#649 in our old book database. Not rated.

Barker's self contained universes would be split into trilogies by other authors. Sometimes he manages to fill an entire world into the pages of a single book. Sometimes, like here, that universe is only half realized, and in trying to spread its wings beyond being just a horror story, it ultimately sinks the project. It could have been a much tighter written 300 page novel without losing anything at all. ( )

Not a bad book, this has Barker's flavour and that is a very good thing.

I rated it three stars for the plot. It doesn't really... tell you anything, and the finale was very anticlimactic.

Granted, this is a story from 1985 and as such started a lot of tropes that would be used later in other novels..... but this book just felt like it was missing something.

Read at your own peril. There are better Barker books. ( )

La vida de Marty Strauss siempre ha estado gobernada por el azar. Ahora, por fin, la suerte se pone de su parte. Puesto en libertad condicional, se convierte en el guardaespaldas de Joseph Whitehead, uno de los hombres más ricos de Europa. Pero Whitehead también ha jugado con el azar; un juego antiquísimo que le ha proporcionado inmenso poder y riquezas, a cambio de su alma inmortal… Ahora las fuerzas contra las que jugó han vuelto para reclamar lo que es suyo. Fuerzas terroríficas, con el poder de resucitar a los muertos; Marty se encuentra atrapado entre sus jefes humanos y el mismo Infierno, y tiene que enfrentarse a una última partida desesperada…

Pretty Graphic descriptions, not for the faint of heart. It all comes together in a pretty interesting way though, with some great structure and word associations that emphasize the depth of writing. ( )