The Claw

Ramsey Campbell

The Claw was a very enjoyable novel, just like all the other Ramsey Campbell stories that I have read so far. I purchased this particular novel second hand from Out there Bookshop in Cheltenham near the station.

I will have to do a review of this store at some point as it is probably the best second hand bookshop I have found. My reasons for this statement are due to the majority of the contents of the store being Sci-Fi and Horror. The store owner/operator is very knowledgeable in his chosen subject matter and can usually provide you with some interesting bit of trivia about your selections.

Totally ignoring the entire story contained within the pages of The Claw for the moment, the feature that I found to be very interesting with this novel was the afterword. Turns out that due timing when this book was originally completed it didn't work in too well with the American publishers, to get around this the book was published using a different title under a pseudonym. All seemed a bit screwy to me.

The odd publishing work around was an interesting little bit of trivia but what was really interesting was the way in which the evolution of the novel was discussed, talking about the various re-writes and editing that went on. Also included were some big chunks of text that were taken out, totally changing the story line. While the omissions were good pieces of writing in there own right which I am glad were included, I agree with the statement that the changes were for the better.

The closest thing I can liken this afterword two is the additional features section on a DVD movie, where you have director's commentary and deleted scenes.

The Story was originally published in 1983, the edition I have was published in 1992. The cover art is pretty typical of early 90's thriller covers I would think, it was obviously before the satin finish that I love became popular, it has embossed bits that have metallic print on them. Not sure if it has gold that has sort of faded to a silver of a silver that has discolored to look more like a gold, it is somewhere between the two. At any rate is looks like crap when is scans so you won't be able to tell in the image above.

The major characters in the story are a writer and his family. The writer is the author of several best selling action espionage novels, somewhat like a Tom Clancy I would think. there is not a great deal of discussion of the novels themselves just that he is a successful writer. The fact that one of the major characters is a writer makes the afterword a whole lot cooler.

Our Author character goes off to Nigeria on a research trip where he meets up with an anthropologist who it research a cannibal tribe known as the leopard men. The Anthropologist give him a metal claw to take back to the department of African studies drops the writer at the airport then promptly kills himself by swallowing a razor blade (after he decides that slitting his wrists is taking too long).

The Author takes this claw back to his home on Norfolk Island and things rapidly go down hill on the home front, as he starts dreaming of Killing his daughter.

The story gets interesting later on as it switches between the major characters getting their perspectives on things, these are the author, his wife and his daughter. Throughout the novel the little girl gets the rough end of the stick most of the time.

There is not much in the way of unexpected twists in this novel, but there is a huge amount of nail biting suspense. The suspense alone makes it well worth reading.