Torture Tomb

According to Goodreads, C. Dean Andersson (1946-2021) wrote science-fiction, fantasy, and horror novels for a variety of publishers. He authored a three-book series of sword-and-sorcery novels known as the Bloodsong Saga under the pseudonym Asa Drake. He also penned two horror novels dedicated to the icons, I am Dracula and I am Frankenstein. I decided to try one of the author's stand-alone horror novels, Torture Tomb. It was originally published by Popular Library in 1987 with a cover by Sonja Lamut (who weirdly enough does children's books).

Torture Tomb is void of a main character, instead the narrative shifts around a half-dozen characters in the third-person. First off is Jim Brock, a Vietnam Veteran and former prisoner-of-war that was tortured by the enemy before a miraculous rescue. He writes computer software manuals for a living while typing away the night as a part-time novelist. His genre is dark fantasy with an emphasis on bondage. Due to Jim's torture he now has a fascination with bondage – collects the magazines, displays the posters, watches the movies. But, he's sort of the good guy here. Weird.

Jim's ex-girlfriend Gina shows up at his office. It turns out her sister is missing, so instead of calling law-enforcement she seeks out a guy she hasn't spoken to in ten years. That specializes in writing tech language instead of finding missing people. But, she drags him into finding her sister. What does he do? He doesn't get the police either! Instead, the best hope in finding her beloved sister is consulting a group of witches. What the Hell!?!

In the meantime, Andersson spends three-fourths of the narrative describing intense torture to get his rocks off. This guy goes completely Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum for the reader. Gina's sister Bernice is kidnapped in a parking lot by a group of mobsters. They rape her and fling her into a pit that contains some sort of zombie. When they finish with that nonsense they sell her to two guys named Jock and Jack. They place her in a soundproof basement and go medieval - filming themselves torturing her for a snuff movie. They use the Middle-Ages devices like the rack, the sawhorse, thumbscrews, whips, knives, pliers, hot tongs, fire, and of course ropes. Lots of ropes. There is pages and pages of rape and torture for Bernice but also for one of the torturer's soon-to-be ex-wives. I thought divorce court was bad enough.

After skipping whole chapters of torture, I finally got to the part where Jim and Gina are surely going to align, ask some questions, interview an underground network of snuff film producers, and maybe, just maybe, smash some skulls. Jim doesn't go Mack Bolan. He doesn't even go Deputy Fife. Instead, Jim, Gina, and the circle of crazy witches get captured by the torturers and guess what...they get tortured too! 

Listen, Torture Tomb is absolutely horrible. I'd rather sign up for 50 time-share presentations than read one more page of this drivel. Do yourself a favor and absolutely avoid the Torture Tomb...unless you really like to be tortured with literary awfulness. In that case, C. Dean Andersson is your new master. Pass the ball gag bub.