Carrion Comfort is a remarkable action-horror novel that has won the Bram Stoker award. It presents a highly original plot centered around the battle between good and evil, specifically involving psychic, mind-controlling vampires. The story is filled with intense action and a backstory that is both engrossing and harrowing, including flashbacks to the Holocaust that really draw the reader into the characters' lives.

However, the book does have a significant flaw. Despite being highly enjoyable, its length and pacing are issues. At almost one thousand pages, it could have been significantly shorter without sacrificing the quality of the story. A better editing job would have improved the pacing and focus, transforming it into a fast-paced, gripping seven-hundred-page thrill ride, which would have easily earned it a full five stars.

Nevertheless, the characters are fantastic, and the villains are some of the best in the horror genre, unique and terrifying. The book also includes a touch of chess, adding an interesting element for those who enjoy the game. Overall, Carrion Comfort is definitely worth reading, and I would consider reading it again, especially if an edited version were available.

"I despair at the rise of modern violence. I truly give in to despair at times, that deep, futureless pit of despair which Hopkins called carrion comfort."

4.5 stars out of five.

"All humans feed on violence, on the small exercises of power over another, but few have tasted—as we have—the ultimate power."

This particular work felt more like a thrilling action adventure rather than a bone-chilling horror story.

How it manages to land on reviewers' top scariest books lists is truly a mystery to me, as it lacks the essential element of being truly terrifying. However, it does offer an incredibly enjoyable and rollicking good time.

The pacing is extremely fast, to the extent that by the end, you might feel completely exhausted. While reading, you don't pay much attention to its epic length; instead, you find yourself constantly wishing for a moment to catch your breath.

The writing, although not as mature and beautifully crafted as in Simmons' later works, is still flawless in its functionality. I really enjoyed the main trio of characters. Their relationship is complex and multi-faceted, never reducing to a simple two-dimensional portrayal. This is yet another testament to Simmons' talent, as it is all too easy to overlook or simplify human relationships in such a high-action and fast-paced romp.

Overall, this book is a very different creature compared to other well-known Dan Simmons novels like "The Terror." If you are specifically seeking a good and truly scary horror novel, this might not be to your taste. Nevertheless, it most definitely deserves to establish the author as one of the greats in the genre, and it is highly recommended for a read.

"Open up your mind,
And let me step inside
…
Play the game" (Queen)

If we very selectively cherry-pick the lyrics, this seems to fit with the themes of the book. However, Freddie Mercury's beautiful song from their 1980 'The Game” release is about love. This book, on the other hand, has people getting into each other's minds and a lot of games, but on the sadistic end of the emotional spectrum. Maybe a more appropriate tagline would be "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Either way, this is an interesting story. I chose it as part of my 'year of long books'. It's really a 'year of books I've been procrastinating reading because they're so long'. I had read Simmons before and was familiar with his style. While I didn't know the plot, I knew it was a horror story.

From what I knew, it was like my experience with Necroscope. I thought Necroscope was a hardcore horror story with mindless gore, but it had a well-thought-out story too. Carrion Comfort was similar. It's about the evils of the past coming back. Set in 1980, it follows escaped Nazi's. One, The Oberst, has relocated to the US with some companions. They blend into society but play a sadistic 'Game'. A Jewish concentration camp survivor, Saul Laski, knows about their special 'Ability'. He's made it his life's obsession to find The Oberst and stop them.
Sound like 'Hunters'? There's some similarity, but not much. It was interesting to see posts about how Hunters took some of Simmons' ideas. Maybe. Saul doesn't know The Oberst isn't the only one with the Ability. Those who have it use it to manipulate others for personal advantage. Some are involved in world events and politics. You might think some are good and some are bad, but if you have the Ability, you're very bad. It goes back to that quote.
The story is fascinating. It takes a while to get going and moves slow in parts. But like other Simmons books, there are thrilling sequences. It's long, but I knew that going in. There are dark parts, not for the squeamish. The 'Island Club' reminded me of The Hunger Games. They used the term 'catspaw' a lot. I didn't know what that was before. There are some great quotes, like "Monsters do not die. They must be killed” and “Stupidity has a price and it always gets paid”. The quote that gives the book its title is also interesting.
As wicked as the Ability was, the way they used it was fascinating. The story had great characters, both good and bad. The flashbacks to WWII and the concentration camps were interesting. There was horror, violence, mystery, politics, jealousies, and revenge. Just like Necroscope, the horror genre blurred into scifi with all the psychological stuff. Highly recommended if you're okay with the long length. The ending was great. The twist was brilliant. I thought it was too easy to kill off Melanie. What actually happened made a lot more sense.

Genre novelist Dan Simmons has an outstanding reputation, yet his work remains unfamiliar to me. When my local library obtained the 20th-anniversary edition of his 1989 horror novel Carrion Comfort, which Stephen King once praised as one of the three best horror novels of the 20th century, I eagerly picked it up. However, it proved to be a prime example of why I'm not a big horror fan. The overly long manuscript is rife with problems typical of the genre. Simmons, like King, seems to love long expository scenes, turning what could have been a captivating 300-page action story into an exasperating 800-page historical epic. Additionally, there are dozens of superfluous sub-minor characters who serve no real purpose and are randomly killed off.

The book's subject matter is both grand and petty. It's about telekinetic "uber-humans" living among us for centuries, who must manipulate others into acts of terror and violence to survive. Simmons claims this is the cause of events like World War Two and the deaths of Lee Harvey Oswald and John Lennon. But it's Simmons' immature prose style that drives me crazy. The baddies' lustful glee over their "Feedings" reminds me of a pimply goth kid at a danceclub, doing a "death shimmy" and spouting ridiculous phrases. While Carrion Comfort is beloved by hardcore horror fans, it should be avoided by those who can't take phrases like "mind-raping psychic vampire Nazi" seriously.

Out of 10: 5.8

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)