There is nothing that is better than a good trucking story. The open highway, the smell of the diesel fuel and the wonderful beauty of those great big 18 wheel monsters as they roam the highways of America. Roy Tremble is no ordinary trucker, he is a killer, who for some 40 years has been murdering and butchering women across the American states. Known to his fellow truckers by the CB handle “White Knuckle” he feels truly unstoppable until that is he makes the acquaintance of Special Agent Sharon Ormsby.

This is a fun read and gives a real feeling of being at the wheel of a monster truck and the complexities, control and skill that is needed to navigate this powerful machine successfully from town to town.

Where this trucking tale fails is in the stupidity of the storyline. To accept that no sooner has an FBI agent become an undercover trucker’s mate than she immediately makes contact with the trucker killer (who has eluded the authorities for a very long time) is absurd in the extreme. Whilst I realise this is merely a story, I would feel much more comfortable if the writing contained an element of believability, the ending itself almost portraying Agent Ormsby as a superhuman superwoman!

This kindle edition contains a number of grammatical errors which would have been so easy to avoid and correct by simple proof reading. I would certainly have awarded White Knuckle a 3 star review if more care and attention had been directed towards the preparation and presentation of the ebook edition but because of the carelessness of these silly mistakes a 2 star review is more appropriate.
The errors are as follows:

“The officer was in a foul mood because he wasn’t supposed to working a double shift....” should read “The officer was in a foul mood because he wasn’t supposed to (be) working a double shift...”
“......were driving up to my grandmother’s in Pennsylvania. Don’t where my dad was, but it was just me and my mom....” should read “....were driving up to my grandmother’s in Pennsylvania. Don’t (know) where my dad was, but it was just me and my mom...”
“Know that. Found your badge. Nice tits for and G-gal.” should read “Know that, Found your badge, Nice tits for (a) G-gal.”
“Her legs were rubber and she again she almost tumbled off the truck” should read “ Her legs were rubber and she almost tumbled off the truck”. ( )

Review copy

With apologies to Eric Red, prior to getting this book from Samhain Horror, I knew nothing about his work. Turns out, Eric is an American screenwriter and director, best known for writing the horror films The Hitcher and Near Dark. And based on what I just read, he's a damn fine horror writer, as well.

This is the way the story opens...

"There's a killer on the road...

He's a big rig truck driver who goes by the handle White Knuckle, and he's Jack the Ripper on eighteen wheels. For thirty years he has murdered hundreds of women in unimaginable ways, imprisoning them in a secret compartment in his truck, abducting them in one state and dumping their dead bodies across the country.

Dedicated FBI agent Sharon Ormsby is on a mission to hunt down and stop White Knuckle. She goes undercover as a truck driver with a helpful long hauler named Rudy in a cross-country pursuit that will ultimately bring her face-to-face with White Knuckle in a pedal-to-the-metal, high-octane climax on a highway to Hell."

If that doesn't pull you in, maybe you should be reading romance novels instead of horror.

White Knuckle has plenty of action and the title character is one sick and twisted individual. The back story on the killer's childhood was absolutely chilling.

Special Agent, Sharon Ormsby, is a wonderfully strong female character and White Knuckle has some of the most horrific scenes I've ever read. There were times I was actually cringing in my seat while reading this novel. It's that good.

If you haven't been reading Eric Red, like me just a few days ago, do yourself a big favor and drop this book right on top of your TBR pile.

White Knuckle is available now in Paperback and a variety of e-book formats from Samhain Horror.

Strongly recommended. ( )