Morning Star

By: Peter Atkins

Narrated by: Doug Bradley

The Summer of 1988 in San Francisco. A killer is on the loose. Twelve victims so far. Men, women, children. All ritually disfigured. Scrawled in each victim's blood, a single word: Morningstar. The citizenry is terrified. The police are powerless. And two innocent people suddenly find their lives swept up in a maelstrom of madness and murder.

Shelley Masterton - her dreams invaded by a dead friend, one of the killer's victims - becomes an unwitting recruit in a plan for revenge from beyond the grave. And Donovon Moon, freelance journalist, receives a phone call offering the scoop of a lifetime - Morningstar is on the line and wants to talk. Inexorably drawn into a nightmare of death, destiny and unholy power - the roots of which go far deeper than the recent string of killings - Donovan and Shelley must find the truth amidst a whirlwind of terror, mayhem, and dark desire. Before it finds them...

Encyclopocalypse Publications is proud to publish the audio edition of Peter Atkins' horror classic, narrated by Doug Bradley.

©1992 Peter Atkins (P)2020 Mark Alan Miller

Great Narrator, A Story Of It's Time

As with another review, Clive Barker' association with author Peter Atkins brought me to this book. I had the original paperback when it was released in the early 90s (and I may still have it in storage somewhere). It took nearly thirty years and an audiobook release to get to it, however.

Overall, I enjoyed much of the story, though there were parts I felt a bit lost in. Or rather, some sections of the story should have had a bit more connectivity to the rest. The ending also seemed almost abrupt. The characters were interesting and I would have liked to have seen more of some of them,

Bradley's narration was great. I've listened to a couple of books and several of his own Spinechillers series of classic horror stories, and his performance here does not disappoint.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

TIME TO PLAY!!! PINHEAD READS 80s-STYLE HORROR

This audiobook is a must for fans of Clive Barker's HELLRAISER movies, splatterpunk, or great horror fiction in general!

This project reunites two of the major creative forces behind HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER 2, the celebrated sequel to HELLRAISER.,Novelist Peter Atkins was the screenwriter for HELLBOUND, and the thriller is read by none other than Doug Bradley, the actor who originated the role of Pinhead and made the character a horror icon. Bradley and Atkins have worked together since performing in the Dog Company, the Liverpool theatre group masterminded by aspiring horror auteur Clive Barker.

When Barker made the big-time, he turned to his repertory mates to help him conquer Hollywood. He first cast Bradley as the “Lead Cenobite”–soon to be immortalized by the nickname “Pinhead”–in HELLRAISER, then tapped Atkins to write the sequel, HELLBOUND, which firmly established the franchise as a shock-cinema staple.

Both Bradley and Atkins have enjoyed diverse and successful careers since then. MORNINGSTAR, Atkins’s best-selling first novel, was originally published in 1992, and its mix of 80s-style horror and 30s noir is as fresh and fast-paced as ever. In the current audio version, Doug Bradley demonstrates that he has a commanding presence and dramatic range even without nails in his scalp, and he handles both the novel’s hardboiled narrative and splatterpunk Grand Guignol with equal aplomb, as well as Atkins’s wry wit that brightens the darkness.

A treat for longtime fans and newcomers alike! Turn up the volume, and let Pinhead tell you a story...

intriguing, but almost feels unfinished

This was compelling enough to feel like a very quick book. It kept both my wife and I interested all the way through, but it felt like it just ended. I'm not expecting everything to be a King-ian 30 hour marathon but this was abrupt. I guess that's part of the charm and why both of the listeners came away with a different idea about what really happened. a fun book though and I would recommend it.