Fleshbait -David Holman and Larry Pryce

 FLESHBAIT - DAVID HOLMAN AND LARRY PRYCE

Pulp fiction of the lowest common denominator but Fleshbait by David Holman and Larry Pryce is also classic New English Library, published in 1979 and now long out of print. I paid a whole 20p for it but on googling it there's a copy for sale on AbeBooks for £114 and on eBay there's a copy going for £242. On Amazon there are no copies currently available but the price tag says 'Paperback from $1047'. Not that this means anyone is actually going to pay that amount but context is all, and that's the amounts being asked for.

Is it important that anyone be told what Fleshbait is about? Does it matter? Of course not, but as we're here, it's about a spillage of nuclear waste contaminating the rivers and coastline of Cornwall and in the process causing a mutation in fish. They suddenly become stronger and super-intelligent, and with this they're suddenly out for revenge against humankind for hunting them not just for food but also for sport. Suddenly the tables are turned and now it's humans that have become the prey.

There's some sort of environmental message here but for the most part it's ridiculous, mainly because we're talking fish. For sure, sharks and piranhas can be a bit scary but trout? It doesn't quite work. It's all written, however, with serious intent, with people being killed left, right, and center. It's all very breathless with no let-up in attempts to raise the terror stakes but in doing so it sometimes falls flat on its face.

For example: 'We lost our vicar early in the summer, he was strangled by a pike', as one of the characters says. For clarification, the vicar was actually strangled by fishing line whilst fishing for pike, not strangled by a pike's bare hands - or fins. And then there's this description of one of the characters: 'Gregg Travannion, skipper of the lugger Cornish Maid, leaned against the wall of the fish market smoking a stubby black cigar as he contemplated the price of pilchards, the weather and his worn tackle, in that order'. His 'worn tackle'. Make of that what you will.

For all this, there is actually a hint of a good idea here to do with nature hitting back at mankind. It's the kind of idea, however, that might have been dreamed up for a Dr Who series - Jon Pertwee 1970s style - which means the special effects are pretty naff and the acting overblown when not wooden. But Dr Who is classic, cult tv so this comparison in itself puts Fleshbait into the same cult category but in book form. Which means Fleshbait shouldn't be sniffed at and dismissed but rather acknowledged and appreciated for what it is.

John Serpico