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Johnny Gruesome
Gregory Lamberson
ISBN# 1934755451
ISBN# 9781934755457
Trade Paperback
US $15.95 / CDN $17.95
Horror
OCTOBER 2008

 

     

 

 

 

The upstate village of Red Hill is about to learn the meaning of fear.

Johnny Grissom, nicknamed "Johnny Gruesome" by his high school classmates, is a heavy-metal hellion who loves to party, watch horror movies, and get into fights. His best friend, Eric, admires him, and his girlfriend, Karen, loves him.

One winter night, Johnny's car, the Death Mobile, is discovered submerged beneath the icy surface of Willow Creek, with Johnny's waterlogged corpse inside. The residents of Red Hill believe that Johnny's death was accidental.

Then the murders begin—horrible acts of violent vengeance that hint at a deepening mystery and terror yet to come. A headless body is discovered at the high school. A priest is forced to confront his own misdeeds. And a mortician encounters the impossible.

One by one, Johnny's enemies meet a grisly demise, as the sound of a car engine and maniacal laughter fill the night. The students at Red Hill High School fear for their lives—especially Johnny's closest friends, who harbor a dark secret.

If people thought Johnny had a bad attitude when he was alive, wait until they encounter him when he's dead!

Johnny Gruesome is a valentine to E.C. Comics, Marvel's Tomb of Dracula, and such gory 1980s splatter flicks as Re-Animator and Return of the Living Dead. The novel is a horror fan's nightmare come true!

 

Reviews

 

“If you like your horror fast and nasty, then take a ride with Johnny Gruesome. GRUESOME is a loving and intelligent tribute to the classic splatter films that set the pace for modern horror. With sharp writing and an eye for detail. Lamberson masterfully brings a nightmare to life. Bold and trashy in all the right ways, Johnny Gruesome is a book (and a villain) you won’t soon forget.”
~ Lee Thomas, author of Parish Damned and The Dust of Wonderland

Johnny Gruesome is a rarity: bright and clever descriptions, an elusive sense of humor, and high-level pacing. I wish I had written it.”
~ Herschell Gordon Lewis, The Godfather of Gore: Blood Feast and 2,000 Maniacs


“Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll are back, in the Death Mobile drivin’, leather jacket-clad corpse of Johnny Gruesome, a man who lives up to his name in every sense of the word. The reader is advised to put some Alice Cooper on high volume, crack open a can of beer and dive right in. Be forewarned, however, this is one ride through the hell of high school and the wince-inducing gore of undead vengeance you may have to take more than once. In Johnny Gruesome, horror has a new hero.”
~ Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Currency of Souls, The Turtle Boy, and The Hides


Johnny Gruesomehas a frightening sense of detail that makes it all the more horrific — it’s a gruesome ride that you can’t stop reading.”
~ Gunnar Hansen, “Leatherface” in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre


“Any way you slice things, it just doesn’t get any more gruesome than this. Greg Lamberson’s Johnny Gruesome is a rotting fetid romp of a novel that shows you a little of life post-mortem for your average teenage headbanger. A B-movie nightmare recreated with loving fan-boy zeal, I give it an “F” for fun, freaky and foul fucked-up funk.”
~ Steve Vernon Author of Hard Roads Gray Friar Press


“Greg Lamberson’s Johnny Gruesome is edgy, violent, supernaturally cool and the new undead king of quick-and-dirty horror. Johnny Gruesome spins the zombie genre into a fresh and ballsy hard-rock direction that just kills!”
~ Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Ghost Road Blues and Dead Man's Song

Johnny Gruesome has the potential to become an iconic horror character in the mold of such genre heavyweights as Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees. With a cinematic eye (what else can you expect from the man who directed such films as Slime City and Undying Love?), Gregory Lamberson gives us what could have been a great B-movie about revenge from beyond the grave, but which instead has been fleshed out and given richer life in the form of a novel. The result is a fun, compelling read with characters we care about.”
~ L. L. Soares

“Gregory Lamberson’s Johnny Gruesome isn’t just your old run of the mill zombie tale. It’s a smokin’ hot, sexy, rockin’ zombie adventure!”
~ Angeline Hawkes, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of The Commandments

“Gregory Lamberson is a storyteller who knows how to spin a solid horror tale, and Johnny Gruesome is a delicious rotting slice of living dead horror, as American as apple pie à la mode and a strong cup of Joe at the diner of the dammed.

Lamberson delivers the goods here, folks; Gruesome lives up to its title, and Johnny himself is a character you won’t forget in a hurry. One of the most enjoyable scare-fests I’ve read this year.”
~ Philip Nutman, author of Wet Work, and co-screenwriter of Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door

"This homage to the splatter films of the 1980s...is a wild ride through the darker recesses of the reader's imagination.... Recommended to anyone who loves their horror hard, fast, and fun."
~ Dave Simms, Hellnotes

"Horror fans who loved over-the-top novels and slasher films of the 1980s will see their youthful favorites released from an uneasy grave with Johnny Gruesome. The killings are deliciously gory, the characters well developed and believable, and the pace is perfect."
~ HorrorWorld

"Here's one for the history books. A novel that not only combines the best of more than a half-dozen tropes in horror literature (ghosts, zombies, serial killers, unkillable slashers, revenge fantasy, etc.), but does it well.... This is top-down one of the best, most gripping, and most gruesome horror novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading.... I would recommend this novel to any horror fan, hands down.... There is no reason not to hold this book to your jaded, black, horror-soaked heart."
~ SkullRing

"Johnny is the kind of villain you find yourself rooting for; he's cool, nasty, and a smart-ass, and not in the way-too-many-bad-puns kind of way.... Does Johnny Gruesome deliver? Yes, yes it does. Johnny Gruesome rocks.... So if you're in the mood to put on your favorite Iron Maiden T-shirt and rock out to your favorite Metallica album in book form, then Johnny Gruesome is just your book."
~ Wil Keiper, Horror YearBook

4 out of 5…Bloody Daggers
“One of the things that sets this book apart from others that are out there is Lamberson’s fast-paced style, giving this novel the feeling of a demented pulp-noir read.… His realistic treatment of a walking corpse is refreshing.… By the end of the book, Gruesome is living up to his moniker, with pieces of his flesh falling off his bones and his own entrails leaking out about. Lamberson pulls no punches, and it makes for a compelling read.”
~ Dread Central

“What makes it all so enjoyable is the literary competence Lamberson brings to the proceedings.… The story is tight and flows along at a very quick pace.… His [Lamberson] sense of fun and the expert presentation make Johnny Gruesome a blast!”
~ Dark Scribe Magazine

5 BookWyrms!
Johnny Gruesome never drags—even in those between-the-horror moments.… There are good people, bad people, and flawed people, oh, and there is one wicked, freakin’ monster named Johnny! It’s rare in Horror Thriller novels that you can actually find old school cool in a book, but Johnny Gruesome is a power pop hook on the printed page!”
~ E.C. McMullen Jr., FeoAmante.com

“Lamberson has the balance just right… This is a book that pushed all the right buttons—mostly with a bloody stump of a finger. Great stuff!”
~ L.E. Lester, Eternal Night