Live girls [Hardcover]

Ray Garton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

Davey's on the down and out when he loses his girl, his job and practically his sanity. While some men drown themselves in a forgiving bottle, Davey believes it's much more profitable to sink into Times Square's nightlife and lose himself inside Live Girls. They are the free ravishing pleasures who beckon Davey into a world of irresistible fantasy and ecstasy. One of them propositions him with a kiss, an insatiable kiss that leads him far from the misery he once felt to a demonic place where body and soul are sacrificed for obsessions.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Live Girls is gripping, original, and sly. I finished it in one bite." - Dean Koontz "The most nightmarish vampire story I have ever read."-Ramsey Campbell --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 319 pages
• Publisher: Cemetery Dance Pub; 1st edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881475239
• ISBN-13: 978-1881475231
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,418,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Horror Must!, June 15, 2005

By 

CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Live Girls (Paperback)

Walter Benedek knew that his sister Doris and her husband Vernon didn't have a picturesque relationship. However, when he finds Doris and her daughter slaughtered in their apartment, and his brother-in-law Vernon is the main suspect, several questions are raised. After doing some snooping, he finds an odd link to lie at the heart of a suspicious-looking establishment known only as Live Girls.

When Davey Owen's life begins to take a drastic turn (losing his live-in girlfriend and his job in one day), he seeks solace in something new. He ventures into a dark, obscure establishment called simply Live Girls. After his first encounter within a peep show booth, Davey's curiosity becomes obsession. However, Davey may have bitten off more than he can chew. Anya, the gorgeous dancer at the heart of Davey's obsessions, has given him the chance to lead a whole new life.

The lives of Walter Benedek and Davey Owen will intertwine as the race to quell the ravenous beings whose home lies in the heart of a large city begins. New York has an unbeknownst and multi-layered vampiric underbelly that Davey and Walter only begin to unravel.

Garton has an entrancing way with words that manages to be poignant, gripping, moving, and direct all at the same time. Not a single word is wasted within his pages. Live Girls is at times gritty, gory, and beautiful, as well as everything in between. Garton's vampires lie somewhere between Rice's romantic visionaries and Meikle or Kilpatrick's vicious predators, tending to more closely resemble a modern day, explicit and unreserved Dracula. It's a slightly newer spin on the genre, without being so off-beat that it's difficult to sink your teeth into. Live Girls will grab you by the neck and pull you into it's voracious clutches, not letting go until you've devoured the novel in it's entirety. Once the pace gets going, it never lets up, rapidly spiraling into the intense finale.

I highly anticipate the opportunity to read the sequel to this novel, Night Life, and I highly recommend this and anything else by Garton. No horror library is complete without Live Girls.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying horror classic., June 29, 2002

By 

Jim Lay (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Girls (Mass Market Paperback)

Back in 1987, before vampire fiction became it's own genre of a sort, Ray Garton gave us one of the most terrifying, erotic horror vampire novels ever published... A frustrated and depressed journalist finds himself drawn to a run down peep show in NYC's Time Square. It's out of character for him, but he is lonely and confused, having lost his fiance to another man. What he finds in the darkness of the club called "Live Girls" however, is like a terrifying wetdream. The woman who dances for him is hypnotically beautiful and alluring but what she demands of him will change his life forever. The woman is part of a cabal of vampires, working in the sex trade, and the secrets they hide inside "Live Girls", and in the basement of the club, are the stuff of nightmares... Garton was at the top of his game with this novel and horror fans still talk about it today, more than a decade later. It's one of my all time favorites and I still pick it up about once a year and reread it. The "things" in the basement of the club still gives me chills. If you're a horror or vampire fan, your book collection has a huge gaping hole in it if you don't own a copy of this book. Highest recommendation.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Original Erotic Horror Novel, September 11, 2006

By 

John Upton "fiction-fiend" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Girls (Mass Market Paperback)

When people mention erotic horror, which is a phrase thrown about continuously nowadays, I immediately think of Ray Garton's "Live Girls". There may have been other books that came before this one to pioneer the new sub-genre of horror but Live Girls was the first I was exposed to. In this regards, I find myself unbelievably lucky.

I discovered the Ray Garton classic in a used book store in the early 90's. The simple cover design caught my eye and the back of book synopsis kept the book in my hand. I was hesitant only because this was the height of the horror "boom" where publishers were flooding the market with Stephen King wannabes that utilized the same six themes over and over with horrible results. There were a few gems published during this time frame but most of it was just coal. I was worried the same thing was going to happen with "Live Girls". After all, it was about Vampires; how original could it be? Lets just say I was damn glad I didn't put the book back on the shelf.

I finished the book in a weekend. Mr. Garton pulled me in like a fish on a line. I was introduced to flesh and blood characters that could have been me or someone I knew. The vampires were original and not a carbon copy of every other vampire tale coming out at the time.

The dialogue seemed natural and I wasn't overwhelmed with endless pages of description. Mr. Garton writes with a tight and direct style. He says what needs to be said and doesn't waste words. Finally, when it came to the erotic aspect of the horror, Mr. Garton delivered. Up until this point, I felt men in the horror field could not write about sex or anything sexual. The best sex scenes I ever read were always written by a woman. This book proved me wrong.

Unfortunately, I loaned my copy of "Live Girls" to a casual friend and never got it back. The book went on to have a cult like status with fans and it became impossible to lay hands on a copy (I wound up buying a copy of the Cemetery Dance edition). Now fans of Ray Garton (as well as other small press horror authors) have Leisure books to thank. The publisher is making many hard to find classics, as well as new works, available to wider audiences. Take advantage and pick it up before it disappears for another decade. You will not be disappointed.