The sucking pit - the Romany people’s burial place and The Mighty One’s power stronghold. And Jenny Lawson’s scene of demise. Also, the general area where people change overnight and fall in love, mutually, in short, short periods of time. Unbelievably short.

I was not a fan of this story, and I'm glad it was short. It had potential, but the characters were just all unbelievable, especially their emotions. The pit wasn't the only thing that was sucking... ( )

Guy N. Smith's second published novel and another classic of economic, splattery, pulp story-telling. Based in Hopwas Wood in the rural Midlands, the story opens with the death of aged woodsman Tom 'Romany' Lawson. His only regular visitor is his virginal niece Jenny who finds his body and also finds his "black book" of ancient gypsy lore. Intrigued she begins reading the book; indeed is sufficiently intrigued to try out one of the blood potions outlined in the ancient pages. The potion has the effect of turning her into a murderous sex-mad fiend – she abandons her long-time boyfriend Chris in order to take up with a giant gypsy traveller named Cornelius, goes on the prowl for rough sex, while simultaneously trying to shag the local landowner to death. "The Sucking Pit" is less than 120 pages, but these pages are absolutely jam packed with violence, gore, deviant sex and occult trimmings. There is no attempt at character depth or development, with the focus clearly on a relentless, high-speed, action and gratuitous sex. Easy to read with no extensive exposition and plenty of over-the-top dialogue and full of simplistic charm and delirious pulp horror action - trashily perfect! ( )