Customer Reviews

Breeder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first novel by Douglas Clegg that I have read, and it's, well, great. It's about a young couple fresh out of law school who move into an old townhouse in the D.C. suburbs. They slowly discover that the house has an evil past, and that their downstairs tenant is not who she seems to be. Lots of gore, like most good horror novels, after all, what could be more horrifying than a man driven so far into madness that he bashes himself to death with a hammer? But it also has a lot of really non-gory scares, too, for instance, the children in the park. Read it if you're a horror novel buff. It's much better than I expected.

BREEDER was the first Douglas Clegg novel I ever picked up and after reading some of his other (more recent) books I thought I'd drop in a few lines.
I must say however that, after BREEDER, mister Clegg seems to have gone a little downhill. His later novels like YOU COME WHEN I CALL YOU and HALLOWE'EN MAN were interesting, but a little bit to intellectual and literary for my tastes. That's why I think his second book BREEDER is (still) his best.

BREEDER is about this young couple who move into their new Washington home and, with a baby on the way, start looking towards a happy future. There is none however when all kinds of 'skeletons' start popping up, and with frightening results.
There's this really frightening baglady cowering through the neighbourhood, their landlady isn't all she says to be and soon the couple are involved with the resurrection of a powerful, and evil voodoo priest (but then again, aren't all voodoo priests evil?).
Without giving too much of the plot away I can say there's chills and twists aplenty here and I must warn the weak of stomach since there are some pretty disturbing scenes involving foetusses and childmurder.

I remember reading FANGORIA in the early nineties and at the time they were making Clegg out to be a big promise for the future. Giving his popularity he certainly has made good on that, I just think it's a pity he strayed away from the writing style that made books like BREEDER such winners.

Breeder is the first book by Douglas Clegg that I have read and Clegg certainly lived up to his status as one of the best horror authors out there. The story reminds you a bit of Rosemary's Baby meets It's Alive but the character development is strong and the work stands on it's own merit. It took a while for this story to get really scary but once it does, it doesn't slow down until the end. There are some descriptions of violence in this book that are really disturbing and graphic but that's all part of the "horror" in my book. Just be prepared when the hammer comes into play. Overall, a good, quick, read. I'll continue to check out other works by Mr. Clegg

This was a messed up little story! Interesting characters with real conflicts, people trying to find themselves... and of course
cannibalism, nasty ghosts, and even a demon fetus! A very fast read with plenty of scares and violent happenings. HOUNFOUR...

Breeder by Clegg was a nice little horror novel to pass the time between more memorable horror novels. It wasn't my first Clegg read and does not stand out in my memory as anything fantastic. I thought of it as a sort of Rosemary's Baby, only without the incredible use of psychological horror. Nothing bad here, but I have nothing that positive to say about it except for it being very well-written and, in the horror field, this is something worthy of mention.

I found it difficult to get into this book....too slow for my taste.
This was my fourth book by this author, and my least favorite.
Try "Neverland" or "You come when I call you"