Blowfly by David Lowman
Published in 1984 by Star, as far as I am aware this was the only horror novel published by the author. I have tried to find more about them, but to no avail. So, I’m not sure if it’s a pseudonym.
The cover is very reminiscent of the Slugs novel first release, unsurprising as it’s the same publisher. They were obviously trying to cash in on its success.
This is yet another novel set in an unusually hot summer in the UK. Perfect for maggots, and there are certainly a lot of them at first!! The book begins with a young boy plunging his hands into the decaying carcass of a dead rabbit to retrieve the mass of feeding maggots to help with his fishing.
Everything starts of quiet in the sleepy village. We meet Mark Lambert, a wheel chair bound ex-soldier who now helps run his father farm in Dartmoor. As animals start to die, infested by strange maggots and become more troublesome, he contacts entomologist Dr Ian Wilde, who has holidayed at the farm or help. Once he has investigated the concerns, he realises these are not the usual type of flies and as the terrifying swam of flies starts to attack animals and people, he contacts the military (of course) to help with the situation as it escalates. There is a bit of a love range between nurse Marion, whom Mark is in love with, but she is in love with Dr Ian. This is pretty much superfluous to the story. The flies attack a poor old lady out for a walk on the moors, babies, a bus full of people, a tramp, some unsuspecting rowdy teenagers. All described in the usual over the top gruesome detail. It all ramps up to the usual Military/ science versus of nature gone wrong. To be honest, it does peter off towards the end and feels as if the author was not sure how to finish the book off.
This s a by the numbers animals attack horror novel. The quatermass angle of scientist vs military angle is something I have a soft spot for.
The author doesn’t quite have the flair of early Hutson or Smith, but as 80’s British horror novels go it’s a fun ride. If you see it in the wild or cheap (like the original £1.95 price!) certainly worth a punt. Don’t be paying the 15 quid plus they seem to be asking on eBay, that’s for sure.
The cover art by Alun Hood, who illustrated the cover for Slugs, Squirm, Tendrils and other such delights. He did quite a few horror novel covers, but unfortunately there is not a lot of information about him. The best I could find was on the Vault of Horror forum and ISFDB list of covers he has illustrated.
