Lucy's Child - Shaun Hutson

...regret but no, she's glad Lucy's dead and out of her life and she refuses to mourn her passing.

This is where the story really gets going as although Lucy is brain dead, the doctor's discover that she's pregnant and agree to keep her body alive so that the baby has a chance to live.

Beth, unable to have children of her own is overjoyed by this and although Simon begs her to let Lucy be put to rest she is determined ...
...else matters to her but Lucy's unborn child.

Strange things start to happen both at home and at Brackley Heath. Lights flash on and off, radios and computers switch on by themselves, patients are woken in the night by a woman who isn't there. Ghostly figures appear from out of the shadows and disappear just as quickly leaving Simon wondering if they were ever there in the first place.

Simon starts to realise that Karen ... more

Do you have a sister? Do you love her dearly or hate her with a passion? Do you in all honesty not really care either way?

Beth Parker has a sister, Lucy. A sister who she hates so much she hasn't seen or spoken to her for years. Beth leads a comfortable life in a nice house; she has a husband Simon who adores her and a good job she enjoys. The last thing she needs is HER turning up and intruding on it but turn up she does, out of the blue, after all these years. Beth arrives home one day to find her waiting on the doorstep, no explanation of where she's been all this time or what she's been doing, just the need for a place to stay.

Beth doesn't want her there, she can't stand her but what can she do? Lucy has nowhere else to go, their parents are both dead and Beth is the only relative she has left, reluctantly she agrees that she can have the spare room on condition that her stay is short.

Lucy is a wild and beautiful young woman, she hates Beth too, resents all that she has, her world is a world of drugs and violence, and she wants Beth's comfortable life and intends to either take it or destroy it.

Beth's husband Simon works as a consultant in Brackley Heath psychiatric hospital where recently a young woman Karen Gregson has been admitted. She viciously murdered her two children and has been sent to the hospital as a secure patient. Simon is intrigued by Karen; on the outside she is strikingly beautiful although her piercing eyes give away the evil inside.

Lucy does everything she can to cause trouble, she seduces the boy next door much to Beth's horror and while Beth's away at work she plans to seduce Simon too.

However, much to Beth's relief, Lucy is killed in a horrific accident, Beth should feel something, pain, sorrow, even regret but no, she's glad Lucy's dead and out of her life and she refuses to mourn her passing.

This is where the story really gets going as although Lucy is brain dead, the doctor's discover that she's pregnant and agree to keep her body alive so that the baby has a chance to live.

Beth, unable to have children of her own is overjoyed by this and although Simon begs her to let Lucy be put to rest she is determined to have her baby and bring it up as her own. This consumes her and nothing else matters to her but Lucy's unborn child.

Strange things start to happen both at home and at Brackley Heath. Lights flash on and off, radios and computers switch on by themselves, patients are woken in the night by a woman who isn't there. Ghostly figures appear from out of the shadows and disappear just as quickly leaving Simon wondering if they were ever there in the first place.

Simon starts to realise that Karen Gregson is somehow connected to it all but he's not sure how, she knows things about his life, his family, things that only himself, his wife and his dead sister in law could know.

As the story progresses things get more frightening and horrific, of course there are one or two nasty accidents and gruesome deaths along the way but you'll have to read the book yourself to find out more.

There's a lot of sex in the book, yes you heard me right sex, well you can't have a good horror story without a bit of how's your father can you. The thing is this is extremely graphic sex; everything is spelt out for you, every movement, every smell, every sensation laid bare on the pages for you to take in.

There's nothing left to the imagination in this book but the same goes for the gory bits. Every nastiness is told in intricate detail, it'll make you eww and argh and it'll make you feel ill but you'll be grateful for it. The chapters are short too; one hundred and eleven in all spread over 435 pages which means that each chapter is around 3-4 pages long. This makes it easy to read as you can start a new chapter without having to read for ages before you have to put it down, it isn't only me who can't put a book down mid chapter is it?

There's one particularly nasty part where you know that something bad is about to happen and it almost happens but then you think that maybe, just maybe it won't. Of course it does, bad stuff always happens in these books but the way the author describes this is truly delicious. The description was so vivid it really did turn my stomach and that's what I want when I'm reading a horror book. I hate it when someone is horrifically maimed or killed and the author decides to skip it rather then dare to feed our senses.

Shaun Hutson does just that, the sex is raw if a little over the top at times but it does belong. When I read the first sexual encounter I did wonder if it would spoil the book but as I read on I found it was essential to the whole story and in my opinion it wouldn't work quite so well without it.

The violence is terrifying and I found myself unable to sleep on many a night because of the images this book left floating round in my head. On top of all that there's a lot of suspense, times where you think that something's going to happen and it doesn't but still you're left shaking in fear at the anticipation of it all.

I would recommend this book highly to anyone who likes to be scared, the ending although fairly typical of so many of these types of books is again gruesome yet brilliant. We all know that someone will survive; they always do, no matter what the story we always have those left standing at the end and those who are easily disposed of. The fun of it all is how we get there, the whole journey, working out who will be alive at the end and more interestingly how will the others die?

Now I'm a glutton for punishment, I don't really get time to read much during the day so I usually settle down in bed when the rest of the house are asleep and get into my books. BIG mistake, I found that although this book terrified me I just couldn't put it down especially if it was coming up to a particularly gruesome part. The result? I lay in bed petrified by every noise; I pulled the covers up under my chin knowing that any minute a mad axe murderer would smash his way through the door lol

So, if you've got an over active imagination like me I suggest you stick to reading this during the day, but read it you must, it's a book worth being scared for!!

Lucy's Child by Shaun Hutson

ISBN 0-7515-0769-5

Price £5.99

 

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