Gecko by Jack Priest
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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: He's Big. He's Green. He's a Total Killer!
Summary: 5 Stars
He's big, he's green, he's got horrendous breath and he's a total killer. He is, of course, the Gecko of the title. He's sort of a familiar to an evil, grazed, doctor, pornographer. The kind of guy you don't want to meet in a dark alley, especially if he's got his gecko pal along for the ride.
This story opens with our hero, Jim Monday and his best friend, attorney David Askew crossing the street. Monday hears a voice in his head, telling him to "Jump back." He does, David does not and is struck by hired killers in their stolen car. The killers work for Doctor Bernd Kohler, who has swept Monday's wife off her feet, so he's got half Jim's fortune, however he wants it all, hence the killers.
Back to the voice in Jim's head. It belongs to a woman named Donna, who is imprisoned in New Zealand, half a world away. Turns out her mind has flown the coup (it's an ancient Maori thing) and settled itself inside Monday. So now Jim's got a stranger living in his head. This makes for some very interesting reading, exciting too.
The evil doc takes Monday's wife up to his castle type hideaway in Northern California, Monday follows, getting constant advice from Donna in his head, and the Gecko is hot on Monday's tail. So are the cops, because Monday had a tussle with the killers and left them dead. Unfortunately he killed them in the police station and now the cops think he's the killer.
Fiftyish Jim Monday is a heck of a character. He's dogged and determined, but he's afraid to fly. He thinks like a young guy, but reacts like an old guy. He fights like the devil to save his wife, though she clearly is through with him. And then there is the matter of the girl in his head (she's like nineteen or twenty). There's a clock ticking on her and so he's gotta wrestle with that fear of flying if he wants to save her. Does he? Read the book and find out. Jeez, I used to say that when I gave book reports in elementary school, when I was a little girl. Five stars from Katie for this one.
Reviewed submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
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: Giant Gecko, Very Big, Very Bad
Summary: 5 Stars
Southern Californian real estate developer Jim Monday is a man with a woman in his head and a monster on his trail in this horror thriller that had me reading the night away. Young Donna Tuhiwai, held captive in New Zealand, leaves her body and her mind settles half a world away in Monday's head. She sees a speeding car, shouts "Jump Back." Monday hears the words in his mind, jumps back and watches in horror as his best friend is killed by a speeding Buick.Later she makes herself known to Monday, explains to him she is trapped in his body, tells him that she has been abducted and she needs him to go to her rescue. But Monday has problems of his own. His wife has been seduced by the man who Monday believes killed his friend and he believes she too, may be being held against her will. He is determined to rescue her, then he'll tend to Donna's rescue. However there is an ancient horror in the form of a Gecko beast, a mythical monster from Maori folklore, that wants to keep jim from saving his wife and it's just as determined as Jim and it's big, mean and almost impossible to kill.
I must say I really liked this book and like I did with RAGGED MAN and NIGHT WITCH, Mr. Priest's other two horror stories, I went right to Google as soon as I finished and did a search for the Gecko or the ngarara beast that the author has chasing around after the Jim Monday in this, his second horror story. As I mentioned elsewhere, I like my monsters, vampires, werewolves and such, to be drawn as accurately as possible from the folklore and legends from wench they came. In RAGGED MAN Mr. Priest used a little too much literary license for my taste. In NIGHT WITCH he was right on. So I was curious to see how he fared here.
I got a lot of hits when I typed in the words Maori and Gecko, but they were mostly tattoo sites and the like. I tried ngarara, got a zillion hits that were no help other that I figured out that ngarara can mean either gecko, monster or maybe monster gecko, so again I e-mail Mr. Priest and asked him what gives. He got right back to me and told me that the inspiration for the bad gecko beast thing came from a story written by Mohi Ruatapu in 1876. He then directed me to several websites, but unfortunately for me, they were all in Maori, Mr. Priest's little joke on me I think. Anyway, he got me and I can only assume that he's telling the truth, so no stars taken away for cheating on the folklore for GECKO. He gets all five for this one.
Reviewed by Stephanie Sane
Book Review: Jim Monday vs. An Evil Villain, Lots of Cops and a Monster
Summary: 5 Stars
"Jump back!" the voice in his head says and Jim Monday jumps back as a dark Buick Regal comes flying out of nowhere, smashes into and kills his best friend. Had Jim not obeyed the voice, he too would be dead on the street. Above, looking down from a second story window is Dr. Kohler, the man who had stolen Jim's wife and now wants him dead. Jim is wealthy and the doctor wants his money.
The voice belongs to Donna Tuhiwai a woman over thirty years younger than Jim, who is being held captive in New Zealand, half a world away. In desperation she cast her mind out of her body and it settled in Jim. Donna is in mortal danger and desperately needs someone to come to her rescue, but Jim attacks Kohler as he blames him for his friend's death and that gets him arrested. He kills a couple of Kohler's henchmen while escaping, runs into his wife's twin sister as he's fleeing the police station, persuades her to help him with his getaway and learns that his wife is being held captive in Kohler`s mansion in Northern California.
Police Sgt. Hugh Washington, recently busted down from homicide is hot on Monday's trail with his daughter Glenna, a police science major at Long Beach State College. Washington believes Monday is innocent, Glenna pressures him to let her help him in his quest to prove it.
Donna comes from a Maori family that is buried deep in tradition. One of her ancestors shunned a legendary Gecko beast and it has followed her mind to California and somehow has come under the power of Doctor Kohler. Every cop in California is on the lookout for Jim as he runs to save his wife, if he survives the gauntlet, the Gecko beast is waiting. And if he survives that, he has to get to New Zealand and save Donna before her captor kills her. And through it all he has the help of Donna, the voice in his head, who at times seems to be more in control of his body than he is himself.
Jack Priest has written a horror story thriller that had me biting my nails throughout the night as my fingers blistered through the pages. There is a Dean of horror and we all know who that is. There is a King of horror and we all know who that is too. Well now it appears, there is a Dark Priest of Horror. I didn't make that last part up, I read it in another review, but I agree with it whole heartedly. This scary horror thriller gets five stars from me. I loved it and I think you will too.
Reviewed by Vesta Irene