I usually enjoy his books but had a real hard time finishing this one. I actually stopped reading it twice, but continued because there were no other available books around. I found it very slow moving with not much of a plot. I actually thought I was re-reading the same chapters at one point. On a scare level of 1 - 10, I'd give it a 2.
You could tell Grant was starting to come into his own with The Hour of the Oxrun Dead.The writing was much better than The Curse. The atmosphere that he sets has a nice slow build up of dread. In The Curse, the female characters were amazingly shallow and annoying. While they were better in this story, the main character still puts herself in stupid situations. Oddly enough, I've read a few other authors whose novels that were written in the 1970s and they had the same type of female characters that are portrayed as shallow and dim-witted. Coincidence? I'll let you decide. The dialog was also a bit sketchy in parts and the ending wasn't very satisfying. Overall, I felt this was a step ahead of The Curse and I look forward in seeing if Grant's progress continues in Last Call of Mourning
Charles Grant's books are always great!
