Shaun Hutson, Assassin

Shaun Hutson, Assassin - Synopsis:

"Police Commissioner Frederick Harvey knew all about problems. London was in the grip of its bloodiest bout of gang warfare for two years. Shootings in the street. Car chases and torture. For two years Frank Harrison had ruled gangland, but now it looked as if that reign was going to end in blood. Someone was out to get him, to destroy him and his men. To wipe out everyone associated with him. But who? Was it the fanatical group of killers sworn to fight a class war involving the slaughter of all those men, women and children they considered enemies? Was it another gang? Or maybe even someone inside his own organisation? Harrison had to know, but the answers, when they came, would push even his sanity to the limits. Into this world of corruption, violence, madness and death came the Assassin. A force more powerful than vengeance, more lethal than a lorry full of high-velocity weapons and more terrifying than any nightmare".

First published back in 1988, Assassin was Hutson's twenty-third full-length novel (including the work under his pseudonym's Wolf Kruger, Stefan Rostov, Tom Lambret and Nick Blake). Assassin was a complete return to form for our Shaun, with this awesome roller-coaster of a ride that bursts splatter from every page. The storyline is fast-paced and totally gripping from the start, with a high level of violence and graphic depictions of his gruesome scenes. Running for 320 pages, Hutson holds you tight against the separate unfolding storylines that later merge to become a novel in the true style of splatterpunk.

Assassin is my favorite Hutson novel to date, combining a neck-breakingly paced storyline with outrageous extreme splatter gore. I would strongly recommended this to any fan of the splatterpunk genre who hasn't already read it.

Oh, and watch out for Hutson's nastiest moment of all time, with the prostitute and the zombie. Truly harrowing and revolting. Awesome stuff!