Customer Reviews

Manstopper (Onyx)

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The 1970's gave us a crop of paperback originals,from both sides of the Atlantic,in which one animal or another became a threat to the world--dogs,cats,rats,crabs,ants and even slugs--and so on "ad infinitum"(or should that be "ad nauseuem",so bad were the majority of them)
Borton in this, his 1988 debut novel,revived the trend.The menace consists of 4 highly trained attack dogs,malevolent brutes the lot of them,who escape from the van transporting them,and wreak havoc as thay prey on residents in a small rural community."Prey"is the operative word as they develop a taste for human flesh.Arrayed against them are the animal's trainer,and the local lawman and the novel deals with the attempt to eradicate the thrreat posed by the slavering beasts

The real strength of the book is not the plot which is functional and routine,but the characterization .The trainer,while looking like a caricature thug of the dangerous dog owning type(muscles/shaven head etc)is a sensitive and intelligent man and a concentration camp survivor.The sanimal's victims are sketched in neatly and unobtrusively and are never simply victims there to make up the numbers.As an instance I woukld cite the first victim ,the van driver,a college drop out whose hopes and aspirations are rendered economically and in a way that makes us care when he gets chomped up by the dogs

Good,solid work;many worse have escaped the ghetto of the paperback original to the leafy suburbs of hardback immortality
Good economical writing that highlights Borton's past as a movie scriptwriter

Wow!!
That's the perfect word to describe this book.

From title to end 'Manstopper' is one powerhouse read. As you may have guessed (you will after seeing the cover) this book is about a couple of killer dogs (so called Manstoppers) who escape after a lunatic hijacks the truck that carriers them. The dogs end up in a small town and start ripping apart everyone (and everything) that gets in their way. Their owner is soon on their trail, aided by a few of the (surviving) locals. In an interesting subplot we also find out what happens to the hijacker/ psycho who is one nasty dude (in the best horror/ Richard Laymon tradition).

I've read some of Douglas Borton's other works, but none of them get's even close to 'Manstopper'. It's his masterpiece! I highly recommend this book, if only for the amazing setpieces in which his killerdogs feature. For example; one has them chasing a guy out of a tree, another has them following a tv newswoman even as she thinks she can loose them going into the sea!
Also worth mentioning is Borton's excellent characterization. For example, take the owner of the dogs. He isn't anything at all like the ruthless guy you may think a breeder of killer dogs is!

I recently found out that these days Borton writes thrillers/ suspense novels using a pseudonym. I think his strength lies indeed with these genres. 'Manstopper' is horror, but not of the supernatural kind (like Borton's lesser books 'Dreamhouse' and 'Deathsong'). I think you can maybe (and very carefully) describe this as a 'Jaws' on land.
Once again, highly recommended. Don't let the fact that it's out of print stop you. TRACK IT DOWN...

....or maybe else the dogs will track YOU down!

Hey, you can't go wrong here. Mr. Borton takes a small pack of dogs and uses them to tell a mesmerizing, gruesome, entertaining story that puts most books/movies like this to shame. My only regret was that it was a tad too short. Highly recommended.

I have yet to witness the awsome power of the "Attack Dog", but this book took me where I wanted to be. And taught me alot as well. I am an animal trainer and I know now the dangers of having a dangerous animal. Untill next time, Kmiberly Folen

Rarely have I read a book over-and-over again....it was unbelievably intriguing...I was convinced I was actually seeing through the eyes of a doberman! Mr. Bortan's insight into these beasts is truly uncanny...if you want a book that reads at a rapid rate....and are able to go for a few hours without taking another breath...then read this book. I now have it wrapped in plastic until I decide to read it again...and again.