Another reviewer here mentioned the 'drive-in movie' feel of it, and I agree.

I know sometimes it's all about when you read something, or what type of mood you're in, but for me this was a blast to read. It only takes a few chapters before each character's personality traits and motivations are intimately known. Garton has a skill in connecting the reader to his characters, much more so than many of his contemporaries in the sub-genre, and it's no different here. But Mace has a bunch of rat/weasel-like 'familiars' that he can use to see everything that's happening in town.Ĭrucifax is one of the best examples of the late 80s splatterpunk movement, and the tension and horror remain ramped up throughout. A few of the parents and one guidance counselor are determined to get to the bottom of these suicides, and the new cult in town. Some are even killing themselves with their sharp edges. Meanwhile, all the kids have taken to hanging out in the sewers and a huge, abandoned factory, and wearing these weird, crucifix-shaped necklaces. He slowly integrates himself into their crowd, all the while gaining more and more teen outcasts as cult-like followers of himself and his mysterious, sinister cause, one that will culminate in an underground (literally underground) rock concert he plans to put on. It tells the story of a group of typical jaded high-schoolers in the San Fernando Valley area of California, and the new guy in town, Mace, who's several years older, cool, and who seems just about perfect in every way. It's also just-plain-fun to read, and the action rarely lets up for a 400-page novel. All that only adds flavor to the novel, imo, instead of detracts. The author does a great job of making the reader feel as if they're living in 1988, complete with all the references to hair metal bands, religious fundamentalists against rock music, mullets, MTV, cults, etc. Unlike some others here, I really enjoyed the 80s-ness of this, Garton's followup to his breakthrough third novel Live Girls. I don't care how 'dated' this book supposedly is, I think it's first-rate pulp horror.

Crucifax by Ray Garton