Dead Lines

The 1980s were a singular decade as far as style goes. Every decade has its own inimitable style, usually directly connected to the sociocultural and political goings on, and often times the results are quite strikingly ugly to modern tastes (yes, I’m talking about you, 70s), but the 80s had a distinction of being profoundly convinced they looked good the entire time. I mean, that decades strutted. It was garish, in your face, loud and proud, in clothing, music and yes, fiction. And this book is very much the child of its time, though it was born right at the tail end of the 80s.
Skipp and Spector were the genre darlings of their time, both individually and as collaborators. This one was of the latter variety and the authors’ personal favorite. The least popular kid of their brood, the one that screwed up their bestselling streak, the one that general population didn’t appreciate and bookstores didn’t want. It was too different, and even though the 80s were a golden era for genre fiction, apparently even Dead Lines had to toe the line. And this book certainly didn’t, it kind of sneered at the lines, blew pot smoke at it and proceeded to ignore it. The final result is a mash up of short story collection and a novel, affectionately and cleverly designated by the authors as novelogy. Essentially a book with a proper framework of a novel into which a bunch of short fiction is woven in.
The plot is pretty great…after a chance meeting, two young women decide to cohabitate in a fancy NYC loft, one of them has a very wealthy father who makes this feasible, and then one of them discovers a box with a bunch of short fiction in it. Fiction she can’t put down. Profoundly haunting, disturbing, all encompassing sort of fiction. What she doesn’t know and the readers do is that this fiction was left behind by a (three named but call him Jack) writer who committed suicide in that very loft, in fact the remains of the rope are still present.
Side note…imagine that, renting a 3000 dollar loft (and that’s in 1988) and still have suicide rope remains present. Only in NY.
Anyway, as it turns out his stories are not the only thing Jack left behind. Turns out death wasn’t as final as he was hoping for and now he’s hungry for a comeback. Two spirited young ladies, one angry ghost…yeah, it isn’t going to be pretty. But it’s a doozy of a ride.
So, crazily enough I read it, long ago. It did seem familiar at times, but overall not distractingly so. The interesting thing is that since then I’ve matured enough as a reader to actually appreciate this book more. It isn’t as easy book to love, the authors’ style takes a lot of getting used to, it has that 80s quality, it’s very…how do I explain this…it’s language heavy in a way that can seem at times overdone. It snarls and growls and hisses and preens and wows in a very distinct way that for me is prominently associated with its time. It’s all ripped stockings and ripped jeans and ripped dreams. It wears very heavy make up and the constant dramatics of it all leave permanent tear trails through it.
And yet, for all of that, there is plenty of substance here to balance out the style. It’s a genuinely well written, cleverly constructed and original work of fiction or, more accurately, fictions. It’s different, it does something new with a ghost genre, it has some excellently turned out sentences. In other words, it genuinely has a lot to offer. In a way it’s just like the 80s, you might laugh now at the style of their music videos, but the songs will get still stuck in your mindbox for days.
It isn’t for everyone and I’m not sure it made me want to immediately track down and read more of the authors’ work (for one thing this is their least gory book), it’s definitely the sort of thing you gotta be in the mood for. But it is good. Quintessential genre work, quintessential NY story. In fact, that might be a perfect way to describe this, this book is so very NYC of the 80s. It has the exact sort of visceral quality to it, the texture of near danger at every turn, of glamourous furnishings covering up blood puddles and fancy lofts (barely) hiding past suicides. It’s dark and shabbily lit and there are things hiding in the corners. The authors convey that atmosphere to perfection. So…read if you dare. I’m glad to have had the chance to rediscover this book. Thanks Netgalley.

Jack Rowan is a young writer in New York City. He loses his girlfriend. Overwhelmed by depression, he takes his book of short stories, puts it in a box and hides it in his friend’s loft with a “Do not open” message on it. Even though it is not his home, he hangs himself in his friend’s loft. When his friend comes home, he is so horrified by the sight that’s ever moves out. Two girls move in the loft. One of them finds the box and starts reading the stories. She feels his spirit. Why?

This book is very well written but is not my favorite that the authors wrote. I liked their other books much more. Still, it was a worthwhile read. Writing the short stories and making it into a novel as good as they did amazes me. I do hope they won’t stop writing their novels.

Audio content-4/5
Story-3.5/5

Nice little ghost story from Skipp and Spector. Captures the raw energy of the 1980s. Not y favorite work from Skipp.

I remember reading the collaborative books by John Skipp and Craig Spector in the 80's. I always liked their novels. It always seemed so different from other horror books that were written during that time.
In short, the book is about a woman who finds a box of unpublished manuscripts and ends up falling in love with the dead author. What makes this book unique and brilliant in a way is the format. The chapters are actually a series of relatively unconnected short stories that the authors put together to develop a complete story. I really enjoyed finding out how they decided on the conclusion.

This was my first read from Skipp and Spector, and it certainly won't be my last. It's a unique book in that there are stories within the story, but I don't want to give too much away. It's certainly a memorable piece, with strong characters, dialogue and story setup. I loved the setting of New York City-- I've never been, but have always been fascinated with stories (in books and on film) set in that locale. I definitely want to work my way through all of the author collaborations from these two as well as their individual catalogs after reading Dead Lines.

4 Stars!



I have read a couple books by John Skipp and Craig Spector and have always been entertained. When I saw Dead Lines and read a little bit about it, this seemed like a strange book but one that I was sure to enjoy. Knowing the authors and their works, I was looking forward to a strange and entertaining trip into a world of darkness when I picked up this novel.



Meryl and Katie were not a match made in heaven. The two women came together through chance when they moved into the New York City loft. Both were trying to escape men who dominated their lives, Meryl from her rich father (who was paying for the loft) and Katie from an abusive boyfriend, and that chance led them to become roommates. Unknown to either of them, the loft had a dark past that was soon to show itself when Meryl finds a box inside a dark closet. Even though they knew nothing about what had happened in the loft prior to them moving in, they soon discover that the past can come back to haunt them.



There is a very dark side to New York and it is all ready to come down on the heads of the roommates. As Meryl begins to read the book, the darkness from its pages begin to leak out into the world around the women. Katie begins to realize that she has ties to the darkness in the loft and that it may not want to let her go. But what happens when the darkness doesn't just lie within the pages of a book and the past can destroy the present?



Dead Lines is as strange book. This is explained at the beginning of this edition in that it was actually a short story collection but the publisher wanted a novel instead so Skipp and Spector went back an overall story together into a kind of hybrid novel. This work. Well, it kind of works. There is an uneven feel to the novel overall. Some of the stories shine but the narrative that connects them is a bit thin at times. I think it is important to know this because this story is not a traditional novel and is best really not read as such. There is some value in the overall story and the authors do a good job of keeping it relevant and entertaining, but it is really the stories themselves that shine.



What can the reader expect from Dead Lines? First is a collection of very good short stories that center around the darkness of city life. From an undead cab driver providing for his family to a man who decided to commit suicide by pie, the stories are at times scary and at time laughable but at all times entertaining. If the reader wanted, the book could be read as a collection with the framing story excluded by glancing at the beginning of the each chapter. I will allow the stories are much stronger than the framing story, yet I still feel that Skipp and Spector do a good enough job of that to make the framing story worth reading as well. This is a novel born out of necessity rather than design. The publisher forced it to become a novel. But it is entertaining whatever way it is read. This book is recommended for those who like their horror served with a side of humor.



I would like to thank Crossroads Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Dead Lines is available now.