Gecko by Jack Priest Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Gecko
Book Review: Scaly, but not scary
Summary: 3 Stars
It was October and I was searching for some scary reads and GECKO, by Jack Priest, was one of the books I picked up. While highly entertaining, the book was not scary. It was action-packed and fast paced, (almost too fast paced at time). There was very little description - character, scene, setting, movement or otherwise - so I found it hard to really feel like I was grounded in the story. And all the scary scenes I was hoping for were skipped over. You never actually witnessed any of the murders.
The one scene that should've been really suspenseful, the MC Jim Monday strapped down naked in a room with a gecko and a black widow, was more of a flamenco dance than a torture scene. I really liked the story's concept. It was very original and interesting, and I'll definitely be picking up more of Priest's books to find out what else his mind can come up with. But if you're a true horror fan and are looking for something that will keep you awake until dawn, biting your fingers and pricking your ears to hear if there's anyone in the house with you - this book isn't going to cut it.
Book Review: Spellbinding
Summary: 4 Stars
Another excellent tome by Jack Priest. When he sent me Ragged Man, Gecko and Night Witch I wasn't overjoyed. I expected to be sated on the genre before I finished the reading the first one (Ragged Man). Horror isn't my long suit, or so I thought.Therefore, I was surprised to find myself a bit sorry when I finished Ragged Man. I immediately began Gecko and stayed up later than my usual pumpkin hour finishing it, enjoying every page.
Gecko is an imaginative, fast-paced combo of sinister supernatural beings, human crime and adventure. The characters are handled well, the monsters are entertaining and the plot is tightly woven. Jack Priest scored another home run with Gecko.
My suspicion is you'll buy another Jack Priest book if you read this one.
Book Review: Super Scary, Fun Book and Even a Bit Sexy
Summary: 4 Stars
I just came off of NIGHT WITCH, also by Jack Priest, and started this one without taking a break and it felt like I'd never left the first book, they go so well together. Though the stories are completely different, they take place in the same northern California towns of Tampico and Palma (just across the way). Some of the background characters are the same, so you really get a sense of still being in the same place.
Anyway, Gecko opens in California where Jim Monday's best friend is killed by the very evil Doctor Kohler. Kohler is after Monday's wife Julia, because basically he wants to get his hands on Monday's money. Monday is rich. He's also about fifty and he gets over his wife leaving him pretty darn quick, probably because there are no shortage of pretty young things in this story to help him take his mind off her. (Loved the book, but I gotta take away a star for that, cuz it didn't quiet ring true, I mean I know a lot of fifty year old guys, got nothing against them, but I'm not dying to jump their bones, know what I mean?)
Also there is this girl who has been kidnapped and somehow her mind leaves her body and winds up in Jim's head, giving him all kinds of advice and aggravation as he chases after Kohler. She can see and feel everything Monday can (which makes for a very interesting sex scene) and when she tells him she is in trouble, he is bound and determined to rescue her (especially after that interesting sex scene). But first he has to rescue his wife from that evil Doctor Kohler and Kohler has sort of a familiar to protect him, a giant gecko that believe me you'd never want to meet in a back ally at midnight, or any other time for that matter.
So without giving away too much, I think I've given you an idea what this fast, fun and scary thriller is about. It's exciting, sexy (though a bit over the top) and fun. Give it a read, you'll like it, I know you will.
Book Review: These little lizards are definitely not cute!
Summary: 4 Stars
Jim Monday, a retired Vietnam veteran, thought he was happily in love. He was wrong. His wife has left him for Bernd Kohler, a rather slippery German doctor; they're suing him for all the money and property in sight; and his best friend and lawyer has just been killed by a hit and run driver. Monday, convinced that the accident was a set-up intended to kill him, attacks Kohler and finds himself in jail for his trouble. When the murder attempts continue inside the jail, Monday knows he was right. He escapes calling on his long dormant but now instinctive Vietnam survival and killing skills.
In the opening paragraphs, Jack Priest shows himself to be a pretty darn capable spinner of that typical fast-paced police procedural or suspense thriller. But then Monday hears voices in his head. Somehow he's in communication with the spirit of Donna Tuhiwai, a young Maori woman who needs to be rescued from the same evil doctor who stole Monday's wife. As Monday searches for Donna and evades the ongoing police search, the killings continue and Priest begins to litter the landscape with a series of odd gecko sightings, brilliantly foreshadowing the really creepy stuff that has yet to happen. But, come it does, and "Gecko" makes the transition from suspense to horror.
"Gecko" is an ambitious horror novel and covers a lot of ground in a relatively small number of pages - pornography, murder, rogue police officers, white slave trade, mental telepathic communication, gruesome oversized lizards, Maori legends and more. Priest has certainly succeeded to the extent that he's produced a fast-paced enjoyable goose-bumper that will put a smile on the face of anyone who enjoys a good horror story but "Gecko" does have a couple of noticeable shortcomings. Unresolved loose threads at the end of the novel will leave the reader frustratingly puzzled about what happened to two major characters that simply disappear from the plot line with nary a trace. Monday's ability to move from one seemingly perfect romantic relationship into another without a shred of remorse or concern could most charitably be called unrealistic.
That said, "Gecko" was enjoyable and Jack Priest has made it onto the list of authors that I'll look for in the future. Recommended.
Paul Weiss
Book Review: Two Thumbs Up!
Summary: 5 Stars
Jim Monday is a guy in his fifties, almost over the hill, well in his opinion he's already there. His wife has left him and he's not handling it well. He despises the man she's left him for, but he's decided to give her everything she wants without a fight. Then his best friend is killed by a hit and run driver and all of a sudden Monday's life turns into a non-stop horror show. He is arrested at the scene of his friend's death and gets away by committing murder and now he is on the run. Someone wants him dead, and Monday thinks he knows who, the plastic surgeon who stole his wife.
But that evil doctor has a pet that is straight out of a bad place and before Monday can get his hands on the doc, he's going to have to deal with it. He's going to have to deal with a dogged and determined cop who is on his tail as well, but the most intriguing problem on his plate is the voice in his head, a young Maori woman from half a world away who is somehow connected with the the man who'd taken his wife and the monster that is trying to prevent him from getting her back.
This book kept me going throughout a stormy night. Scary weather outside, scary book inside. Several times during the night I woke my wife up to read her a few passages, till finally she was up too and I was reading aloud. "Gecko" is a very good book with characters my wife and I cared about. At times Mr. Priest stretches your imagination, almost to the breaking point, but it is a horror story and a very well written one as well, so we didn't have a problem suspending our believe in what we know is real and what is not. This one gets two thumbs up from us.