The premise of the story is interesting enough and of course inspired by the infamous German tale of Faust; an unsatisfied scholar makes a deal with the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasure, all he has to give up is his soul. Who knows of course what happens to our soul but if the devil in the story wants it so bad then I'm pretty sure it has some importance, whether here or there. The Damnation game has it's merits, the mystery and buildup are engrossing and dangerously tantalizin

The premise of the story is interesting enough and of course inspired by the infamous German tale of Faust; an unsatisfied scholar makes a deal with the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasure, all he has to give up is his soul. Who knows of course what happens to our soul but if the devil in the story wants it so bad then I'm pretty sure it has some importance, whether here or there. The Damnation game has it's merits, the mystery and buildup are engrossing and dangerously tantalizing, the release however needs some work and heavy editing, considering that this was the authors first long novel all is forgiven because this is a good read, I'm glad I got to experience it even though it dragged a bit and was too light and relied on too many reader interpretations to rise to the top.



I had the pleasure of reading the newest reprint of this with a new introduction by the author himself which was very nice, whatever critique I give to the book is nothing in comparison to what it takes to write a book, this is his baby, his work of art and I'm happy to say I got to read it even if it wasn't perfect to my taste. It's still more than I could pull out at my first attempt, I liked the mystery, you have an ex-con taken out of jail to be a bodyguard, you get to like him and care for him until you find out what he has gotten himself into, a place where death and bizarre behavior are step in step with his daily activities, a place where death is noting in comparison to what can await at the end of the riddle. The tale itself is very interesting even if the delivery could have provided an extra punch; you have the rich millionaire hidden in a mansion surrounded by state of the art lighting and top breeds of dogs, a man who is afraid of something that comes with the dark. He hides in his sauna with his bottle of vodka to forget his troubles, he relies on Marty Strauss, a gambling addict, to keep him safe in the most important game of his live, a game of life and death and a game of endurance, which opponent can outlive the other. There is incest, cannibalism and all sorts of demented things happening, along with gruesome monstrosities that arise even though they should be dead. The nemesis lets us know that everything is due to chance, fortune belongs to the one who is willing to risk everything on a single throw of the dice. The more there is the stake the easier to throw that dice, so close your eyes and hope for the best, win big or go home.



The three start status is because of the pace and the lack of editing, it felt like I was reading the book forever. I'm usually a speedy reader, I can read a book in a day or stretch it over five days, but this felt like a slow tango, I wish it took me faster though the actual story, but I'm glad I got to experience it, I don't think that anyone should say no to it just because of the rating, what we get out of stories goes beyond star ratings and sales, it's all the good bits that settle down and pull our memory every once in a while, Clive Barker is a serious contender in the horror world of storytelling and he should not be overlooked.



Kasia S.