Stephen Laws

This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com: https://www.scifiandscary.com/ghost-train-review/

‘Ghost Train’ was the first novel by Stephen Laws, who published a number of books in the 80s and 90s (and a couple since 2000). He’s more akin to Ramsey Campbell and Clive Barker than many of the other authors featured so far in Carry on Screaming. His books blend gore and psychological horror to great effect, with a Northern (UK) vibe and convincing characters. These are well crafted novels written with brain and heart rather than Guy N Smith style schlock-fests churned out to make a quick buck.
‘Ghost Train’ tells the story of Mark, a man haunted by two events from his past. As a child he and a school friend were attacked by the owner of a ghost train and as an adult he fell from a speeding train and suffered severe injuries. Months after the second event he is drawn back to Newcastle station where his unfortunate journey began, desperate to remember exactly what happened. As the plot develops he meets a policeman investigating his accident who reveals that a series of bizarre attacks and incidents have taken place on the same train line.
The book isn’t entirely successful, the mix of folklore and contemporary horror didn’t always work for me and the escalation of events at the end felt a bit rushed. When it’s good, though, it’s brilliant. The scenes of terror are often extremely effective. They’re nightmarishly bewildering, chilling, horrific and wonderfully tense. Laws throws in a number of new attacks with unrelated characters. These aren’t necessarily essential for the plot, but they are chilling and grimly enjoyable. Best of all, he captures the terrible fear of the unknown. Mark knows that bad things have happened to him, but he doesn’t know exactly what they were. His frantic search for the truth is gripping and genuinely scary. Like Mark, you need to know what happened, whilst fearing that the reality will be too much to take.
… (més)

This was my introduction to Laws, and led me to seek out everything he has written.

It's all based on a great premise... that the main East Coast rail line from London to the North of England is on a ley line that can channel power to the London End, with a view to waking an ancient demon.

Strange deaths abound on the line. Our protagonist, himself a survivor of a strange experience on a train, has to try to stop the energy building up.

The climax is a tour-de-force as the train hurtles to London, the demon grows ever more powerful, and the deaths pile up.

Laws has a wild imagination, and he likes to kill people in very gruesome fashions, but if, like me, you like your horror fast and action packed, then he's the man for you.… (més)