It might look like a Halloween mask on the cover but it's got a New York Times Book Review blurb! How could you resist Death Tour? It's an alligators-in-the-sewers deal by David J. Michael (don't know anything about him) but I haven't read it. I was kinda surprised to find a handful of reviews on the novel. I even found something on the artist, one Ivan Punchatz. So now you can enjoy your holiday well-contented with horror fiction lore! You're welcome.
Ooh, hardcover!
I've got a fantastically lurid 1980 British edition of this one that I scanned for my blog a few months back:
ReplyDeletehttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sATl_EabR-0/Tlkwx3uc64I/AAAAAAAADwg/W11UGkYZ4rw/s1600/Death%2BTour%2B01.jpg
Stephen King briefly mentioned Death Tour in Danse Macabre, while discussing Harlan Ellison's short story "Croatoan". He called Michael's novel "funny-horrible" but left it at that, so I'm not sure if he meant that it's so bad it's funny, or that it's both funny (in a good way) and gruesome. I'd bet on the latter, for I've read Death Tour and found it intentionally funny and--you guessed it--gruesome. In fact, it's one of my all-time favorites. I was lucky enough to find a pristine paperback copy of it at a used bookstore I worked at many years ago.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It was stolen from my library right after I read it (early 80's), and I've never forgotten it. I would call it "true life horror" What a treasure!
ReplyDeleteHas anyone read his other book? What is David up to these days?
Strikingly short, “Death Tour” is quite effective as quick, dumb fun.
ReplyDeleteNo one will mistake this disposable novel for high literature, but its brevity and momentum make for an entertaining distraction.