R. Chetwynd-Hayes – The Awakening

R. Chetwynd-Hayes – The Awakening (Magnum Books, 1980)

1658: Van Hoorn and Abdul discover an ancient tomb – that of Queen Kara, the Evil One. But the Curse of the Pharoes falls upon them and both are killed in a terrible storm which reseals the tomb.

1961: Sir Matthew Corbeck and Jane Howell, after a long search using Van Hoorns’ notes, rediscover the tomb and bring out the mummy of Queen Kara.

Kara’s Spirit is determined to live again. Having waited thousands of years, her time is nearly right. When Sir Matthew ’s daughter is 18, Kara makes her move. And with Sir Matthew’s help to reincarnate her, her evil powers grow again. Too late, he realises the danger to his daughter…and there is nothing he can do to stop it…

Thanks to Rog Pile of A Haunted Dolls House for the scan and back cover blurb!

Peter Saxon – Scream And Scream Again

Peter Saxon – Scream And Scream Again (Paperback Library, Dec. 1967. Previously known as The Disorientated Man)

I couldn’t make sense of the film on one viewing and I also struggled with the novel first time around, so lets see if I’m any the wiser after a rematch.

London. Detective Chief-Super Dale Keene is investigating a series of gruesome murders. The victims are young women whose throats have been slashed and all the blood drained from their bodies. On the wrists of the deceased, twin puncture marks which suggest that the killer is a vampire. One of the girls was employed as a maid by mild-mannered Dr. Browning, so he’s obviously our number one suspect. A plan to capture the murderer using P.C. Helen Bradford as bait backfires when the bloodsucker kills her on Tooting Common and effortlessly toughs up her colleagues when they race to her rescue after hearing sucking noises over their tracking device.

Elsewhere Ken Spartan, Olympic athlete, collapses while out jogging. He wakes up in hospital with a silent nurse feeding him something through a straw. His arms and legs are systematically amputated over a period of …. days? months? Spartan has no way of knowing as he’s kept permanently stoned.

Meanwhile in East Germany, the sadist Konrath has risen through the ranks of the Secret Police, disposing of any immediate superiors with the patented Vulcan death grip whenever they question his methods of obtaining information.

That brings us up to the halfway mark. Seems to me as though 70 pages is not gonna be enough to bring all these strands together satisfactorily which is maybe what baffled me last time. And the back cover blurb promises Black Magic – we’ve not had a hint of any of that yet.

What happens next? “Review” continues on Vault of Evil!

Thanks to ade for top cover scan!