Bats Out Of Hell by Guy N Smith
Yes, it’s time for another Guy N. Smith review and Bats Out of Hell is a classic. It even resurfaced in headlines back in 2020 due to its similarity to a virus that temporarily stopped the world. Guy N. Smith’s books are often criticized for being formulaic, hastily written, and, at times, absurd. But that misses the point entirely. The brilliance of Smith’s work lies in its relentless pace, its gruesome imagination, and the unapologetic way it revels in pure, unfiltered horror. Are his novels literary masterpieces? Absolutely not. But do they serve their purpose? Hell, yes. Smith knew exactly what his audience wanted: fast-paced, gory, and action-packed horror, and he delivered time and time again. He sold millions of copies, with each one becoming gloriously more gruesome than the last. Horror was at its peak when he was writing, and he was a master of the genre.
Bats Out of Hell is a horror novel with a very real-world element at its core. It’s a strange one, blending eco-thriller, post-apocalyptic societal breakdown, and pure horror. Interestingly, the bad guys aren’t the bats themselves — they just carry a disease that was manufactured in a lab (yes, I know what you’re thinking).
Quick synopsis: Dr. Newman accidentally creates a deadly virus similar to meningitis in a group of bats. After a spat with his girlfriend — during which he slaps her (Newman is as stereotypically 70s as you can get ) — she catches him about to take another woman for a quick sex session in the back of a car. The ensuing fight shatters the glass case containing the bats, and they escape through a window that the good doctor had been sneaking a cigarette through . Chaos ensues around Birmingham as the bats start unwittingly spreading the disease, turning it into a war zone: deaths, overcrowded hospitals, riots, voluntary gun-toting vigilantes (the British Vigilante Patrol ), and an army that shoots first and asks questions later. Honestly, it feels like Smith might have had a vision of the future.
It has all the usual Smith character tropes: an older man having an affair with a younger woman who cannot resist him, authorities refusing to listen to him about the danger, etc., with minimal in-depth characterization. But, as with all his novels, it races along at a rapid pace, introducing characters and dispatching them just as quickly in violent and disturbing ways.
I’m not sure if Smith did this intentionally, but you never really like Dr. Newman. He comes across as a bit of a bastard. It’s his fault, and though he apologizes and, of course, saves the day, you still don’t root for him.
He worked as a gamekeeper, and his intimate knowledge of the countryside seeps into his stories. He’s not just writing about nature as a backdrop for horror — there’s a genuine sense of respect for the natural world and an awareness of how dangerous it can be when humans interfere with it. In this novel, that ecological awareness takes centre stage. He recognized the potential dangers of messing with nature, making this book oddly prophetic and ahead of its time. I never thought I’d say that about a Guy N. Smith book.
I absolutely love the cover art for this one, with the same font and layout as the early Crabs books. I wish they had stuck with that design in the long run.
Anyway, this is well worth a read. It’s a surprisingly timely story that resonates today especially considering what’s happened over the past few years. We’ve almost been living in a Guy N. Smith reality, and that makes this book all the more worth adding to your collection.
