Personal Demons: Book One in The Jake Helman Files Series [Kindle Edition]

I got this book for free (and autographed) via an online book signing; I'd never read anything by him before, so I was walking into this kinda blind (it's been a while since I've done so, as I don't have the money to spare on complete unknowns when it comes to purchases, but it's kinda fun to do so...)

I wasn't really sure what type of book this was going to be - I mean, yes, it's billed as a horror novel, but there are so many sub-genres of horror. This one seems to be a little confused on what sort it is... it almost suffers from multiple personalities as it switches from police procedural/horror to biological horror to supernatural horror with little foreshadowing.

I think I would have set up the 'backstory' as already have happened in the past - Jake Helman is a cop who has a drug habit, and after a duty-related shooting, he resigns rather than be found out as an addict. Twenty four hours later, he's working as head of security for one of the most mysterious and powerful tycoons in New York City.

From there, things get horrific.

As for the style of horror... well, giant nude demonic beings with pendulous members isn't something that strikes a chord of horror with me, but one of comic book superhero over-the-topness.

I think that was the biggest flaw of the book - it wasn't very scary or horrific.

The writing is good, characterisation is solid, plot isn't bad. If supernatural horror/adventure is your thing, then I suggest giving it a try. If not, then pass. This is apparently the first installment of a series, so I will PROBABLY try the 2nd one whenever it is released.

Although this is author Gregory Lamberson's first book, horror fans know him as the director of the early 1980s splatter classic, Slime City. So I was quite excited to see that a great film maker had written a novel. I was expecting it to be like his film, and was quite surprised. The book can be considered a horror book, but it is also very much a hardboiled noir story of a crooked cop- turned private bodyguard. It also has some bizarre speculative elements. We've got a serial killer, ghosts, an evil billionaire tyrant working with secret genetic engineering experiments a hardboiled coke-snorting cop turned bodyguard (who I take it will be appearing in future installments of what I hope will be a series), and a lot more I won't give away. Lamberson manages to combine all of these and combine them into a story that is exciting and compelling. i read it in three days, I found it very hard to put down and I fought sleep to finish it- signs of a great book. There were a lot of interesting surprises, some moments of creepy terror (The Cipher serial killer and the elderly tycoon are supremely creepy characters).
The book starts with a police shooting and takes off by there, and by the end of the book it seems the whole world is in danger.
Although very different from his film Slime City, I found this to be similar in that it was a fun experience, with some really off-the-wall ideas.

Gregory Lamberson's new series, The Jake Helman Files, starts off with a detailed scene showing readers how the book's serial killer, The Cipher, operates. Readers are then introduced to the series' main character, Jake Helman, who works for the New York Special Homicide Task Force. After killing two men shortly into the book, Helman is required to take a drug test. Instead of following orders, Helman decides to take more drastic measures and quits. Less than 48 hours later, Helman receives a phone call from Tower International, a genetic engineering company, about an interview. He goes in that same day and is hired on the spot as their director of security for a salary that he never believed possible in his wildest dreams! After looking around the office a bit, though, he starts to notice some things seem to be a little odd. In particular, he is trying to figure out why strange homeless people are always hanging out right outside Tower International's doors, and why they look so much like The Cipher's victims.

At the beginning of Personal Demons, it appears that the book is going to be an average serial killer book (albeit with a really cool murder method!) where the bad guy goes around slicing each victim for whatever reason, but Lamberson changes that feel abruptly and takes the book to a whole other level! Once Jake Helman leaves the Force and takes on the new job at Tower International, he becomes a magnet for danger. All kinds of hell starts breaking loose, and Lamberson puts Helman through the wringer! It's a wild journey, and one that shouldn't be missed. I had a very hard time putting the book down once I started it. Highly recommended for all fans of the horror genre!

Contains: Violence, Mild gore, Adult Language, Adult Situations

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian dot com