Gecko [Paperback]

Jack Priest (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2005

He knows the doctor did it, but has no proof and can't get any behind bars. While in jail he learns about Donna, a woman in trouble who desperately needs to be rescued. She is the victim of the same doctor who has stolen his wife. It has been a long time since his days in the violent Vietnamese jungle, a long time since he's had to call on skills he'd put to rest. He's rusty, he tells himself, but not useless. He has to escape, has to rescue both Donna and his wife, has to save them from a horrible fate. However the doctor is as evil as Lucifer himself and calls forth an ancient horror to end Jim's life, once and for all. Jim escapes from jail and goes after the doctor with the police hot on his trail. He knows what's after him, but he has no idea about what's waiting ahead.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

GECKO, Jack Priest’s second book, is a horror thriller that is impossible to put down. Like in RAGGED MAN his first horror novel, Mr. Priest has been inventive and creative in his choice of monsters. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, devils and demons, while always chilling to read about when painted on the page by a gifted author, they were what Mr. Priest wanted to write about in this stage of his career. Instead he wanted to chill his readers with something new. In RAGGED MAN he borrowed from Australian Aboriginal folklore, in GECKO, he borrows from the Maoris, writing a book about a gecko beast that has been unleashed in California.

The beast is controlled by Dr. Bernd Kohler, a sadistic man who uses and abuses women and crushes those that get in his way. Though evil, he’s a suave looking man and has swept wealthy real estate developer Jim Monday’s wife off her feet. Kohler wants her for Jim’s money and to get it all, Jim has to be dead. However Jim doesn’t plan on going quietly into the good night.

GECKO is a fast read in the Dean Koontz tradition and Priest, a devoted fan of Steven King, uses fear and suspense in the tradition of the master. If you’re a lover of fiction that frightens, we think you’ll love Mr. Priest’s brand of thrilling horror and if you give this one a try, we think you’ll be back for more.

Sincerely,

Bootleg Press

From the Inside Flap

Jim Monday’s wife left him for a slick German doctor named Kohler and his existence went all to hell. He suspects the doctor wants his money more than his wife and hires his best friend as his lawyer. Then his friend is killed before his eyes.

Jim attacks Kohler for the crime and is arrested. He knows the doctor did it, but has no proof and can’t get any behind bars. While in jail he learns about Donna, a woman in trouble who desperately needs to be rescued. She is the victim of the same man who has stolen his wife.

It has been a long time since his days in the violent Vietnamese jungle, a long time since he’s had to call on skills he’d put to rest. He’s rusty, but not useless.

He has to escape, has to rescue both Donna and his wife, has to save them from a horrible fate. However Kohler is as evil as Lucifer himself and calls forth an ancient horror to end Jim’s life, once and for all. Jim escapes from jail and goes after the doctor with the police hot on his trail. He knows what’s after him, but he has no idea about what’s waiting ahead.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Bootleg Press (September 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974524646
• ISBN-13: 978-0974524641
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,444,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ludlum meets King meets Rollins, July 6, 2008

By 

Peter A. Greene (Franklin, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gecko (Paperback)

Priest has some real strengths as a writer. First, he writes sentences that keep moving forward; that may seem like a small thing, but it sure beats ploughing through the tortured hamstrung prose of someone like Dan Brown (though Priest is fond of comma-spliced run-ons).

Second, he has a fine sense of pace. This story gets moving instantly and keeps moving at a rapid clip. There isn't an ounce of padding in this book.

That's probably just as well, because some portions of the plot don't really connect the dots all that well. Timing is a bit mysterious, and some plot elements are instantly discarded once they've served their purpose (our hero's best friend is killed early on, but two minutes later, he's out of the story).

Some of this is entertainingly silly; our hero is a Vietnam vet, successful politician, well-trained sailor-- clearly he's 55 years old because he has to be that old to fit in all his backstory. Some of it borders on insulting; a twenty-year-old woman who was raped at sixteen decides that having sex with this fifty-five year old man whom she just met will make her whole again.

It's the breath-taking chase fiction of Ludlum with some creepy King supernatural, crossed with the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink of Rollins. This is not a book likely to create readerly deja vu (ex-POW with psychic link to Maori woman? yeah, I've so seen that before). Not deep, not serious, but well written and fast-paced enough to skate over its own thin ice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars These little lizards are definitely not cute!, April 22, 2008

By 

Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gecko (Paperback)

Jim Monday, a retired Vietnam veteran, thought he was happily in love. He was wrong. His wife has left him for Bernd Kohler, a rather slippery German doctor; they're suing him for all the money and property in sight; and his best friend and lawyer has just been killed by a hit and run driver. Monday, convinced that the accident was a set-up intended to kill him, attacks Kohler and finds himself in jail for his trouble. When the murder attempts continue inside the jail, Monday knows he was right. He escapes calling on his long dormant but now instinctive Vietnam survival and killing skills.

In the opening paragraphs, Jack Priest shows himself to be a pretty darn capable spinner of that typical fast-paced police procedural or suspense thriller. But then Monday hears voices in his head. Somehow he's in communication with the spirit of Donna Tuhiwai, a young Maori woman who needs to be rescued from the same evil doctor who stole Monday's wife. As Monday searches for Donna and evades the ongoing police search, the killings continue and Priest begins to litter the landscape with a series of odd gecko sightings, brilliantly foreshadowing the really creepy stuff that has yet to happen. But, come it does, and "Gecko" makes the transition from suspense to horror.

"Gecko" is an ambitious horror novel and covers a lot of ground in a relatively small number of pages - pornography, murder, rogue police officers, white slave trade, mental telepathic communication, gruesome oversized lizards, Maori legends and more. Priest has certainly succeeded to the extent that he's produced a fast-paced enjoyable goose-bumper that will put a smile on the face of anyone who enjoys a good horror story but "Gecko" does have a couple of noticeable shortcomings. Unresolved loose threads at the end of the novel will leave the reader frustratingly puzzled about what happened to two major characters that simply disappear from the plot line with nary a trace. Monday's ability to move from one seemingly perfect romantic relationship into another without a shred of remorse or concern could most charitably be called unrealistic.

That said, "Gecko" was enjoyable and Jack Priest has made it onto the list of authors that I'll look for in the future. Recommended.

Paul Weiss

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding, January 8, 2004

By 

Jack Purcell (Placitas, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gecko (Paperback)

Another excellent tome by Jack Priest. When he sent me Ragged Man, Gecko and Night Witch I wasn't overjoyed. I expected to be sated on the genre before I finished the reading the first one (Ragged Man). Horror isn't my long suit, or so I thought.

Therefore, I was surprised to find myself a bit sorry when I finished Ragged Man. I immediately began Gecko and stayed up later than my usual pumpkin hour finishing it, enjoying every page.

Gecko is an imaginative, fast-paced combo of sinister supernatural beings, human crime and adventure. The characters are handled well, the monsters are entertaining and the plot is tightly woven. Jack Priest scored another home run with Gecko.

My suspicion is you'll buy another Jack Priest book if you read this one.