Description:

Volume Four of Clive Barker's seminal Books of Blood contains the stories: 'The Body Politic', 'The Inhuman Condition', 'Revelations', 'Down, Satan!', 'The Age of Desire'. With the 1984 publication of Books of Blood, Clive Barker became an overnight literary sensation. He was hailed by Stephen King as "the future of horror", and won both the British and World Fantasy Awards. Now, with his numerous bestsellers, graphic novels, and hit movies like the Hellraiser, Clive Barker has become an industry unto himself. But it all started here, with this tour de force collection that rivals the dark masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe. Read him and rediscover the true meaning of fear.

Terrifying and forbidding, subversive and insightful, Clive Barker's groundbreaking stories revolutionized the worlds of horrific and fantastical fiction and established Barker's dominance over the otherworldly and the all-too-real. Here, as two businessmen encounter beautiful and seductive women and an earnest young woman researches a city slum, Barker maps the boundless vistas of the unfettered imagination -- only to uncover a profound sense of terror and overwhelming dread.

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From Library Journal

Four novellas by horror writer Barker ( The Inhuman Condition ) make up this slim but worthwhile collection. In one, a prison inmate is haunted by the spirit of his grandfather; in another, a young woman studying graffiti in a seedy housing project encounters a local legend in the flesh. This British writer's plots are extremely inventive and creative; like Peter Straub, he produces intellectual horror stories that are truly frightening. Only the final story, in which an American tourist stumbles across a strange asylum, with world-shaking results, is weak in comparison to the compelling eeriness and atmosphere of the others, yet still clever. Horror fans unacquainted with Barker's work will enjoy a new author; established fans will be enthusiastic. Recommended for large fiction collections. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates. Eric W. Johnson, Univ. of Bridgeport Lib., Ct.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Detroit News With elegant, terrifying strokes, Barker draws a universe of fear underlying the commonplace....Behind every mirror, under every carpet and in the heart of dirty streets is an elemental evil, a raw and hungry power....This is good, scary, stuff...The pacing is inexorable, the settings chilling, and the fates remorseless. In the Flesh makes you wonder what horror lies around the corner.

The Boston Herald [Barker] gives his stories the certainties of bad dreams...The first and last stories in this collection stand out as horror classics, meriting frequent glimpses into dark cornersfor a good while after they are done.

The Philadelphia Inquirer Fiendishly good...unnerving, inspired...death, sex, fear, and self-knowledge come forth in many guises.

The New York Times Book Review ...plays upon our unconscious terrors...What a breath of fresh, if chilling, air.