyes set in bruised pools, his gait steady but slow. But the tools that hung from his belt - an amputation saw, a trepanning drill, a small chisel and three silver syringes - were, like the abattoir workers chain-mail apron he wore. Wet with blood: confirmation that his weariness did not apparently keep him from taking a personnel hand in the practicalities of agony.'
Harry and his partner, the blind medium Norma Paine investigate the final wishes of the dead, a new case comes in and he jumps straight into a setup. He finds a Lament configuration box, a puzzle box hiding its darker intentions behind gifts of pleasure and reassurance. This box opens a gateway to Hell itself and its Pinhead with his mutilated assistant waiting on the other side. A brutal fight ensues and Harry survives by the skin of his teeth
The Hell priest is desperate to get the intrepid investigator into purgatory and Harry with his band of collaborators are forced into taking action when his friend is kidnapped. Pinhead has a plan, one that's now ready for fruition, Hell itself will be his and Harry D'Amour will bear witness. The Scarlet Gospels will be written.
The story bounces between the two journeys, Pinhead travels to the outer reaches of hell, to Lucifer’s Cathedral and his captive ensures the Harrowers follow (the Harrowers is the nickname Harry and his band are given along the way, reminded me a little too much of the borrowers and was never explained). His group contains a hard as nails female named Lana and two gay males that engage in countless innuendo laden dialogue. As a group they lean toward unconvincing which comes from them appearing almost out of nowhere and yet being instrumental to the story. Maybe if they'd come with a bit more detail and depth I would have been more comfortable with them but it was more the unfeeling savagery around the Hell priest that captured my attention.
The wold building of Hell was another highlight, the hierarchy of the order and the Mourning Star, Lucifer himself. God's favourite son and Pinhead, intense in his desire to show reverence at the feet of his lord, the devil himself. There are many merciless horrors in this world as you would expect but the taking of Hell starts with the most innocuous of creatures. Paper birds, origami cranes, caged and inscribed with execution writs of cindered scale, when it found its intended victim only eight or nine heartbeats were left.
'Once the writs reached their victims, they reconfigured in a matter of seconds the organization of their innards,'
That pretty much says it, and this is all stems from the knowledge gained from the many magicians of earth in their last moments, believing that telling everything would spare their lives.
The Scarlet Gospels has finally been released as a heavily edited version and it certainly felt like it, over half the original text was cut, missing many of the excerpts he leaked in the 20 years it’s taken for it to see daylight. Jesus of Nazareth, whose crucifixion on Golgotha was excluded along with any mention of Joseph of Arimathea, Pinhead’s genuine Cenobitic name and the origins of the Cenobites were not explored as Barker hinted at. A shame really but there is still much of the Barker we know and love. However at times and as a result the story felt somewhat rushed and incomplete. Whether the full version of Clive Barkers epic tale ever sees the light of day, I don't know but I for one would love to read it.
It's still an enjoyably graphic depiction of Hell, there's plenty of barbarity described in the way Clive Barker excels at, the scenes at Lucifer’s Cathedral were riveting and completed the final third of the book but you can't help thinking the rest could have been better. It’s at this point that you realise the story is primarily about Pinhead not his human counterparts, maybe a finale scribed in blood as should the Scarlet Gospels be written. If you were expecting a battle between the two iconic characters then you’ll be disappointed, Harry is a witness and just along for Pinheads ride. Not everyone lives of course, some are changed forever and the door has been left fractionally ajar for another visit to these characters, we can but hope.
Pinhead rocks and this is well worth 4 big ones.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
The Cenobite Hell priest infamously known as Pinhead, although he's none too fond of that nickname and anyone using it will experience his knowledge of pain and its mechanisms, usually via the odd hook and chain attachment. And occult private investigator Harry D'Amour, a man tattooed to within an inch of life with elaborate warning and protective glyphs.
The story starts of course with the Hell priest and the last remnants of an order of magic that has moved behind the shades of civilisation for centuries. Five magicians bring one of their brethren back from the dead only to be interrupted in brutally gruesome fashion as our favourite priest literally takes them apart in his search for the last magical secrets to bolster his arsenal.
'He looked like a creature that had lived to long, his eyes set in bruised pools, his gait steady but slow. But the tools that hung from his belt - an amputation saw, a trepanning drill, a small chisel and three silver syringes - were, like the abattoir workers chain-mail apron he wore. Wet with blood: confirmation that his weariness did not apparently keep him from taking a personnel hand in the practicalities of agony.'
Harry and his partner, the blind medium Norma Paine investigate the final wishes of the dead, a new case comes in and he jumps straight into a setup. He finds a Lament configuration box, a puzzle box hiding its darker intentions behind gifts of pleasure and reassurance. This box opens a gateway to Hell itself and its Pinhead with his mutilated assistant waiting on the other side. A brutal fight ensues and Harry survives by the skin of his teeth
The Hell priest is desperate to get the intrepid investigator into purgatory and Harry with his band of collaborators are forced into taking action when his friend is kidnapped. Pinhead has a plan, one that's now ready for fruition, Hell itself will be his and Harry D'Amour will bear witness. The Scarlet Gospels will be written.
The story bounces between the two journeys, Pinhead travels to the outer reaches of hell, to Lucifer’s Cathedral and his captive ensures the Harrowers follow (the Harrowers is the nickname Harry and his band are given along the way, reminded me a little too much of the borrowers and was never explained). His group contains a hard as nails female named Lana and two gay males that engage in countless innuendo laden dialogue. As a group they lean toward unconvincing which comes from them appearing almost out of nowhere and yet being instrumental to the story. Maybe if they'd come with a bit more detail and depth I would have been more comfortable with them but it was more the unfeeling savagery around the Hell priest that captured my attention.
The wold building of Hell was another highlight, the hierarchy of the order and the Mourning Star, Lucifer himself. God's favourite son and Pinhead, intense in his desire to show reverence at the feet of his lord, the devil himself. There are many merciless horrors in this world as you would expect but the taking of Hell starts with the most innocuous of creatures. Paper birds, origami cranes, caged and inscribed with execution writs of cindered scale, when it found its intended victim only eight or nine heartbeats were left.
'Once the writs reached their victims, they reconfigured in a matter of seconds the organization of their innards,'
That pretty much says it, and this is all stems from the knowledge gained from the many magicians of earth in their last moments, believing that telling everything would spare their lives.
The Scarlet Gospels has finally been released as a heavily edited version and it certainly felt like it, over half the original text was cut, missing many of the excerpts he leaked in the 20 years it’s taken for it to see daylight. Jesus of Nazareth, whose crucifixion on Golgotha was excluded along with any mention of Joseph of Arimathea, Pinhead’s genuine Cenobitic name and the origins of the Cenobites were not explored as Barker hinted at. A shame really but there is still much of the Barker we know and love. However at times and as a result the story felt somewhat rushed and incomplete. Whether the full version of Clive Barkers epic tale ever sees the light of day, I don't know but I for one would love to read it.
It's still an enjoyably graphic depiction of Hell, there's plenty of barbarity described in the way Clive Barker excels at, the scenes at Lucifer’s Cathedral were riveting and completed the final third of the book but you can't help thinking the rest could have been better. It’s at this point that you realise the story is primarily about Pinhead not his human counterparts, maybe a finale scribed in blood as should the Scarlet Gospels be written. If you were expecting a battle between the two iconic characters then you’ll be disappointed, Harry is a witness and just along for Pinheads ride. Not everyone lives of course, some are changed forever and the door has been left fractionally ajar for another visit to these characters, we can but hope.
Pinhead rocks and this is well worth 4 big ones.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
dreaded-dnf
April 22, 20163.31.16-I was so excited when I saw this audiobook ready to download from my local library's catalog. Then I was so disappointed when I started listening to it. I'm not sure if it was the narrator, if Clive Barker is no longer my thing, or if it's just not the right time for me to be listening to this book. I guess it doesn't matter because the end result is the same-DNF with no rating.
July 6, 2015
This is a panacea for my horror-starved heart.
You know these two movies? I still continue to love Lord of Illusions and Hellraiser. I gushed blood over these two gems for many years. So what could make my day complete? You got it; a pale scarlet horse comes riding up to my doorstep to hand me this gorgeous little tome featuring Harry D'Amour and Pinhead performing an intricate dance around one another; filling me up with a horrid rooting fascination for anything that Pinhead tries to accomplish, or clean up; and sick pity for the genuinely good man in Harry that is always eventually drawn to hell.
First of all, let me say that Harry is well and truly out of his league for almost the entire novel. He is so hopelessly outclassed that I'm forced into a situation where I, the reader, am left as a victim of irresistible bondange to the novel as I, like Harry, get to witness Pinhead's ascension in hell.
Sure, this novel mostly takes place in the bowels of hell, but instead of Mr. Barker trying to goad our increased tolerance of blood and gore, he successfully introduces a kingdom of wonder and awe. That's really hard when it comes to novels about hell, in my experience. There was acknowledgement of an infinity of suffering, and some truly inspiring sights, creatures, and events, but underneath it all was the deep sense of magic and learning and discovery.
Yes. I'm talking about Hell as a place to learn and grow, and never once did I feel like I was being punked.
It continued the same kinds of themes that Pinhead has always been known for. "I will show you exquisite suffering." *shiver* And then it blew my mind with his ultimate scope and ambition. And then there were a few scenes in the book where I had to put it down and jabber excitedly at my poor uninterested family members about how damn cool the scene was. I am not going to ruin it for anyone, but yeah, they were fucking cool.
As for Harry, I learned more about him and his past in a really excellent urban fantasy setting, got to know his good friends, and learned that the lot of them are all damn crazy. If a really good friend gets dragged off to hell by a cenobite, I'm sorry, but I'm just going to have to beg off the question about going after them. First of all, it's PINHEAD. Second of all, it's Hell. I know that they were all going to do the same for Harry after he stupidly played with the box, and how he got out of that was freaking funny, but still! Barker pulls it off. He pulls it all off. It runs cinematically. It's never boring. I kept thinking that this might-might-might make a good miniseries. Maybe. I don't know. I just want to see all the love and detail brought to my tv the same way that I've enjoyed these guys all my life.
As for Mr. Barker, I just want to say Thank you! You've been out of circulation for a bit, but what an awesome way to jump back in. Thank You! Fanboy is very pleased!
If you do continue the adventures of L****** and choose to incorporate Harry, then I'm already drooling. I want to revisit everywhere. It doesn't matter. I want anything you've got, Mr. Barker!
Warning to the wise. The horror market has unfortunately fallen to the wayside to make room for an endless supply of snark and rehashed vamp/were/magic that is reaching a nearly intolerably glut in the market. This is not one of those newfangled novels, although it has some elements of the new breeds.
This novel is epic in scope and quick in execution. As I was reading it, I kept saying to myself, "This is how it's done."
Sure, I have a few issues with the characters, in that they have a bit of a lack of interpersonal conflict, but that's easily ignored because they are, after all, in Hell. As I was reading, I kept thinking about another tidbit I'd heard from another reviewer that said that Barker had written this as a straight-up showdown between Harry and Pinhead, and it was well over twice the final length. What we got was a mute witness, and it worked very well, but I can't help but wish that I could see that other version.
If Harry was a fly, he'd be picking a fight with a nuclear explosion. It's definitely not fair, and I swear it could never turn out well, but I can't help but want to read it anyway.
Here's for hoping that another version gets released someday for those diehard fans.
I could spend the next week trying to devise a plot and resolution, myself, but I fear that I'd probably go mad.
The novel is going to keep me up and wondering for some time. I love it for that.
You know these two movies? I still continue to love Lord of Illusions and Hellraiser. I gushed blood over these two gems for many years. So what could make my day complete? You got it; a pale scarlet horse comes riding up to my doorstep to hand me this gorgeous little tome featuring Harry D'Amour and Pinhead performing an intricate dance around one another; filling me up with a horrid rooting fascination for anything that Pinhead tries to accomplish, or clean up; and sick pity for the genuinely good man in Harry that is always eventually drawn to hell.
First of all, let me say that Harry is well and truly out of his league for almost the entire novel. He is so hopelessly outclassed that I'm forced into a situation where I, the reader, am left as a victim of irresistible bondange to the novel as I, like Harry, get to witness Pinhead's ascension in hell.
Sure, this novel mostly takes place in the bowels of hell, but instead of Mr. Barker trying to goad our increased tolerance of blood and gore, he successfully introduces a kingdom of wonder and awe. That's really hard when it comes to novels about hell, in my experience. There was acknowledgement of an infinity of suffering, and some truly inspiring sights, creatures, and events, but underneath it all was the deep sense of magic and learning and discovery.
Yes. I'm talking about Hell as a place to learn and grow, and never once did I feel like I was being punked.
It continued the same kinds of themes that Pinhead has always been known for. "I will show you exquisite suffering." *shiver* And then it blew my mind with his ultimate scope and ambition. And then there were a few scenes in the book where I had to put it down and jabber excitedly at my poor uninterested family members about how damn cool the scene was. I am not going to ruin it for anyone, but yeah, they were fucking cool.
As for Harry, I learned more about him and his past in a really excellent urban fantasy setting, got to know his good friends, and learned that the lot of them are all damn crazy. If a really good friend gets dragged off to hell by a cenobite, I'm sorry, but I'm just going to have to beg off the question about going after them. First of all, it's PINHEAD. Second of all, it's Hell. I know that they were all going to do the same for Harry after he stupidly played with the box, and how he got out of that was freaking funny, but still! Barker pulls it off. He pulls it all off. It runs cinematically. It's never boring. I kept thinking that this might-might-might make a good miniseries. Maybe. I don't know. I just want to see all the love and detail brought to my tv the same way that I've enjoyed these guys all my life.
As for Mr. Barker, I just want to say Thank you! You've been out of circulation for a bit, but what an awesome way to jump back in. Thank You! Fanboy is very pleased!
If you do continue the adventures of L****** and choose to incorporate Harry, then I'm already drooling. I want to revisit everywhere. It doesn't matter. I want anything you've got, Mr. Barker!
Warning to the wise. The horror market has unfortunately fallen to the wayside to make room for an endless supply of snark and rehashed vamp/were/magic that is reaching a nearly intolerably glut in the market. This is not one of those newfangled novels, although it has some elements of the new breeds.
This novel is epic in scope and quick in execution. As I was reading it, I kept saying to myself, "This is how it's done."
Sure, I have a few issues with the characters, in that they have a bit of a lack of interpersonal conflict, but that's easily ignored because they are, after all, in Hell. As I was reading, I kept thinking about another tidbit I'd heard from another reviewer that said that Barker had written this as a straight-up showdown between Harry and Pinhead, and it was well over twice the final length. What we got was a mute witness, and it worked very well, but I can't help but wish that I could see that other version.
If Harry was a fly, he'd be picking a fight with a nuclear explosion. It's definitely not fair, and I swear it could never turn out well, but I can't help but want to read it anyway.
Here's for hoping that another version gets released someday for those diehard fans.
I could spend the next week trying to devise a plot and resolution, myself, but I fear that I'd probably go mad.
The novel is going to keep me up and wondering for some time. I love it for that.
July 28, 2019
Holy hell does Clive Barker ever know how to write one hell of a sequel. If you thought The Hellbound Heart was good, prepare yourself to be utterly and totally floored and amazed. Because The Scarlet Gospels is everything that book is and MORE. It is absolutely flawless, I couldn’t find anything wrong with it even if I tried my very hardest. It’s gruesome and gory and sexual, everything you expect from Barker and more. I could go on and on but I’ll leave it there and just do yourself a favour, read this bloody, gory gem of a book and revel in every second of it like I did!
January 26, 2015
Classic visceral and terrifying Clive Barker. I made the mistake (and I'm NOT EVEN A BEGINNER HERE) of reading the opening sequence just before bed.
Very entertaining (if you like murderous pin-headed Cenobites with penchants for disembowelment), fast-paced, and definitely not for the faint of heart. A must for hardcore horror fans or passionate Barker readers, but the dripping amount of gore makes it a difficult sell to a general readership. I loved it though! Then again, I'm dead inside :D
Very entertaining (if you like murderous pin-headed Cenobites with penchants for disembowelment), fast-paced, and definitely not for the faint of heart. A must for hardcore horror fans or passionate Barker readers, but the dripping amount of gore makes it a difficult sell to a general readership. I loved it though! Then again, I'm dead inside :D
September 16, 2015
It's been a long time since I read anything by Clive Barker and after reading The Scarlet Gospels, I cannot help but wonder if my memories of what I read as a teenager are largely rendered through rose coloured glasses.
To be fair, I thoroughly enjoyed the first quarter of this book. Having "Pinhead"/High Priest hit a gaggle of magicians like a freight train was delightfully gory and over-the-top. I thought, at that stage, I was in for something special - other reviews be (heh) damned! Even the next section, re-introducing the reader to Harry D'Amour and detailing his run-in with same High Priest had me thoroughly hooked (I'll stop now, I promise). But then a whole bunch of barely sketched in characters were introduced, Barker seemed to decide urban fantasy was more his bag than gore-laced horror, and everything started to go down hill.
By the time D'Amour is chasing Pinhead through hell, it all became too bombastically silly for me to take even remotely seriously. Things seemed to keep happening around Harry and crew, but nothing was happening because of them. In the end, they may as well have not been there.
Though I appreciated the scope of Barker's imagination, it eventually felt like he was simply trying to one-up himself with the next unimaginable structure, or debased sexual act, or crappy double entendre within the dialogue. In short, it all became a bit ridiculous, and by the end, I had long since ceased to care about any of the characters.
All that said, it was still better than every single Hellraiser movie sequel after the third one. For the record.
2 Second Sights for The Scarlet Gospels.
To be fair, I thoroughly enjoyed the first quarter of this book. Having "Pinhead"/High Priest hit a gaggle of magicians like a freight train was delightfully gory and over-the-top. I thought, at that stage, I was in for something special - other reviews be (heh) damned! Even the next section, re-introducing the reader to Harry D'Amour and detailing his run-in with same High Priest had me thoroughly hooked (I'll stop now, I promise). But then a whole bunch of barely sketched in characters were introduced, Barker seemed to decide urban fantasy was more his bag than gore-laced horror, and everything started to go down hill.
By the time D'Amour is chasing Pinhead through hell, it all became too bombastically silly for me to take even remotely seriously. Things seemed to keep happening around Harry and crew, but nothing was happening because of them. In the end, they may as well have not been there.
Though I appreciated the scope of Barker's imagination, it eventually felt like he was simply trying to one-up himself with the next unimaginable structure, or debased sexual act, or crappy double entendre within the dialogue. In short, it all became a bit ridiculous, and by the end, I had long since ceased to care about any of the characters.
All that said, it was still better than every single Hellraiser movie sequel after the third one. For the record.
2 Second Sights for The Scarlet Gospels.
May 10, 2025
I don’t write reviews.
Look, I know Barker is gay, and I know his work can be racy, but the sheer amount of gratuitious male nudity and, more specifically, penises, is not my jam. And I’m a straight woman, so that’s saying he went too, too far. I added a star for the setting, but penis deducted the star). Barker gives us a demon making a guy watch him jerk off (and provide spit for his lube) as he orgasms to the guy’s dying friend and the guy’s sadness. Scary? No. Gross? Yes. We are also “treated” to a bad guy who was mutilated by the cenobites and constant reminders of his nudity. Sorry, but being chased by a naked bro, lowers the fear factor. And it drops into the negative, when he’s pulling someone through the portal to hell and we have to be told how his penis and balls are blowing around in the wind. Really.
Let’s not pretend this would have been a good book anyhow. Pinhead is a completely different character than before. He has emotions, ego and delivers long-winded speeches. The original cenobite wasn’t ambitious, was devoid of ego, sought only sensation and was a man of few words and no emotion. This Pingead gets all pissy that people call him Pinhead. This Pinhead wants to take over hell, a VERY different hell from the earlier stories.
We get a very drab, sketch of a hell city, full of demons we don’t meet, politics we don’t need, and nothing much else. We get a trip through this hell with paper characters who have no redeeming qualities or any sense of a personality. I wanted hell to swallow them up and remove any trace of this awful joke of a story.
Barker should’ve written a noir detective story, with a lot of spooky encounters and character development. He could’ve kept the fighting of the usurper of hell storyline, but not brought cenobites into it at all. I’m going to go destroy my memories of this story, with shitty TV. Thanks, Clive….
Look, I know Barker is gay, and I know his work can be racy, but the sheer amount of gratuitious male nudity and, more specifically, penises, is not my jam. And I’m a straight woman, so that’s saying he went too, too far. I added a star for the setting, but penis deducted the star). Barker gives us a demon making a guy watch him jerk off (and provide spit for his lube) as he orgasms to the guy’s dying friend and the guy’s sadness. Scary? No. Gross? Yes. We are also “treated” to a bad guy who was mutilated by the cenobites and constant reminders of his nudity. Sorry, but being chased by a naked bro, lowers the fear factor. And it drops into the negative, when he’s pulling someone through the portal to hell and we have to be told how his penis and balls are blowing around in the wind. Really.
Let’s not pretend this would have been a good book anyhow. Pinhead is a completely different character than before. He has emotions, ego and delivers long-winded speeches. The original cenobite wasn’t ambitious, was devoid of ego, sought only sensation and was a man of few words and no emotion. This Pingead gets all pissy that people call him Pinhead. This Pinhead wants to take over hell, a VERY different hell from the earlier stories.
We get a very drab, sketch of a hell city, full of demons we don’t meet, politics we don’t need, and nothing much else. We get a trip through this hell with paper characters who have no redeeming qualities or any sense of a personality. I wanted hell to swallow them up and remove any trace of this awful joke of a story.
Barker should’ve written a noir detective story, with a lot of spooky encounters and character development. He could’ve kept the fighting of the usurper of hell storyline, but not brought cenobites into it at all. I’m going to go destroy my memories of this story, with shitty TV. Thanks, Clive….
June 27, 2022
3.5 rounded up.
October 20, 2019
Una delusione totale. Probabilmente quanto di peggio abbia mai letto di Barker in vita mia. Una delle più belle e viscerali saghe orrorifiche di sempre trasformata quasi in un mediocre urban fantasy da quattro soldi, l'ambientazione infernale stona talmente con la figura classica dei Cenobiti, totalmente alieni rispetto alle nostre concezioni di paradiso e inferno, piacere e dolore, che l'autore sembra aver dimenticato ciò che rendeva tanto interessante le sue creature più popolari: Siamo demoni per alcuni, angeli per altri..
Peccato perchè l'inizio del libro era davvero promettente, ma dall'arrivo all'inferno in poi di Harry D'Amour e compagni, praticamente semplici spettatori degli eventi, sembra quasi scritto da qualcun altro, toccando livelli da fan fiction, ed il mio interesse per storia e personaggi è rapidamente andato a farsi benedire... ad un certo punto mi immaginavo Norma la cieca come la vecchia Al nei film di Deadpool, ridevo e chiudevo il libro.
Pinhead era un grande personaggio e Schiavi dell'Inferno un capolavoro, Vangeli di Sangue proprio no.
Peccato.
August 1, 2022
En parte estoy un poquito decepcionada por mi altas expectativas y es que este libro no se parece en nada al primer libro de Hellraiser, ni es tan ágil ni tan divertido pero aun así esta muy bien escrito y lo he disfrutado lo suficiente, también es verdad que no he leído todo lo que ha escrito este hombre y lo que he oído es que este libro es un homenaje a su obra, cosa estupenda, además aparecen dos personajazos Pinhead y Harry D'amore, dos personajes que ya salieron en otras obras suyas incluso tienen largometrajes ambos dos, Hellraiser (por supuesto) y El señor de las ilusiones, ambas peliculones. Son muy buenos personajes, además aparece Norma un personaje al que le he cogido mucho cariño.
Empieza soberanamente bien, mi problema sobre todo viene en la segunda mitad del libro mas o menos en la que hay un cambio significativo de escenario el cual no me ha gustado del todo, y el final que no me ha gustado casi nada, claro que tiene partes buenas y muy buenas pero en general, esa segunda mitad del libro me ha costado mas leerla. En general es un libro que lleva su tiempo leerlo y es un gusto como esta escrito pero algo denso, sobre todo se lo comparamos con Hellraiser que es una obra que se lee solita, y no es necesario haber leído este libro para comprender esta secuela, aunque si conoces la obra entera del autor, pienso, sea mas fácil que te enamore este libro.
Me gusta como cambia de registro de la fantasía al gore en tan solo una pagina, y como cambia para situarte en diferentes ambientes.
Empieza soberanamente bien, mi problema sobre todo viene en la segunda mitad del libro mas o menos en la que hay un cambio significativo de escenario el cual no me ha gustado del todo, y el final que no me ha gustado casi nada, claro que tiene partes buenas y muy buenas pero en general, esa segunda mitad del libro me ha costado mas leerla. En general es un libro que lleva su tiempo leerlo y es un gusto como esta escrito pero algo denso, sobre todo se lo comparamos con Hellraiser que es una obra que se lee solita, y no es necesario haber leído este libro para comprender esta secuela, aunque si conoces la obra entera del autor, pienso, sea mas fácil que te enamore este libro.
Me gusta como cambia de registro de la fantasía al gore en tan solo una pagina, y como cambia para situarte en diferentes ambientes.
May 19, 2015
A number of years ago, we received confirmation that Clive Barker was working on a continuation, and ending, of the story he’d started with The Hellbound Heart and his directorial debut, “Hellraiser.” The Scarlet Gospels would be a final showdown between the most infamous Cenobite of all, Pinhead, and Barker’s demon-fighting PI, Harry D’Amour, who’s appeared in a few of his other works.
Twenty years and a few format changes later, these gospels may at last be unsealed, but they may not bring much joy to those who’ve clamored for their approach. In fact, they’re something of a disappointment.
Spoilers abound below.
When Harry D’Amour gets a case by way of a ghost, he knows he should be careful. Not that it’s any more unusual than how he gets his cases, as those who’ve kept up with his character would know. But something about how the spirit went straight to his blind medium friend, Norma Paine, and asked for Harry by name should have tipped him off.
That said, there was no reason to imagine that purging a man’s gay sex-magic hideaway would lead to a run-in with one of the most powerful demons in existence – one who’s become even more powerful of late, thanks to stolen magic.
It would seem the most infamous member of the Order of the Gash – Pinhead, himself – has taken an unhealthy interest in D’Amour. He’s got a plan for this meddlesome mortal, itself part of a much larger scheme that’s had the Cenobite hunting and killing all the world’s major magicians over the last few years. The demon is about to do something truly mighty and terrible, down in the pit, and wants Hell’s number one adversary to be witness to it. Apparently, Pinhead wants the tale of what follows to be honest, and thinks he’ll get a better reckoning from an enemy than a loyal follower.
Of course, Harry wants nothing to do with the Hell-Priest’s proposal, but this explorer of pain and pleasure’s come too far and done too much to take “no” for an answer. So, when Norma gets carted off alive into Hell, it’s up to him and a rag-tag group of good friends and suspicious allies to go into the Pit to find her – bearing witness to Hell’s unmaking along the way…
To say more would be to deprive the reader of joys and surprises some twenty years in the making. Unfortunately, for something that’s been percolating for that long, these Scarlet Gospels are also something of a disappointment. Admittedly, it’s almost impossible for such a long-awaited work to fully live up to its promise, but many of the things we were promised would be in here, over the years, are not in the finished product.
Worse, there are other serious deficiencies at hand – things I never thought I’d see from our premier author of literary dark fiction.
The primary issue is the language, itself. Normally Barker’s powerful writing is a lush and sensual journey – one we are gladly tempted into, if only to be enveloped in such sinister and mischievous prose. Carefully crafted and lovingly laid down, with a surplus of wit and playfulness, its artifice is such that, even in his less-successful works, the letdown of the destination is largely redeemed by the voyage, itself.
Sadly, the writing in Gospels is mostly lackluster and sparse, especially in the first half of the novel. Even the magnificently-gruesome opening – brimming with a glorious surfeit of dark humor and transgressive transformation – is positively lacking in description compared to earlier efforts. It’s almost as if Barker was too harried by time constraints to properly conduct us from New York City to New Orleans and then unto Hell, and settled for the penny tour, instead.
Thankfully, once we get down below, some semblance of his luxurious word choice comes back to us. Unfortunately, he seems either unable or unwilling to put any of them towards explaining Pinhead’s ultimate motivations. The Cenobite forces D’Amour to bear witness to his works, but ultimately fails to explain why this plan – in motion since before Harry was alive – was implemented in the first place. Did he want to rule Hell, remake it, or simply bring it to ruin? We never truly learn.
And that omission forms the other major disappointment within the Gospels. Barker’s fiction has always shown us that the misshapen need not be mindless; even the most alien and loathsome of his creations has both personality and drive, sometimes more than their human foils. So having Pinhead play Don Juan – upturning the infernal applecart for no clear reason – reduces the most recognizable member of the Order of the Gash to little more than a mustache-twirling scoundrel.
Putting Pinhead into that role is also a betrayal of the source material. In both The Hellbound Heart and the first “Hellraiser” – which Barker wrote and directed – the Cenobites are not the true villain, but rather an otherworldly force that presents the chief danger of the narrative. They’re no one to trifle with, obviously, as their gruesome explorations of pain and pleasure really can tear your soul apart. But the real evil of the piece comes from Frank’s boundless lechery, and Julia’s willingness to do anything – even kill – to escape her boring life.
This is in keeping with one of Barker’s running themes: that the monstrous need not be monsters, and sometimes the most evil thing of all is humanity, itself. He doesn’t always hold to that motif in his writing – indeed, some of his most terrifying creations are beasts both in form and intent – but when he deviates there’s usually a good reason. Sadly, as the reason for Pinhead’s ambitious rampage is never made clear, the Cenobite becomes just another movie monster having a senseless tantrum. Given that one of his last acts is a truly horrific sexual violation of a main character, this seeming pointlessness truly grates.
Fortunately, in spite of its linguistic and motivational shortcomings, The Scarlet Gospels is teeming with Barker’s seemingly-boundless imagination. His full realization of Hell reconciles his earlier writing’s two entirely different visions of that locale, allowing the iconic exploratory torture of the Cenobites to take place alongside D’Amour’s more traditional demons and devils.
This more complete perdition is a fantastic, nightmare-laden landscape filled with institutions both torturous and baroque, their perversity mirrored by the uncanny architecture they dwell within. It’s not unusual for chroniclers of the Pit to use it to hold our reality up to a sinister mirror, but Barker’s surreal reflections of society, law, and order are truly and darkly magnificent. So much so that, as Pinhead gleefully dispatches them, one sickening and clever encounter at a time, we regret that we glimpse them but briefly before their extinguishing.
Thankfully, that snuffing is truly epic, and is perhaps the best payoff to take from these Scarlet Gospels. After years of living in the echoes of The Hellbound Heart, and the shadow of every movie to bear the name “Hellraiser” that wasn’t at least aided by Barker, himself – especially the truly horrendous, later ones – Pinhead is finally able to unsheathe his hook and be about his true work. Indeed, once the Hell Priest reaches what may have been his final goal, D’Amour bears witness to a titanic battle that unmakes much of what lies below, and portents drastic change on a personal and metaphysical level.
What then of that ending? Simply saying “everything changes” is quite trite, given Barker’s marked tendency to gleefully smash the fantastic worlds he carefully crafts. But one gets the feeling the echoes of this cataclysm will ring out loudly for some time to come, and across several of his series.
The elegiac and hopeful epilogue that rounds out these blood-soaked scriptures – perhaps the most compelling and heartfelt slice of the book – offers us some promise that we’ve not seen the last of these players. Hopefully the books they appear in will be more in keeping with the exquisite works Barker has produced in the past, rather than the lackluster offering The Scarlet Gospels has turned out to be.
Twenty years and a few format changes later, these gospels may at last be unsealed, but they may not bring much joy to those who’ve clamored for their approach. In fact, they’re something of a disappointment.
Spoilers abound below.
When Harry D’Amour gets a case by way of a ghost, he knows he should be careful. Not that it’s any more unusual than how he gets his cases, as those who’ve kept up with his character would know. But something about how the spirit went straight to his blind medium friend, Norma Paine, and asked for Harry by name should have tipped him off.
That said, there was no reason to imagine that purging a man’s gay sex-magic hideaway would lead to a run-in with one of the most powerful demons in existence – one who’s become even more powerful of late, thanks to stolen magic.
It would seem the most infamous member of the Order of the Gash – Pinhead, himself – has taken an unhealthy interest in D’Amour. He’s got a plan for this meddlesome mortal, itself part of a much larger scheme that’s had the Cenobite hunting and killing all the world’s major magicians over the last few years. The demon is about to do something truly mighty and terrible, down in the pit, and wants Hell’s number one adversary to be witness to it. Apparently, Pinhead wants the tale of what follows to be honest, and thinks he’ll get a better reckoning from an enemy than a loyal follower.
Of course, Harry wants nothing to do with the Hell-Priest’s proposal, but this explorer of pain and pleasure’s come too far and done too much to take “no” for an answer. So, when Norma gets carted off alive into Hell, it’s up to him and a rag-tag group of good friends and suspicious allies to go into the Pit to find her – bearing witness to Hell’s unmaking along the way…
To say more would be to deprive the reader of joys and surprises some twenty years in the making. Unfortunately, for something that’s been percolating for that long, these Scarlet Gospels are also something of a disappointment. Admittedly, it’s almost impossible for such a long-awaited work to fully live up to its promise, but many of the things we were promised would be in here, over the years, are not in the finished product.
Worse, there are other serious deficiencies at hand – things I never thought I’d see from our premier author of literary dark fiction.
The primary issue is the language, itself. Normally Barker’s powerful writing is a lush and sensual journey – one we are gladly tempted into, if only to be enveloped in such sinister and mischievous prose. Carefully crafted and lovingly laid down, with a surplus of wit and playfulness, its artifice is such that, even in his less-successful works, the letdown of the destination is largely redeemed by the voyage, itself.
Sadly, the writing in Gospels is mostly lackluster and sparse, especially in the first half of the novel. Even the magnificently-gruesome opening – brimming with a glorious surfeit of dark humor and transgressive transformation – is positively lacking in description compared to earlier efforts. It’s almost as if Barker was too harried by time constraints to properly conduct us from New York City to New Orleans and then unto Hell, and settled for the penny tour, instead.
Thankfully, once we get down below, some semblance of his luxurious word choice comes back to us. Unfortunately, he seems either unable or unwilling to put any of them towards explaining Pinhead’s ultimate motivations. The Cenobite forces D’Amour to bear witness to his works, but ultimately fails to explain why this plan – in motion since before Harry was alive – was implemented in the first place. Did he want to rule Hell, remake it, or simply bring it to ruin? We never truly learn.
And that omission forms the other major disappointment within the Gospels. Barker’s fiction has always shown us that the misshapen need not be mindless; even the most alien and loathsome of his creations has both personality and drive, sometimes more than their human foils. So having Pinhead play Don Juan – upturning the infernal applecart for no clear reason – reduces the most recognizable member of the Order of the Gash to little more than a mustache-twirling scoundrel.
Putting Pinhead into that role is also a betrayal of the source material. In both The Hellbound Heart and the first “Hellraiser” – which Barker wrote and directed – the Cenobites are not the true villain, but rather an otherworldly force that presents the chief danger of the narrative. They’re no one to trifle with, obviously, as their gruesome explorations of pain and pleasure really can tear your soul apart. But the real evil of the piece comes from Frank’s boundless lechery, and Julia’s willingness to do anything – even kill – to escape her boring life.
This is in keeping with one of Barker’s running themes: that the monstrous need not be monsters, and sometimes the most evil thing of all is humanity, itself. He doesn’t always hold to that motif in his writing – indeed, some of his most terrifying creations are beasts both in form and intent – but when he deviates there’s usually a good reason. Sadly, as the reason for Pinhead’s ambitious rampage is never made clear, the Cenobite becomes just another movie monster having a senseless tantrum. Given that one of his last acts is a truly horrific sexual violation of a main character, this seeming pointlessness truly grates.
Fortunately, in spite of its linguistic and motivational shortcomings, The Scarlet Gospels is teeming with Barker’s seemingly-boundless imagination. His full realization of Hell reconciles his earlier writing’s two entirely different visions of that locale, allowing the iconic exploratory torture of the Cenobites to take place alongside D’Amour’s more traditional demons and devils.
This more complete perdition is a fantastic, nightmare-laden landscape filled with institutions both torturous and baroque, their perversity mirrored by the uncanny architecture they dwell within. It’s not unusual for chroniclers of the Pit to use it to hold our reality up to a sinister mirror, but Barker’s surreal reflections of society, law, and order are truly and darkly magnificent. So much so that, as Pinhead gleefully dispatches them, one sickening and clever encounter at a time, we regret that we glimpse them but briefly before their extinguishing.
Thankfully, that snuffing is truly epic, and is perhaps the best payoff to take from these Scarlet Gospels. After years of living in the echoes of The Hellbound Heart, and the shadow of every movie to bear the name “Hellraiser” that wasn’t at least aided by Barker, himself – especially the truly horrendous, later ones – Pinhead is finally able to unsheathe his hook and be about his true work. Indeed, once the Hell Priest reaches what may have been his final goal, D’Amour bears witness to a titanic battle that unmakes much of what lies below, and portents drastic change on a personal and metaphysical level.
What then of that ending? Simply saying “everything changes” is quite trite, given Barker’s marked tendency to gleefully smash the fantastic worlds he carefully crafts. But one gets the feeling the echoes of this cataclysm will ring out loudly for some time to come, and across several of his series.
The elegiac and hopeful epilogue that rounds out these blood-soaked scriptures – perhaps the most compelling and heartfelt slice of the book – offers us some promise that we’ve not seen the last of these players. Hopefully the books they appear in will be more in keeping with the exquisite works Barker has produced in the past, rather than the lackluster offering The Scarlet Gospels has turned out to be.
March 12, 2020
Forgot to add that I'd reread this recently! I am on FIRE with reading at the moment :) And it feels great!
I enjoyed this well enough. I learned that people seem to think Barker didn't write this one--maybe that's why I like it more than Barker's other work, haha...
Ultimately kinda pointless but good fun. Takes more time to describe things than Barker typically does, but still not enough? IDK. When it comes to minimising description to maintain pace, I'm rarely in favour of it. It's most typical when writers graduate from short stories onto novels. It's like, nah, I know you didn't have space before but please, take the time to build this world. It's yours.
FIRST REVIEW:
Stupid sexy violence!!
A bit like The Magic School Bus Goes to Hell. And by that I mean AWESOME!
Whenever I'm recommended a fun novel I usually hate them. And I hate most fictional things that the majority of men like: Breaking Bad... you know, whatever else men like. I don't know a big enough sample size to accurately represent a population of divs. Because it seems like the ONLY stimulus a meathead wants from fiction is "Whoahhhhh" or "Coooool!" and if that's all a novel has going for it, normally I don my blazer and pipe and start saying things like "The written word" in a Maggie Smith Downton Abbey accent, or "littrichur" a la Christopher Hitchens, then I close my eyes and say stuff like "What the novelist does is..." (as if I fucking know.) But then all this novel does is WHOAHHH and COOOL and it shall go on record as the first and only such novel I've enjoyed that only does these two things- so far.
If there was a plot, I wasn't paying enough attention.
If I'd been waiting a long time for this, I'd probably be disappointed. But see, I only discovered recently that Barker was even a novelist!! Isn't that grand? I thought he just presented things. So I went into this first read of his with nil expectations, and came back with a bullion of COOOLs.
As naw-velists go, Barker can actually write, and he even used his imagination and everything! I don't recall him once telling me what a character felt, thank fook. I mean, if you want to be that reductive in your prose, why not just make the full text of your novel "Some things happened"? We've all gotten trapped into the old faux-light-on-broken-glass "A wave of FEELING passed over him" or "there was a thrill of THING HAPPENING RIGHT NOW in the room" (there is sometimes no other way!!) but "W FELT X WHICH MADE Y FEEL Z" is ridiculous. Clive gracefully dismissed every opportunity to indulge in this laziness of other populists.
Apart from his characters. No surprise that
The thing about Clive's gay characters is that Clive most likely knows and has "known" many more gay people than I have, so the worst thing is that what I see as harmful stereotypes are probably unfortunately super accurate real people, trying their best not to be 3D (so much work!)
Will defo be returning to Barker because there's no guilt in this pleasure.
Except for using the word "pleasure."
I enjoyed this well enough. I learned that people seem to think Barker didn't write this one--maybe that's why I like it more than Barker's other work, haha...
Ultimately kinda pointless but good fun. Takes more time to describe things than Barker typically does, but still not enough? IDK. When it comes to minimising description to maintain pace, I'm rarely in favour of it. It's most typical when writers graduate from short stories onto novels. It's like, nah, I know you didn't have space before but please, take the time to build this world. It's yours.
FIRST REVIEW:
Stupid sexy violence!!
A bit like The Magic School Bus Goes to Hell. And by that I mean AWESOME!
Whenever I'm recommended a fun novel I usually hate them. And I hate most fictional things that the majority of men like: Breaking Bad... you know, whatever else men like. I don't know a big enough sample size to accurately represent a population of divs. Because it seems like the ONLY stimulus a meathead wants from fiction is "Whoahhhhh" or "Coooool!" and if that's all a novel has going for it, normally I don my blazer and pipe and start saying things like "The written word" in a Maggie Smith Downton Abbey accent, or "littrichur" a la Christopher Hitchens, then I close my eyes and say stuff like "What the novelist does is..." (as if I fucking know.) But then all this novel does is WHOAHHH and COOOL and it shall go on record as the first and only such novel I've enjoyed that only does these two things- so far.
If there was a plot, I wasn't paying enough attention.
If I'd been waiting a long time for this, I'd probably be disappointed. But see, I only discovered recently that Barker was even a novelist!! Isn't that grand? I thought he just presented things. So I went into this first read of his with nil expectations, and came back with a bullion of COOOLs.
As naw-velists go, Barker can actually write, and he even used his imagination and everything! I don't recall him once telling me what a character felt, thank fook. I mean, if you want to be that reductive in your prose, why not just make the full text of your novel "Some things happened"? We've all gotten trapped into the old faux-light-on-broken-glass "A wave of FEELING passed over him" or "there was a thrill of THING HAPPENING RIGHT NOW in the room" (there is sometimes no other way!!) but "W FELT X WHICH MADE Y FEEL Z" is ridiculous. Clive gracefully dismissed every opportunity to indulge in this laziness of other populists.
Apart from his characters. No surprise that
The thing about Clive's gay characters is that Clive most likely knows and has "known" many more gay people than I have, so the worst thing is that what I see as harmful stereotypes are probably unfortunately super accurate real people, trying their best not to be 3D (so much work!)
Will defo be returning to Barker because there's no guilt in this pleasure.
Except for using the word "pleasure."
June 9, 2015
A fascinating tour of Hell featuring two of Barker's iconic figures: the Cenobite and Hell Priest Pinhead and paranormal detective Harry D'Amour. Grotesque, bizarre, violent, perverse, sophisticated and at times beautiful, the novel that finishes the story line of Pinhead and continues that of D'Amour is a missed opportunity for Barker. This could have been his masterpiece.
I have to admit, I haven't read much of Barker (Weaveworld, The Thief of Always, Abarat and a few short stories), but what I have read is rendered in language that is richly sensory and sensuous. Here, Barker's prose is workmanlike, giving a picture of what is transpiring, but not invoking the emotional response needed to elevate this gory tale.
This also reads like a severely edited version of Barker's story. No motivation is given for the Hell Priest's transformation from pain-dealing demon to wannabe successor to Lucifer's throne; there also seems to be a familiarity between the Priest and D'Amour that isn't explained in the book; and I would have enjoyed a fuller examination of the politics and background of Hell. I understand that the manuscript was edited from 230,000 to 100,000 words. Over half the story is missing. I wouldn't mind reading that.
Finally, I never felt Harry and His Haughty Harrowers were in any real danger. There was a big disconnect between the epicness of the events of The Scarlet Gospels and the way they were viewed by Barker's heroes. On top of that, these people swear more than sailors (I was a U.S. sailor for 10 years and never heard anybody use the word "fuck" that many times.) I don't have a problem with profanity in what I read, but that lack of imagination in verbal ability was a big part of that disconnect.
All this aside, Barker fills his Gospels with such startling ideas and imagery that despite the above failings, I can't call the book a failure. The glimpse of Hell the reader is given is mesmerizing and Lucifer's solution to his sisyphean situation is extraordinary in it's simplicity, but complex in design and is utterly magnificent to behold. (Of course, the Hell Priest earns the name Pinhead by messing it up, but...) I wanted more, but what I got was enough to make The Scarlet Gospels a worthwhile read.
I have to admit, I haven't read much of Barker (Weaveworld, The Thief of Always, Abarat and a few short stories), but what I have read is rendered in language that is richly sensory and sensuous. Here, Barker's prose is workmanlike, giving a picture of what is transpiring, but not invoking the emotional response needed to elevate this gory tale.
This also reads like a severely edited version of Barker's story. No motivation is given for the Hell Priest's transformation from pain-dealing demon to wannabe successor to Lucifer's throne; there also seems to be a familiarity between the Priest and D'Amour that isn't explained in the book; and I would have enjoyed a fuller examination of the politics and background of Hell. I understand that the manuscript was edited from 230,000 to 100,000 words. Over half the story is missing. I wouldn't mind reading that.
Finally, I never felt Harry and His Haughty Harrowers were in any real danger. There was a big disconnect between the epicness of the events of The Scarlet Gospels and the way they were viewed by Barker's heroes. On top of that, these people swear more than sailors (I was a U.S. sailor for 10 years and never heard anybody use the word "fuck" that many times.) I don't have a problem with profanity in what I read, but that lack of imagination in verbal ability was a big part of that disconnect.
All this aside, Barker fills his Gospels with such startling ideas and imagery that despite the above failings, I can't call the book a failure. The glimpse of Hell the reader is given is mesmerizing and Lucifer's solution to his sisyphean situation is extraordinary in it's simplicity, but complex in design and is utterly magnificent to behold. (Of course, the Hell Priest earns the name Pinhead by messing it up, but...) I wanted more, but what I got was enough to make The Scarlet Gospels a worthwhile read.
December 10, 2016
I have been intrigued by this book ever since I heard about it and like many of Clive Barkers books they seem to take forever to come out. I am not sure if he keeps working on them till the very last moment or if his publishers are a little over eager in releasing details - either way it feels like a very long time till I finally got my hands on a copy.
So the whole Hellraiser / pinhead saga for me started many years ago with the Hellbound heart which ironically was collected in an anthology of various authors. I didn't realise what I had till I saw the Hellraiser film shortly after and connected the two together.
I will admit that I didn't follow the films as like many horror movie franchises they seem to be made to exploit the name and reputation rather than extend the story or develop what has gone on before. I know in recent years that trend has changed but I am still skeptical.
Anyway the book - well without going in to too many details you have here the next chapter of Pinhead or as the book like to refer to him as the Hell Priest and the Coenobite. The story has certainly grown and changed - in his first outing he was a powerful entity then but was more concerned on individual actions and their repercussions - here now he has his sights set on something far bigger, taking over all of Hell. As a result at times I was wondering if I was reading about the same character from one story to the other. The first was intimate and personal the second epic on a scale that was at times (and I think intentionally) hard to fathom.
That said the story really cracks on at a pace and even through the most extreme you do not lose sight on the characters which I think is one Clive Barkers strength, characters you are happy to invest in what ever may happen.
All I can say is at the end it my close one chapter but I do get the feeling it has left the door open enough to start a totally new one but still with a few familiar faces
So the whole Hellraiser / pinhead saga for me started many years ago with the Hellbound heart which ironically was collected in an anthology of various authors. I didn't realise what I had till I saw the Hellraiser film shortly after and connected the two together.
I will admit that I didn't follow the films as like many horror movie franchises they seem to be made to exploit the name and reputation rather than extend the story or develop what has gone on before. I know in recent years that trend has changed but I am still skeptical.
Anyway the book - well without going in to too many details you have here the next chapter of Pinhead or as the book like to refer to him as the Hell Priest and the Coenobite. The story has certainly grown and changed - in his first outing he was a powerful entity then but was more concerned on individual actions and their repercussions - here now he has his sights set on something far bigger, taking over all of Hell. As a result at times I was wondering if I was reading about the same character from one story to the other. The first was intimate and personal the second epic on a scale that was at times (and I think intentionally) hard to fathom.
That said the story really cracks on at a pace and even through the most extreme you do not lose sight on the characters which I think is one Clive Barkers strength, characters you are happy to invest in what ever may happen.
All I can say is at the end it my close one chapter but I do get the feeling it has left the door open enough to start a totally new one but still with a few familiar faces
April 9, 2025
Rating my reading experience: 2.5 out of 5
Before I get into this review, I want to say a few words about how I approach criticism.
I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, especially when they concern ambitious, sincere creative work. Having written fiction, I understand how incredibly difficult it is to balance character and plot, concept and execution, atmosphere and momentum. No book will satisfy everyone, nor should it. Even the most celebrated stories leave some readers cold; even flawed ones can offer brilliance in specific moments. So I try to approach critique from a place of generosity—especially when I can sense the effort behind the work.
That said, there are times when the overall experience of reading a book—despite its intentions or flashes of brilliance—leaves me disappointed. The Scarlet Gospels is one of those times.
My relationship with Clive Barker's work goes back to high school when I first saw the film Hellraiser. I was fascinated—not because of the plot, which in hindsight is relatively simple, but because of the concept: the puzzle box, the Cenobites, and their unknowable motivations. It felt like a secret mythology hidden just beneath the skin of reality.
So I eagerly watched Hellraiser II in the theater but walked out feeling let down. At the time, I blamed the disappointing changes on the director. However, I've since learned that the story was Barker's. And now, after reading The Scarlet Gospels, I see that the book and that film share some of the same core issues. This leads me to think that maybe it wasn’t about how the story was told—perhaps the story itself, once expanded beyond its mystery, just wasn’t what I wanted it to be.
The most recent Barker book I read before this was The Hellbound Heart. I found it haunting, sharp, and effective—especially the arrival of the Cenobites. But even in that novella, I sensed a familiar pattern: the ideas towered over the story that tried to contain them.
So, I came to The Scarlet Gospels with cautious hope—and the opening third did not disappoint. It was genuinely gripping, with moments of grotesque, poetic horror that reminded me why Barker’s vision has remained influential. His descriptive power is formidable, and when he wants to make your skin crawl, he can.
(Spoilers follow.)
Sadly, once the characters descend into Hell, what had once been an abstract, terrifying mythos becomes a literal interpretation that will either work for you or won’t. Hell is rendered a city with politics, factions, and familiar geography. Some readers might enjoy this kind of demonic epic fantasy, but it broke the immersion for me. The great unknowable horror became a kind of theatrical set piece.
There is, at one point, a bicycle in Hell. Not a surreal or ironic torture device—just a bike. That was when I lost investment, picturing a demon paperboy delivering The Daily Hell to demon front yards. It’s not the only moment that didn’t work for me, but it’s the clearest example of how Barker’s choices pulled me out of the story.
I want to be clear: I’m not criticizing this book from a place of superiority. If anything, I’ve realized that I loved the idea of Hellraiser more than any of the actual stories that idea has produced.
The Scarlet Gospels is not a cynical book. It’s not a lazy book. It’s the work of an imaginative and ambitious writer reaching for something grand. But for me, the concept can no longer hold its shape under the bright lights of explanation. Maybe it never could.
This isn’t meant to be a takedown. It’s a reflection. A reminder that not all ideas are meant to be expanded. Some are meant to haunt us only in glimpses.
Before I get into this review, I want to say a few words about how I approach criticism.
I don't enjoy writing negative reviews, especially when they concern ambitious, sincere creative work. Having written fiction, I understand how incredibly difficult it is to balance character and plot, concept and execution, atmosphere and momentum. No book will satisfy everyone, nor should it. Even the most celebrated stories leave some readers cold; even flawed ones can offer brilliance in specific moments. So I try to approach critique from a place of generosity—especially when I can sense the effort behind the work.
That said, there are times when the overall experience of reading a book—despite its intentions or flashes of brilliance—leaves me disappointed. The Scarlet Gospels is one of those times.
My relationship with Clive Barker's work goes back to high school when I first saw the film Hellraiser. I was fascinated—not because of the plot, which in hindsight is relatively simple, but because of the concept: the puzzle box, the Cenobites, and their unknowable motivations. It felt like a secret mythology hidden just beneath the skin of reality.
So I eagerly watched Hellraiser II in the theater but walked out feeling let down. At the time, I blamed the disappointing changes on the director. However, I've since learned that the story was Barker's. And now, after reading The Scarlet Gospels, I see that the book and that film share some of the same core issues. This leads me to think that maybe it wasn’t about how the story was told—perhaps the story itself, once expanded beyond its mystery, just wasn’t what I wanted it to be.
The most recent Barker book I read before this was The Hellbound Heart. I found it haunting, sharp, and effective—especially the arrival of the Cenobites. But even in that novella, I sensed a familiar pattern: the ideas towered over the story that tried to contain them.
So, I came to The Scarlet Gospels with cautious hope—and the opening third did not disappoint. It was genuinely gripping, with moments of grotesque, poetic horror that reminded me why Barker’s vision has remained influential. His descriptive power is formidable, and when he wants to make your skin crawl, he can.
(Spoilers follow.)
Sadly, once the characters descend into Hell, what had once been an abstract, terrifying mythos becomes a literal interpretation that will either work for you or won’t. Hell is rendered a city with politics, factions, and familiar geography. Some readers might enjoy this kind of demonic epic fantasy, but it broke the immersion for me. The great unknowable horror became a kind of theatrical set piece.
There is, at one point, a bicycle in Hell. Not a surreal or ironic torture device—just a bike. That was when I lost investment, picturing a demon paperboy delivering The Daily Hell to demon front yards. It’s not the only moment that didn’t work for me, but it’s the clearest example of how Barker’s choices pulled me out of the story.
I want to be clear: I’m not criticizing this book from a place of superiority. If anything, I’ve realized that I loved the idea of Hellraiser more than any of the actual stories that idea has produced.
The Scarlet Gospels is not a cynical book. It’s not a lazy book. It’s the work of an imaginative and ambitious writer reaching for something grand. But for me, the concept can no longer hold its shape under the bright lights of explanation. Maybe it never could.
This isn’t meant to be a takedown. It’s a reflection. A reminder that not all ideas are meant to be expanded. Some are meant to haunt us only in glimpses.
September 29, 2015
I've been a huge Barker fan for decades and loved both the Hellbound Heart and the Hellraiser movies (OK, the first 2 movies mostly). I'd been warned that The Scarlet Gospels was a bit disappointing, but I had no idea how right they were. The list of gripes with the book is long, so I'll stick to the main ones.
The first warning is that the Hellbound Heart link is not there. Yeah, we have Lemarchand's box and cenobites, but not the book versions. These are the movie versions. Pinhead, who was the principal villain in The Scarlet Gospels is a creation of the movie franchise. In the original book the pinhead character is female (with ruby-capped pins) and the lead priest is not as well described. The cenobites also glow blue, are only visible to those that opened the box, can torment you by far more than hooks and chains, and follow a leader known as The Engineer. So just be warned that the novel is a movie tie-in and not a literary one.
Anyway, Pinhead (who really hates being called that) is going rogue and killing all the world's magicians and devouring their knowledge. His plans are to take over Hell. I was extremely disappointed to see that Hell is pretty much the Christian Hell and not the surreal other world as it was in the books.
Now we have Harry D'Amour who is working a case to clear out a love-nest house that belonged to a recently deceased man. Technically the man's ghost hired him. Harry goes to New Orleans to clear the house, but it end up being a very forced and weird trap by Pinhead to get Harry. The link between them is weak as best. Unable to get Harry, Pinhead captures Harry's friend and drags her down to Hell. This send Harry on a long journey with a rag-tag team of friends to go after her. They travel the underworld, which is so vaguely described at times that I had not real idea what it looked like most of the time. Eventually they catch up with Pinhead and the battle is on.
I'm not going to spoil it for you with details, but here's the kicker, Harry D'Amour is completely unnecessary for the Pinhead story-line. As in he makes zero effect on what's going on with the cenobite's takeover. You could have deleted Harry entirely from the story and what Pinhead does and what happens to him will be unchanged.
The other characters are pretty terrible. At one point character reactions were so unbelievable and so ludicrous that I wanted to stop the book, but I was too close to the end. Essentially the heroes are wandering along a desert highway with the body of their friend. No one stops for them. No one even calls the cops that there's a group of people going along the highway with a dead body. Eventually the are rescued by a holy-roller preacher in a limo. He offers them a ride and they put the dead body of their friend in the limo and start to drive. The preacher, completely unfazed that there is a dead body in the car in the seat beside him doesn't even ask about it or bat an eye (he says some line about how God has called his angel home and praises God), but decides to lecture two of the heroes about the sins of homosexuality. Really? There is a dead human body in the seat beside him and he doesn't react to it or even question it? Eventually the heroes get tired of the preaching and carjack the guy, steal the limo, and leave the preacher, his driver, and assistant on the side of the road. They take away their phones so they can't call the police, and then they drive all the way from Arizona to New York in a stolen limo and no thought that maybe they might get pulled over because that's a long drive and eventually the preacher might get to a phone.
This is only one example of how people don't act in any believable way. Trust me, there's more.
I said before that some scenes are under-described. Barker has always been brilliant with detail, but here, unless it's gruesome gore, we get barely anything. At one point there is a battle with thousands of demons and its so loosely described that I kept forgetting that it was even going on.
I really wanted to like this book. I lowered my expectations ahead of time because of what I'd heard. It was worse than I'd imagined.
The first warning is that the Hellbound Heart link is not there. Yeah, we have Lemarchand's box and cenobites, but not the book versions. These are the movie versions. Pinhead, who was the principal villain in The Scarlet Gospels is a creation of the movie franchise. In the original book the pinhead character is female (with ruby-capped pins) and the lead priest is not as well described. The cenobites also glow blue, are only visible to those that opened the box, can torment you by far more than hooks and chains, and follow a leader known as The Engineer. So just be warned that the novel is a movie tie-in and not a literary one.
Anyway, Pinhead (who really hates being called that) is going rogue and killing all the world's magicians and devouring their knowledge. His plans are to take over Hell. I was extremely disappointed to see that Hell is pretty much the Christian Hell and not the surreal other world as it was in the books.
Now we have Harry D'Amour who is working a case to clear out a love-nest house that belonged to a recently deceased man. Technically the man's ghost hired him. Harry goes to New Orleans to clear the house, but it end up being a very forced and weird trap by Pinhead to get Harry. The link between them is weak as best. Unable to get Harry, Pinhead captures Harry's friend and drags her down to Hell. This send Harry on a long journey with a rag-tag team of friends to go after her. They travel the underworld, which is so vaguely described at times that I had not real idea what it looked like most of the time. Eventually they catch up with Pinhead and the battle is on.
I'm not going to spoil it for you with details, but here's the kicker, Harry D'Amour is completely unnecessary for the Pinhead story-line. As in he makes zero effect on what's going on with the cenobite's takeover. You could have deleted Harry entirely from the story and what Pinhead does and what happens to him will be unchanged.
The other characters are pretty terrible. At one point character reactions were so unbelievable and so ludicrous that I wanted to stop the book, but I was too close to the end. Essentially the heroes are wandering along a desert highway with the body of their friend. No one stops for them. No one even calls the cops that there's a group of people going along the highway with a dead body. Eventually the are rescued by a holy-roller preacher in a limo. He offers them a ride and they put the dead body of their friend in the limo and start to drive. The preacher, completely unfazed that there is a dead body in the car in the seat beside him doesn't even ask about it or bat an eye (he says some line about how God has called his angel home and praises God), but decides to lecture two of the heroes about the sins of homosexuality. Really? There is a dead human body in the seat beside him and he doesn't react to it or even question it? Eventually the heroes get tired of the preaching and carjack the guy, steal the limo, and leave the preacher, his driver, and assistant on the side of the road. They take away their phones so they can't call the police, and then they drive all the way from Arizona to New York in a stolen limo and no thought that maybe they might get pulled over because that's a long drive and eventually the preacher might get to a phone.
This is only one example of how people don't act in any believable way. Trust me, there's more.
I said before that some scenes are under-described. Barker has always been brilliant with detail, but here, unless it's gruesome gore, we get barely anything. At one point there is a battle with thousands of demons and its so loosely described that I kept forgetting that it was even going on.
I really wanted to like this book. I lowered my expectations ahead of time because of what I'd heard. It was worse than I'd imagined.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2015
3.75; I've never been a Barker fanatic; I've yet to read the majority of his novels, and while I enjoyed the Books of Blood, for me it doesn't come close to other horror collections from the same period - Campbell's Dark Companions, Wagner's In a Lonely Place, Schow's Seeing Red or Klein's Dark Gods - that I hold in far greater esteem. However, I also believe The Hellbound Heart to be an undisputed masterpiece, and so a sequel to that work has been something I have eagerly awaiting ever since it was announced (and continually delayed) back in '08. The book that has finally resulted cannot of course live up to such expectations, and the result is a novel that is more entertaining than great; although the latter portion of the book, wherein the true nature of hell and the devil himself are revealed, is an amazing piece of mythological detournement that recaptures some of the visionary power that endowed The Hellbound Heart with genius, and makes up for some of the book's other excesses.
March 24, 2016
This was AMAZEBALLS.
I've also been having a Hellraiser marathon.
The book was a gore-fest. A gore-filled perverse LOTR-esque journey through Hell.
I don't want to give any spoilers away, but this book changed everything in the Hellraiser universe.
A treat to read for fans, I think. At least for me.
I've also been having a Hellraiser marathon.
The book was a gore-fest. A gore-filled perverse LOTR-esque journey through Hell.
I don't want to give any spoilers away, but this book changed everything in the Hellraiser universe.
A treat to read for fans, I think. At least for me.
May 28, 2015
This book is, in a word, ridiculous.
I was a fan of Barker back in the day. In the early nineties, I couldn't get enough of the new, darker wave of horror, and Barker was the poster boy for this particular brand. I still remember the terrible covers of the Books of Blood, gummy worms on plastic masks... but the stories haunted. In the Hills, the Cities remains in my subconscious.
So I was quite pleased to hear that he was returning to the horror world with this long -awaited book. So imagine my disappointment when I found the amateurish, pointless writing within.
There are a lot of things I could look at: the needless characters, the bizarre metaphysics, the pathetic attempts at humor... but let's talk about the wordcraft.
Clive Barker has been a professional writer for decades. He's got experience, and some talent. So why the hell is he writing sentences like :
As the water poured over him, Harry imagined that it cleaned him not only of his body’s naturally collected oils but also of the events of the past few days.
"Naturally collected oils. " such elegant writing!
or:
"Do not bother to run, Harry D’Amour,” said the Cenobite, releasing Harry from the chain’s grip. “For there is nowhere to go."
or
" Your modesty nauseates me. Be boastful while you have the breath for it. You are Harry D’Amour: private investigator, scourge of Hell."
or my favorite:
"The stomach of one had been hooked and hauled up through his throat; the face of another was emerging from his butt hole like a prodigious bowel movement."
Such cliche!
It's ugly. It's riddled with stupid adverbs ("the door was severely locked"?!) and there is a character whose sole means of communication seems to be dick jokes.
On the whole, it reads like Clive Barker fanfiction. Harry D'Amour meets Pinhead! (But don't use that name! it's stupid and insulting but everyone uses it so oh well...) There is no real plot, just a string of events that have no reason to happen and a word insistence on specific details (it took Harry less than ten seconds to pick a lock, it was four steps from the door to another room, pinhead cut the legs off seven demons at once, etc.).
It's not unreadable, hence the 2nd star, but it's not good. It's barely mediocre. And coming from the one time dark prince of horror, that's pretty bad.
I was a fan of Barker back in the day. In the early nineties, I couldn't get enough of the new, darker wave of horror, and Barker was the poster boy for this particular brand. I still remember the terrible covers of the Books of Blood, gummy worms on plastic masks... but the stories haunted. In the Hills, the Cities remains in my subconscious.
So I was quite pleased to hear that he was returning to the horror world with this long -awaited book. So imagine my disappointment when I found the amateurish, pointless writing within.
There are a lot of things I could look at: the needless characters, the bizarre metaphysics, the pathetic attempts at humor... but let's talk about the wordcraft.
Clive Barker has been a professional writer for decades. He's got experience, and some talent. So why the hell is he writing sentences like :
As the water poured over him, Harry imagined that it cleaned him not only of his body’s naturally collected oils but also of the events of the past few days.
"Naturally collected oils. " such elegant writing!
or:
"Do not bother to run, Harry D’Amour,” said the Cenobite, releasing Harry from the chain’s grip. “For there is nowhere to go."
or
" Your modesty nauseates me. Be boastful while you have the breath for it. You are Harry D’Amour: private investigator, scourge of Hell."
or my favorite:
"The stomach of one had been hooked and hauled up through his throat; the face of another was emerging from his butt hole like a prodigious bowel movement."
Such cliche!
It's ugly. It's riddled with stupid adverbs ("the door was severely locked"?!) and there is a character whose sole means of communication seems to be dick jokes.
On the whole, it reads like Clive Barker fanfiction. Harry D'Amour meets Pinhead! (But don't use that name! it's stupid and insulting but everyone uses it so oh well...) There is no real plot, just a string of events that have no reason to happen and a word insistence on specific details (it took Harry less than ten seconds to pick a lock, it was four steps from the door to another room, pinhead cut the legs off seven demons at once, etc.).
It's not unreadable, hence the 2nd star, but it's not good. It's barely mediocre. And coming from the one time dark prince of horror, that's pretty bad.
May 16, 2015
I'm an enthusiastic lover of Clive Barker's fantasy - Weaveworld will be forever in my all-time top 10 books - so I was excited to read The Scarlet Gospels and ... I probably should have read the blurb before I did and would have known this was a change in direction, a re-visiting of old characters, a return to horror, etc. etc. In short, this was not what I was hoping for. Compared to the novels I love, this lacked all depth and beauty of language. All the characters lacked depth - it was all about the horror and the plot and the plot was passé, which only leaves the horror and the horror didn't interest me at all. There seemed to be a lot of re-hashed ideas. I felt I was reading something I'd read somewhere before. I never thought I'd say this about Clive Barker, but I felt it lacked imagination - not in the execution or the imagery, both of those were as good as ever - but in the basic ideas themselves and the characters, being as substantial as wet tissue paper, failed to engage me in whatever blood and sizzling gore was going on; I didn't really care what happened to any of them. I found myself skipping most of the lengthy - sometimes very lengthy, often seemingly endless - descriptions of frying heads, bloodnguts and dismemberment. My interest ebbed and flowed. Sometimes the plot would pick up and get intriguing, more often than not my interest ground to a complete halt. Mostly, I'm really sad to say, I found it lacklustre and more than a bit boring.
January 26, 2016
This is a book that author/artist/filmmaker Clive Barker has been hinting at writing for over a decade at least. While he has continued on moving away with his unique style of fantasy and in recent years, children's series Abarat, he said he would return to the horror genre which started his career all those years ago.
Given that this is an author who totally changed what we could expect from horror fiction in the 80's with his Books of Blood series, and the man who created the film monster Pinhead, hopes for this return were truly huge. There has always continued to be horror elements in his strange and fantastical books over the years, but here he moves right back into the full style of the genre finally.
So does it work? With Barker, it is not simply the story but the prose style as well which is to be enjoyed. Barker knows classic myths and storytelling, he here crafts a tragic horror epic in the style we should expect.
The big draw with this book was that Barker promised that it would be the end of his Cenobite Hellraiser horror icon Pinhead. The demon character may continue on in half-hearted films, but on the page at least, he would be killed off by his maker.
Along with the final return of possibly the most famous character from Barker, he along brings into this story one of his other long-time fan favourite characters, detective Harry D-Amour, and the combinations of these two works really well.
The story sees Pinhead collecting up the most powerful forms of magic hidden in the world, to aid his plans to conquer Hell.
Right from the first few pages Barker gives us a gruesome selection of highly disturbing and horrific scenes, showing just what kind of things Pinhead will do to get what he wants. Soon after, Harry D'Amour is tricked into the path of Pinhead and a hellish tale is unfolded.
I had read some reviews before reading the book, and also with this being so long since a real and genuine horror book from Barker, expectations were extremely high, and in some ways I have felt let down a little. But I know that this is a very talented and brave author who, over all looks to write a good story, no matter what the genre, even in horror. So while the horror elements may calm down so far into the book, the greater tale is told in a continuous grand style down in Hell, among demons and dangers with Harry and his friends on a mission to escape and put an end to the demonic war below.
Expect more than just simple horror from Clive Barker if you read this. This may be his last horror novel, and if so well it is a very well told tale, with a huge scope and so much at stake in this story which still offers many moments that may turn your stomach, make your skin crawl.
Given that this is an author who totally changed what we could expect from horror fiction in the 80's with his Books of Blood series, and the man who created the film monster Pinhead, hopes for this return were truly huge. There has always continued to be horror elements in his strange and fantastical books over the years, but here he moves right back into the full style of the genre finally.
So does it work? With Barker, it is not simply the story but the prose style as well which is to be enjoyed. Barker knows classic myths and storytelling, he here crafts a tragic horror epic in the style we should expect.
The big draw with this book was that Barker promised that it would be the end of his Cenobite Hellraiser horror icon Pinhead. The demon character may continue on in half-hearted films, but on the page at least, he would be killed off by his maker.
Along with the final return of possibly the most famous character from Barker, he along brings into this story one of his other long-time fan favourite characters, detective Harry D-Amour, and the combinations of these two works really well.
The story sees Pinhead collecting up the most powerful forms of magic hidden in the world, to aid his plans to conquer Hell.
Right from the first few pages Barker gives us a gruesome selection of highly disturbing and horrific scenes, showing just what kind of things Pinhead will do to get what he wants. Soon after, Harry D'Amour is tricked into the path of Pinhead and a hellish tale is unfolded.
I had read some reviews before reading the book, and also with this being so long since a real and genuine horror book from Barker, expectations were extremely high, and in some ways I have felt let down a little. But I know that this is a very talented and brave author who, over all looks to write a good story, no matter what the genre, even in horror. So while the horror elements may calm down so far into the book, the greater tale is told in a continuous grand style down in Hell, among demons and dangers with Harry and his friends on a mission to escape and put an end to the demonic war below.
Expect more than just simple horror from Clive Barker if you read this. This may be his last horror novel, and if so well it is a very well told tale, with a huge scope and so much at stake in this story which still offers many moments that may turn your stomach, make your skin crawl.
May 30, 2015
I have seen several of the HellRaiser movies, however this is the first book that I have actually read about the famed Pinhead. I can remember watching some of the movies and being scared but fascinated at the same time. So I was looking forward to reading this book. Well it did have the horror and gore that I was expecting from this book. I was fascinated by everything happening in this story. I would be lost in the moment reading and have to tear myself away to attend to real life. I could read this book and sleep just fine with no nightmares. Don't know if this is a good thing or that I am a little sick and twisted like Mr. Barker and enjoy reading this stuff. Either way, I did enjoy reading this book.
I just was a little disappointed that there was not a big battle between Pinhead and Detective D'Amour. They did interact but not on the level and high intensity that I was hoping and looking forward towards. Although the depths of Hell and the details that Mr. Barker wrote about this world did make up some for what was lacking. I now plan to go back and re-watch the movies and check out all of the prior novels.
I just was a little disappointed that there was not a big battle between Pinhead and Detective D'Amour. They did interact but not on the level and high intensity that I was hoping and looking forward towards. Although the depths of Hell and the details that Mr. Barker wrote about this world did make up some for what was lacking. I now plan to go back and re-watch the movies and check out all of the prior novels.
March 16, 2015
Barker's long-anticipated novel features occult detective Harry D'Amour, last seen in the stories "The Last Illusion" and "Lost Souls" and the novel EVERVILLE, coming up against the Cenobite known as Pinhead, last seen in the novella "The Hellbound Heart" and of course the HELLRAISER films. It's the crossover event of the year and, being most definitely a horror novel and not a fantasy, a much awaited return to form for the author. For the most part, it lives up to my heightened expectations. The story hits the ground running and doesn't let up, with much to celebrate along the way. The Cenobite's initial appearance in the novel is terrifying, exhilarating, and so welcome I found myself falling instantly in love with the novel. We get to see Hell, and the Monastery of the Cenobitic Order, and we get to enjoy brief cameos from other Cenobites who have appeared in the Hellraiser mythos. Harry D'Amour and his blind, psychic friend Norma Paine, who has also appeared in previous Barker works, are given a creepy, supernatural mission in New Orleans that leads them on a collision course with our favorite Cenobite, who, it turns out, has a bigger, more epic plan in mind than simply killing Harry. Barker's trademark sensuality is on display everywhere -- many of the monsters sport erections! -- as is his usual compassion toward those who are often on the fringes of society.
I'm giving this book five stars because in many ways it's everything I've been hoping for from Barker for a long time now, but that highest of ratings is not without some caveats. Because as enjoyable as the story is, it's also rather sloppy. An intriguing plot development arises at the very end of the prologue but never comes to fruition. Harry suffers a magical attack in New Orleans from an interesting character I would have liked to learn more about, but we never learn why she attacks him and she is immediately dismissed and forgotten. But it's in the novel's final third that it truly begins to falter. Not every line of dialogue needs to be a quip, especially when the characters are faced with the horrors of Hell. Near the end, the Cenobite performs an act of violence on one of Harry's friends that, to me, felt wildly out of character, which I admit is a strange thing to say about a character who revels in pain and violence. Unfortunately, the climax is particularly unsatisfying, with Harry and his friends playing no active part in the outcome. Instead, a third major player appears and does everything. In fact, Harry has nothing to do with the Cenobite's ultimate fate, and worse, isn't even there to see it. The pages where Harry and the Cenobite ought to be having their final confrontation are devoted instead to a painfully didactic scene where Harry and his friends meet an anti-gay hellfire-and-brimstone preacher in a limousine.
Make no mistake, despite my criticisms THE SCARLET GOSPELS is everything you could want in a Clive Barker horror novel. Until that final third, it delivers on its promise, and though it falters in the end it's still well worth the time of any Clive Barker fan. Five stars may seem like a lot for a novel that I had so many issues with, but even as my mind registered those complaints I couldn't stop reading. Yes, I wanted more and better, but THE SCARLET GOSPELS is its own kind of masterpiece: flawed, brutal, thrilling, frustrating, and compelling. You don't want to miss it.
I'm giving this book five stars because in many ways it's everything I've been hoping for from Barker for a long time now, but that highest of ratings is not without some caveats. Because as enjoyable as the story is, it's also rather sloppy. An intriguing plot development arises at the very end of the prologue but never comes to fruition. Harry suffers a magical attack in New Orleans from an interesting character I would have liked to learn more about, but we never learn why she attacks him and she is immediately dismissed and forgotten. But it's in the novel's final third that it truly begins to falter. Not every line of dialogue needs to be a quip, especially when the characters are faced with the horrors of Hell. Near the end, the Cenobite performs an act of violence on one of Harry's friends that, to me, felt wildly out of character, which I admit is a strange thing to say about a character who revels in pain and violence. Unfortunately, the climax is particularly unsatisfying, with Harry and his friends playing no active part in the outcome. Instead, a third major player appears and does everything. In fact, Harry has nothing to do with the Cenobite's ultimate fate, and worse, isn't even there to see it. The pages where Harry and the Cenobite ought to be having their final confrontation are devoted instead to a painfully didactic scene where Harry and his friends meet an anti-gay hellfire-and-brimstone preacher in a limousine.
Make no mistake, despite my criticisms THE SCARLET GOSPELS is everything you could want in a Clive Barker horror novel. Until that final third, it delivers on its promise, and though it falters in the end it's still well worth the time of any Clive Barker fan. Five stars may seem like a lot for a novel that I had so many issues with, but even as my mind registered those complaints I couldn't stop reading. Yes, I wanted more and better, but THE SCARLET GOSPELS is its own kind of masterpiece: flawed, brutal, thrilling, frustrating, and compelling. You don't want to miss it.
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