Ian Rogers Reviews: Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson

Johnny Gruesome, by Gregory Lamberson, is the muscle car of horror novels. A hot-rod gorefest of rapidly-building suspense and high-adrenaline violence.

Johnny Grissom is a hot-headed teen who dies in what the people of his small town believe is an accident. But it was no accident, and Johnny isn’t going to take his death lying down. Grissom comes back from the dead as Gruesome and begins a spree of violent retribution against those who wronged him in life. And Johnny has a very long shit list.

Lamberson doesn’t pull any punches in this brutally powerfully ode to the classic E.C. horror comics of the 1950s. Most writers of gore tend to overdo it to the point where the descriptions become boring and facile. Not so in Lamberson’s case. The writing is taut and balanced with just the right amount of grisly vivid detail.

Johnny Gruesome runs so hot and fast you should probably put on a seatbelt before opening this book. Not that it’s going to help you.