The Evil of the American Girl

I announced in http://phantomofpulp.blogspot.com/2009/03/meet-girls-from-stepford.html that the American Girls are here. They're not coming soon. They're not waiting around the corner. THEY ARE HERE.

The March 2009 catalog is a deathlist of more troubling developments and heinous events.

Somehow, they've penetrated the music conservatory. Some will be fooled by their "perfect harmony". I won't. At least I don't think I will.

This one's waiting for your call. I suggest you "lose" her number.

Clever idea. Covering those John Wyndham eyes with sunnies.

Is that a coffin she's sitting up in or a bed? I could have sworn it was a coffin.

And what the fuck is it with Bennett and Yank, little Molly's hellhounds? Yank?! Bennett? Who named these two?

Yeah, bring home your "Bitty Baby" and say goodbye to your future.

Pity the unfortunate blond moppet (pictured) who is yet to taste the bittersweet nectar of synthetic homicide.

Ah, the bliss of ignorance. Better make the most of your day on the town, girls, because it will be your last.

Note the malicious, future thinking grin on the dial of the doll in green.

What pretty evil these maidens bear.

The "finding friendship" mini-essay above refers to a group of "mean girls" who are making it hard for Chrissa to fit in. Her dilemma is: Will she side with Sonali (sounds like a foreigner!) or Gwen?

Well, she decides to go with the local lama instead.

Say a prayer for the gullible beast.

The Spring catalog of plastic killers promises: "She'll look her best in a new Spring doll dress."

Unfortunately, our covergirl will be lucky to live beyond bedtime.

When this doll strikes, it's blood- and brain-splattered sheets all the way!

The Underrated Coroner of Evil

Jessica Hamilton, who has written as Ken Greenhall in the US, has a distinct, rare voice. Virtually ignored on both sides of the Atlantic, she (or perhaps he?) has been absent from the genre for some time.

'Elizabeth' (Sphere, '76) was the first of Ms. Hamilton's slim, disturbing novels that I encountered. The second was 'Baxter' (Sphere, '77); it was titled 'Hell Hound' in the U.S. (Zebra) and attributed to Greenhall. As is Hamilton/Greenhall's style, the narrative unfolds from a taut, almost sociopathic, first person perspective. Elizabeth is a fourteen year girl who comes under the influence of a dead woman. She is encouraged to commit terrible acts of violence, beginning with the callous murder of her own parents.

The writing style is elegant and precise; the subject matter is dark and sinister.

'Baxter', like James Herbert's 'Fluke', is told from a dog's point of view -- in this case, a malevolent bull terrier. The dog kills each of his masters until he finds one who can command his respect.

The dog contemplates his future: "There must be some who see the world as I do; who know neither love nor fear.. I think I can find such a person..." When he does, death and
destruction result.

Once again, Hamilton takes firm control of the language and paints a macabre portrait of a sinister, cruel mind. The writing is tight and elegant, pretty on the surface, but swarming with rot and disease beneath the skin.

In 1989, French director Jerome Boivin adpated 'Baxter' for the silver screen. The film perfectly captured the book's tone and Hamilton's facility with language. The dog's voice-over, spoken in a throaty French baritone, added enormous weight to the dank, disturbing atmosphere.

Pocket Books, in the U.S., released 'Childgrave' ('82)


...and 'The Companion' ('88) under the Ken Greenhall moniker.

Once again, both novels are superb explorations of evil at a very intimate level. The writing is consistently powerful and disturbing.

Two additional novels, which I haven't read, exist: "Death Chain" (Pocket, '91) and the very well reviewed 'Lenoir' (Zoland Books, 2000), a non-horror effort about a black slave in Amsterdam.

In the UK, the Sunday Times called 'Elizabeth' an "elegant study of a world in which evil is total and triumphant".

Of 'Baxter', the Evening News said it is "A novel of inhuman horror".

Few modern authors have performed literary autopsies on the mechanics of evil so stylishly and as thoroughly as Jessica Hamilton/Ken Greenhall.

The mere recalling of my experiences reading these books gives me a delicious frisson of dread.

The author, a coroner of human evil, is really THAT good.

*****

fantasticfiction.com lists Greenhall's birth date as 1928