Hunger

This novel starts in a sprightly manner with a group of students swapping wise-cracks and affectionate put-downs while not missing out on drugs, alcohol and sex. Burgess has been here before, and as always writes well. But under the terms of the new Hammer imprint in partnership with Arrow Books, there is also the promise of some old-fashioned horror, and as soon as it appears this story starts falling apart. Ghouls when they make themselves evident are accepted with a disarming lack of surprise by principal characters. Although kidnappings and murders follow no-one in the wider society seems to care very much, least of all any sort of police force. The chief ghoul is intermittently repulsed by a mixture of Christian doctrine and esoteric gleanings from the writings of the Elizabethan necromancer John Dee. But on the various occasions that evil forces from beyond finally seems poised to kill off all the young protagonists there is a puzzling lack of urgency about finishing he job. A rushed ending suggests that by this time the author had also got bored with his impossible story. How much more edifying and entertaining it would have been to read his adolescent memoirs instead, once promised on the publishing scene but to date still to appear.