First published back in January of 1983, Guy N Smith’s novel ‘Blood Circuit’ was a standalone thriller novel set within the high-octane world of motorsport racing.
When Craig Hammerton was tragically killed by a seemingly freak accident, baled into a pulped bloody square of flesh and bone by a bailing machine, his daughter, Lee Hammerton inherited her father’s entire fortune and became a millionairess.
Less than a month prior to this, Lee’s brother, Justin, had also come to a sudden and horrific end. Burnt to death within the metallic tomb of his mangled burned-out race car on the Le Mans track.
Nevertheless, despite her brother and late father’s horrific deaths, Lee set her mind to winning the International Race of Champions at Daytona. It was not because her father and brother would have wanted it, but because Lee Hammerton herself wanted it. Furthermore, there was one man who might very well sway things in favour of Team Hammerton.
Mark Slade, the man had been Seamark Cruises number one driver and earmarked as a World Champion on the verge of greatness. He’d taken second place at the last IROC, after which he’d quit the sport for good. Slade said he’d made his money and that was all he he’d been after. Truth was, before every race he’d been scared it might be his last. Now he wanted out.
As such, Slade, the racing idol, was no more. In his place was an ordinary guy whom people in in the streets would scarcely glance at a second time. In no way would Mark Slade ever return to the circuits. However, now Lee Hammerton wanted Slade on her racing team. Not as a driver, but as a professional advisor. A troubleshooter for her racing team.
However, behind closed doors, Lee had been receiving threats. She’d been told if she went to Riverside, she wouldn’t come back to England alive. A threat which neither Hammerton nor Slade took lightly. Their immediate rivals, Seamark Cruises, were evidently capable of stooping to the lowest depths in their mission to win both Riverside and then Daytona. Perhaps even capable of murder in their pursuit for first place.
Despite the very real threat of Seamark, at the back of her mind, Lee Hammerton was also conscious of the Hammerton Curse. An eighteenth-century curse which had supposedly been passed down through the generations. Not something Hammerton had previously put much mind too. Although with the recent string of deaths, she was beginning to fear there might possibly be more to the curse than just whispered hearsay.
Tales of horrific deaths befalling all those along her family line. Generations of torment. And the accursed Hammerton horseman, the family harbinger of doom...
Here we have a novel which sees pulp horror legend Guy N Smith stepping away from his usual genre of horror, and instead delivering a gritty pulp thriller. Over the many years of his career, every now and again Smith ventured away from horror, to dip his toe into other genres. ‘Blood Circuit’ is one such novel.
However, ‘Blood Circuit’ certainly wasn’t Guy’s first pulpy thriller of this nature. The two ‘Truckers’ novels published in 1977, share a similar literary style. In fact, over the years since the release of ‘Blood Circuit’, the novel has been incorrectly associated with the ‘Truckers’ series in a handful of references. In fact, even in Guy’s own autobiography ‘Pipe Dreams: An Autobiography’ (2013), the book was incorrectly associated with the ‘Truckers’ series within the Bibliography section located at the end of the book.
Having read all three books, to hopefully set the record straight, DLS Reviews can confirm that despite all three books being gritty thrillers, ‘Blood Circuit’ does not share any other themes, characters, plots or settings, with those in the two ‘Truckers’ books. ‘Blood Circuit’ is not linked in any way, as part of the ‘Truckers’ series.
Now that I’ve gotten that Guy N Smith geekery out of the way, onto the review proper. So, essentially, we have a tale of sabotage, deceit, murder and of course a suspenseful whodunnit element. This is of course over the backdrop of high-octane motorsport racing premise.
Despite the novel being a thriller, there is nevertheless still a slight hint of a horror/supernatural element embedded within the plot. I’m of course, referencing the supposed ‘Hammerton Curse’. Pulp horror fans, don’t get too excited though, as this side of the novel is really only very minor. That said, there are some gloriously pulpy passages in the novel, where Smith clearly can’t fully shake off his pulp horror roots:
“…if you could steel yourself to look closely without vomiting, you could discern the shape of the wounds in the battered head – hoofmarks as though a horse had reared and plunged, an evil heavily-shod beast bent in destruction.”
The novel is framed in two distinct halves. The first part, titled ‘The Hammerton Curse’ sets the scene, establishes the Hammerton vs Seamark rivalry, puts the various characters together into this pressure cooker environment, and lays down the lingering question of the supposed ‘Hammerton Curse’.
The second half of the novel, titled ‘Riverside and Daytona’ is set in the US, where we see the two motor races the novel has been building up to, finally playing out. The first is set at the now defunct Riverside International Raceway, with the latter Daytona race where everything really ramps up a good notch or two.
Although the backdrop and plot of the tale is obviously tightly nestled within motorsports, it should be noted that the racing aspect doesn’t actually play that much of a part with the overarching narrative of the tale. Instead, it’s all about the rivalry and underhanded measures that Seamark Cruises employ. From hired hitmen to tampering with the race cars, there’s pretty much nothing Seamark won’t do to try to mess with Hammerton and Slade’s chances of success in the two aforementioned races.
Of course, we have the usual love interest going on in the story too. Slade and Hammerton are quick to jump into bed together, although for a Guy N Smith novel, the subsequent sex scenes are incredibly tame. Little more than mere hints of tantalising flesh on flesh, and then the chapter ends. This toning down of the sex scenes is very unlike Smith, leading me to believe the publisher might have pushed for this, in an effort to try to appeal to a broader thriller market.
Indeed, the various murders throughout the novel are also all depicted through a thin veil of suggestion rather than graphic scenes of pulpy violence (as Guy is better known). That’s not to say characters don’t often meet a sticky demise, but when they do, we’re more often than not simply provided with details after the event. A brutalised body found the next morning. No graphic, gory delivery of the actual murder itself.
All in all the novel’s still a thoroughly entertaining one. Although the motor racing itself is high-octane in nature, it has to be said that the novel’s plot isn’t quite so urgent or fast paced. Instead, it’s delivers more of a suspenseful mystery pacing, with sudden bursts of violence and adrenaline scattered every other chapter or so.
Definitely not the author’s best work, but still well worth a read.
The novel runs for a total of 216 pages.
© DLS Reviews
