Publication Date: October 1, 2009 | Series: The Jake Helman Files (Book 1)
Jake Helman, an elite member of the New York Special Homicide Task Force, faces what every cop dreads—an elusive serial killer. While investigating a series of bloodletting sacrifice rituals executed by an ominous perpetrator known as the Cipher, Jake refuses to submit to a drug test and resigns from the police department. While battling a cocaine addiction, Jake starts a high-pressure position as the director of security at Tower International, a controversial genetic-engineering company. Beneath the polished exterior of the corporate identity and the CEO—who has a reputation as the frontiersman on the cutting edge of science—is a deranged mind. As Jake delves deeper into this frightening laboratory, he discovers much more than unethical practices performed in the name of human progress. Sequestered in rooms veiled in secrecy is the worst crime the world will ever see—the theft of the human soul. Horrifying and gruesome, this is a gripping, suspense-filled novel that offers intense arguments about science, ethics, and human life.
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"Lamberson’s ability to twist a scenario and offer up descriptive, shiver-inducing murders makes Personal Demons a gripping must-finish." —Rue Morgue
"Personal Demons is compelling and written with great care." —Scott Johnson, The Horror Channel
"This book is jam-packed with that superhero quality that makes comic book geeks drool, yet peppered with enough of a good, old-fashioned, crime novel-meets-horror feel just to make sure you know it's crossing genres." —Paperback Horror
"What sold me on Personal Demons, from its first paragraph to its concluding pages, was the author’s almost uncanny ability to mix characterization, plot and atmosphere into a heady, scary brew." —T. M. Wright, author, A Manhattan Ghost Story and Strange Seed
"One of the best novels we’ve read in a long, long time." —Red Scream
About the Author
Gregory Lamberson is the writer and director of the horror films Naked Fear, Slime City, and Undying Love. He is the author of Johnny Gruesome and a contributor to Cheap Scares: Horror Filmmakers Share Their Experience. He lives in Cheektowaga, New York.
"Gregory Lamberson is the sort of force that dark fantasy and horror are lucky to have." - FANGORIA magazine
"Why in the name of all that's unholy has Hollyweird not got their sights on this series? I'm just going to put it out there -- Greg Lamberson is the most cinematic author writing today and The Jake Helman Files are nothing short of the most awesome movies that have not been filmed yet." -Author Bob Freeman, the Occult Detective
Two-time IPPY Gold Medal winner and three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist Gregory Lamberson is an author and filmmaker who loves to thrill people. Rave reviews of his work have appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist. All of his books are available in print and as e-books, and some are also available as audio books. In 2013, Medallion Press will publish Lamberson's novel THE JULIAN YEAR, the first TREEbook, which will employ revolutionary time-triggered branching technology.
Lamberson's novel PERSONAL DEMONS, winner of the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror, is the first volume in the action packed occult detective series "The Jake Helman Files," published by Medallion Press. Other books in the series include the zombie novel DESPERATE SOULS, the new Cthulhu themed COSMIC FORCES(nominated for Superior Achievement in a Novel by the Horror Writers Association), and TORTURED SPIRITS, which is scheduled for October 2012. PERSONAL DEMONS, DESPERATE SOULS, and COSMIC FORCES are also available as audio books from Audible.com, and TORTURED SPIRITS will be as well.
Lamberson is also the author of the werewolf series "The Frenzy Cycle" for Medallion Press. This series started with THE FRENZY WAY and continued with THE FRENZY WAR in June, 2012.
Lamberson's second novel, JOHNNY GRUESOME, won the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror and Dark Scribe Magazine's "Best Small Press Chill" Award, and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award by the Horror Writers Association. The novel spawned a rock CD, GRUESOME, an award-winning online comic book, and a collectible mask.
Lamberson's first novella, CARNAGE ROAD, waspublished by Creeping Hemlock Press in May 2012. Library Journal gave it a starred review: "Lamberson's (Personal Demons) latest is both bleak and beautiful, a brain-splattering zombie thriller that is at its core a paean to the power of friendship, even in a dead world. This novella may be brief, but it has real bite, along with taut zombie action, scathing social commentary, and a suitably nihilistic ending. Zombie fans are in for one easy ride through the apocalypse. [Print Is Dead is Creeping Hemlock's zombie-themed imprint.--Ed.]"
Lamberson wrote and directed the 1988 cult horror film SLIME CITY, which is available on DVD as GREG LAMBERSON'S SLIME CITY GRINDHOUSE COLLECTION, a 2-disc collection which includes his vampire film UNDYING LOVE, the thriller NAKED FEAR, and GRUESOME, a short film starring "Scream Queen" Misty Mundae. His 2010 film SLIME CITY MASSACRE, starring horror icon Debbie Rochon, is available on DVD, the PlayStation Network. and Xbox Zune. The film continues to screen around the world. His production SNOW SHARK: ANCIENT SNOW BEAST will be available on DVD this winter, and he is currently line producing MODEL HUNGER, directed by Rochon.
Combining his literary and cinematic interests, Lamberson wrote the instructional filmmaking book CHEAP SCARES: LOW BUDGET FILMMKAERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. He also created the popular horror entertainment website Fear Zone, which he edited for two years, and is one of the founders of the Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival. He is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association and International Thriller Writers, and his website is www.slimeguy.com.
I got this book for free (and autographed) via an online book signing; I'd never read anything by him before, so I was walking into this kinda blind (it's been a while since I've done so, as I don't have the money to spare on complete unknowns when it comes to purchases, but it's kinda fun to do so...)
I wasn't really sure what type of book this was going to be - I mean, yes, it's billed as a horror novel, but there are so many sub-genres of horror. This one seems to be a little confused on what sort it is... it almost suffers from multiple personalities as it switches from police procedural/horror to biological horror to supernatural horror with little foreshadowing.
I think I would have set up the 'backstory' as already have happened in the past - Jake Helman is a cop who has a drug habit, and after a duty-related shooting, he resigns rather than be found out as an addict. Twenty four hours later, he's working as head of security for one of the most mysterious and powerful tycoons in New York City.
From there, things get horrific.
As for the style of horror... well, giant nude demonic beings with pendulous members isn't something that strikes a chord of horror with me, but one of comic book superhero over-the-topness.
I think that was the biggest flaw of the book - it wasn't very scary or horrific.
The writing is good, characterisation is solid, plot isn't bad. If supernatural horror/adventure is your thing, then I suggest giving it a try. If not, then pass. This is apparently the first installment of a series, so I will PROBABLY try the 2nd one whenever it is released.
Although this is author Gregory Lamberson's first book, horror fans know him as the director of the early 1980s splatter classic, Slime City. So I was quite excited to see that a great film maker had written a novel. I was expecting it to be like his film, and was quite surprised. The book can be considered a horror book, but it is also very much a hardboiled noir story of a crooked cop- turned private bodyguard. It also has some bizarre speculative elements. We've got a serial killer, ghosts, an evil billionaire tyrant working with secret genetic engineering experiments a hardboiled coke-snorting cop turned bodyguard (who I take it will be appearing in future installments of what I hope will be a series), and a lot more I won't give away. Lamberson manages to combine all of these and combine them into a story that is exciting and compelling. i read it in three days, I found it very hard to put down and I fought sleep to finish it- signs of a great book. There were a lot of interesting surprises, some moments of creepy terror (The Cipher serial killer and the elderly tycoon are supremely creepy characters). The book starts with a police shooting and takes off by there, and by the end of the book it seems the whole world is in danger. Although very different from his film Slime City, I found this to be similar in that it was a fun experience, with some really off-the-wall ideas.
Gregory Lamberson's new series, The Jake Helman Files, starts off with a detailed scene showing readers how the book's serial killer, The Cipher, operates. Readers are then introduced to the series' main character, Jake Helman, who works for the New York Special Homicide Task Force. After killing two men shortly into the book, Helman is required to take a drug test. Instead of following orders, Helman decides to take more drastic measures and quits. Less than 48 hours later, Helman receives a phone call from Tower International, a genetic engineering company, about an interview. He goes in that same day and is hired on the spot as their director of security for a salary that he never believed possible in his wildest dreams! After looking around the office a bit, though, he starts to notice some things seem to be a little odd. In particular, he is trying to figure out why strange homeless people are always hanging out right outside Tower International's doors, and why they look so much like The Cipher's victims.
At the beginning of Personal Demons, it appears that the book is going to be an average serial killer book (albeit with a really cool murder method!) where the bad guy goes around slicing each victim for whatever reason, but Lamberson changes that feel abruptly and takes the book to a whole other level! Once Jake Helman leaves the Force and takes on the new job at Tower International, he becomes a magnet for danger. All kinds of hell starts breaking loose, and Lamberson puts Helman through the wringer! It's a wild journey, and one that shouldn't be missed. I had a very hard time putting the book down once I started it. Highly recommended for all fans of the horror genre!
