Nora Baxter is not your typical little girl. It's because of Nora that the Baxter family can't hold on to housekeepers or babysitters. Other children don't like her much either. She has no friends, not that she wants any. Things get broken around Nora, accidents happen, property gets damaged and things (and people) tend to die around her too.

Nora's father sees through her lies and manipulative behavior but her mother prefers to bury her head in the sand. Throw in some Nazis, satanic worship, an evil Jack in the box and a priest, and you've got the perfect storm.

This is classic 80s horror that is being re-released and I am thrilled to see it find a new home on kindle for a new generation of horror lovers. William W. Johnstone was a force to be reckoned with when it came to horror in the 80s. I do remember reading this book in paperback decades ago and it after re-reading on kindle I can say it stands the test of time. 5 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review ( )

I received an advance review copy of this novel from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and for that I am very grateful.

Kensington Books (Lyrical Underground) is re-issuing the William W. Johnstone horror catalog which is cause for great celebration for fans of the great (a golden age?) horror novels of the 70’s and 80’s. I loved the lurid covers of these pulp horror novels from Johnstone, Masterton, Coyne, Saul, Laymon, Slade and others.

Johnstone was always one of my favorites. Not only were the covers evil, the stories inside were just as advertised. These were not PG horror stories and anyone reading these books knew for certain that the usual rules did not apply. No character, no matter how appealing, was safe. There was no expectation that good would triumph over evil. Many of these stories were so disturbing that I wonder if they would even be published today. Strangely enough, I have been looking periodically for his novels to come out in e-book form because I wanted to read them again. I kept looking but only recently noticed some of his Devil’s Kiss, etc. series but none of the stand-alone novels. Then came these Kensington Books editions. I hope they reprint all of his evil little masterpieces.

Johnstone likes evil toys and boy is this one a doozy. He also likes evil children and they don’t get nastier than Nora Baxter. This novel will never be made into a movie; it is much too disturbing. Yet for all the bloodletting, I never felt that it was purely for show, or showing off as the splatterpunk authors tend to do. I got a sense that Johnstone took the conflict of good and evil seriously and that there was a message hidden in all the mayhem.

If you didn’t grow up with Johnstone and enjoy horror then he is definitely required reading and these editions are a fantastic place to start. I plan on collecting the whole series. They don’t write them like this any more.
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This is the second book I have read by this author (the other one was "Bats" which I really enjoyed). This one has also been re-released by Kensington and was apparently first published in the 80's so it definitely has an 80's feel to it.
Nora is not a normal little girl. In fact, she is devil's spawn and her father, Phillip knows something is not normal but her mother thinks nothing is wrong with her perfect little angel. Throw in a nasty jack-in-the-box that has Nazi connections and you have a campy but fast and enjoyable read. Be warned, though, there are some scenes that are definitely taboo so be prepared. The book reminded me a bit of one called (I think) "Demon Seed" and "The Exorcist" combined.
I am glad that Kensington has decided to release William W. Johnstone's books once again for a new generation.
I received a copy of this book for free from Kensington via Netgalley (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. ( )