First published back in April of 1993, Guy N Smith’s novel ‘The Knighton Vampires’ formed the second novel within the author’s ‘Black Fedora’ series, featuring the principal character of Sergeant John Mayo.
The novel was released in hardback only, following up from the first book in the series of pulp-thrillers titled ‘The Black Fedora’ (1991).
It was impossible for John Mayo not to think of Penny. In time, perhaps, he would be able to do so without feeling an overriding sense of loss. Two years they’d been together, wedded only a short while after their meeting in Lichfield, and then tragedy had struck. A cerebral attack cutting her life painfully short.
Mayo had taken some time off, away from the anti-terrorist force and his position within ‘Operation Werewolf’. Time to grieve alone. He’d taken a train, only disembarking when he’d become tired of travelling. He’d stepped off the train in the town of Knighton, straddling the Welsh and English border. Only once he’d come to terms with Penny’s death, he’d either move on elsewhere, or head back to London.
Although not long after his arrival in Knighton, Mayo realises something altogether disturbing was transpiring within the quaint rural town. A marked increase in drug addiction and prostitution was beginning to have an influence on the area. Further still, there’d been a sudden spike in arson attacks, the Welsh Anarchist’s rebelling against the English presence in the town and its surrounding areas. Even more worrying was the sudden spat of murders. Victims found lying in the gutter, blood drained from their necks by twin puncture wounds. Rumours of vampires suddenly rife amongst the townspeople.
May was aware there’d always been Welsh antagonism towards the English, even the occasional bomb causing structural damage. Suddenly, though, this action seemed to have turned to vicious terrorism. A couple burned to death in their cottage. A man found bleeding to death exhibiting a deep bite in his neck. Life was suddenly cheap in this once quiet border town. Mayo was now sensing the danger bubbling over.
However, for Mayo the situation had suddenly become personal. In the darkness of a side street, in a town to which he had fled to bury his grief, Mayo had come upon his beloved. The girl whom he’d buried in a north London churchyard less than a fortnight past. It was impossible, yet he’d glimpsed her fleetingly with his own eyes.
Despite his grief, despite his need for solace, Sergeant John Mayo knew he would need to get to the bottom of these vampire murders and the arson attacks that plagued Knighton, if he was to have a chance of finding out if Penny had somehow returned from her grave. But right now, Mayo knew there was more evil in Knighton than anybody could possibly know of…
Here we have the sequel to Smith’s thriller ‘The Black Fedora’ (1991), and what a follow-up novel this is too! Unlike the first book, this second instalment is absolutely knee-deep in blood-splattered horror, although still with a strong thriller undertone throughout the plot.
It’s also set entirely within the rural town of Knighton, which if you’re not aware, is located next to Clunton, where Smith’s home was. For those who attended the annual GNS Fan Convention gatherings, and indeed the yearly weekend get-togethers where GNS fans descended upon Knighton, the town is a well-known haunt, with many of the key features such as the clocktower, the various pubs and inns, and winding streets such as ‘The Narrows’, all making regular appearances within the tale. Indeed, alongside Smith later novel ‘The Cadaver’ (2008), its one of his novels containing the most references to the local spots around Knighton – making a pilgrimage to the town all the more special for a GNS fan.
Aside from the setting, there’s a heck of a lot more that’s classic Smith embedded within the story. A sense of impending danger overshadows the entirety of the tale. Mayo, in the midst of grief, finding he can’t escape his inevitable call-to-action in the face of the brewing trouble.
That said, his wife may only have died less than a fortnight ago, but Mayo’s random meeting with the secretary to a wealthy estate agent, a young woman named Gwenda Llanbich, gets the fedora-wearing sergeant’s juices going pretty darn swiftly! Of course, his causal meetings with Ms Llanbich are all marked as that of a platonic friendship, however, we all know where this is leading. We’ve read enough GNS novels to know the score here!
But its not just Mayo and this wealthy tycoon’s secretary who add a bit of spice to the proceedings. Not by a long shot. Our vampiric friends are all of the female sex, dressed in figure-hugging jet-black catsuits, and using their sexuality to help them tap their victims (in more ways than one). What’s more, as it eventually transpires, they’re somewhat keen on a slice of girl-on-girl action, whether their female victims are willing participants or not. As I said, this sequel is much closer to Smith’s pulp horror output than the first novel in the trilogy was.
Like with the first book, Smith has another swing at hippies and druggies, painting them as dirty, unwashed lowlifes, existing only as a malignant drain on society. Honestly, Smith’s descriptions of these hippies will have you roaring with laughter. Mayo smelling their unwashed bodies from across the street, whilst the loathsome drug addicts cower in the shadows, their doll-money scrunched-up in their hands, waiting to acquire their next fix. Genius!
There’s a whole heap of action and mystery thrown into the plot too. Multiple threats and no clear link between ‘em through much of the tale, only in the final few chapters the corrupt connection revealing itself. Along the way we of course have the bodies pilling up, either as anti-English murder, or through the acts of our bloodsucking nymphs of the night hours.
The cast of characters in the story is another key aspect making the novel such a riveting and downright entertaining read. We have ninety-three-year-old Sid “The Keeper” Knowles, who lives his life tending to the garden and grounds of the town alongside maintaining the clocktower, whilst smoking woodbines all day long and chomping on raw onions in the evening.
Then you have the no-good layabout druggies Gareth Ingram, Billy Quick and his sluttish girlfriend Libby Stewart, who live in absolute slumber, only leaving their grotty homes either to buy or sell their next fix. We also have Glyn Idle, who owns ‘Idle Estates’, whose empire is buying up all the properties in and around Knighton, to then sell them onto Welsh-only buyers. Of course, he’s got his eye on becoming a member of parliament, and nothing will stop him in his lust for power!
There’s just so many characters, each with their own unique part to play in the escalating terror that’s befallen good ole’ Knighton. Honestly, the whole book, from start to end is Smith at his best, delivery a non-stop rollercoaster ride of pulp thriller-cum-horror thrills and blood-spattered spills. Definitely one for the fans!
The novel runs for a total of 183 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Black Fedora’ instalments:
- ‘The Black Febora’ (1991)
- ‘The Knighton Vampires’ (1993)
