Ray Garton’s LIVE GIRLS isn’t your typical vampire novel. Unless most vampire novels have a sex scene involving a bloody tampon. No? Didn’t think so.

Newly reissued by Leisure, this corker from 1987 – Cabbage Patch references and all! – follows the travails of Davey Owen, a mid-level editor for the cheap Brute Force magazine who wanders into a sleazy Times Square strip joint named Live Girls and gets a stroking like he’s never had before from a “dancer” named Anya. This turns into an obsession for Davey, who keeps going back for more. Eventually he musters enough courage to approach this young woman after her shift ends, which leads to all-out sex, also like he’s never had before. Because men generally don’t have their penis punctured by fangs during the carnal act, right? Didn’t think so.

There’s someone else paying close attention to Live Girls, but for wholly different reasons: a New York Times reporter whose sister and niece were murdered by, he believes, his brother-in-law, who spent all his nights before that deadly one at the club. The inquiring journalist sees a connection and wonders why this Davey customer looks so darn pale. Davey spills all; a plot of revenge is hatched.

And that plot grows ever zanier, what with the snakes, pimps and ping pong balls. Garton’s book is regarded as somewhat of a modern horror classic, but I found it far more over-the-top than anything approaching scary. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like it – when you read something this nutty (pardon the pun) up front, you want to see just how far the author’s going to take it. The answer: all the way. He sure doesn’t hold back on any level, be it sex, sickness or sick humor (”Jesus Christ, if you wanted to get laid, couldn’t you have found a woman who doesn’t float?“). Suck on it. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE LOVELIEST DEAD by Ray Garton