Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this enthralled. I absolutely loved reading this book, what a great story. This would make a fantastic miniseries!

The characters are still with me. I actually am writing this having just finished the book, and I already miss the people, good and bad.

Incredible addition to the Clive Barker canon of imagination...I know I’m late to the game on this one. I’ve only read a few other Barker books, but now I’m motivated to read the rest! I’m excited because I have them to look forward to.

I absolutely loved Coldheart Canyon, and I recommend it heartily.

Coldheart Canyon is the ultimate example of an immense and graphic imagination finding no moderation, patience, or substance. As Barker even admits in his introduction, a lot of stuff was going on in his life when he wrote Coldheart Canyon. And as bad as I feel for poor Mr. Barker, the art and the artist must be firmly separated.

Coldheart Canyon is 686 pages long. That is 300 pages too long for the material at hand. The story has about five climaxes (and that's just structurally; being Barker, it has thousands of other climaxes as well, if you catch my drift) and the ending/epilogue, while intriguing, is 100 PAGES LONG!

Barker's ability to blend natural beauty with repulsive horror is here in Coldheart Canyon. Many of his descriptions are done with such macabre perfection that only a master like Barker could deliver it and make it believable. But unlike Barker's masterpieces (like Books of Blood or The Hellbound Heart or even The Great and Secret Show), Coldheart Canyon is completely devoid of characters worth caring about.

The 'hero' is a spoiled movie action hero. The female leads range from deranged and evil (and they're people we should find sympathy for at times) to obsessive and blatantly pathetic. I'm leaving out the bitchy agent, the dickish chauffeur, and the ugly, libelous, enraged studio head. NO ONE is likable in this book so it makes 680+ pages of reading about them enduring pain, torture, and enlightenment, a bit much.

Barker has the opportunity to tap into the Hollywood machine that, on the fringes, he has participated in. He also has a chance to get deep into the types of sexuality both tabooed AND praised in Hollywood (Barker, being gay himself, would have extra experience with this). But, sadly, his characters are bland stereotypes of Hollywood types we see in satires like The Player or something similar.

Barker makes up for this uncharacteristic gaffe by creating a truly unique and rich world full of horror and beauty. His imagination did not fail him here but his editor did. Focusing 30 pages on a dog's death is not needed when trying to get us to care about a rather vapid individual. Outrageous and nearly criminal sexual acts don't make vain, god-like pseudo-villains likable. And what is with the repeating references to children and sex? Yuck.

Barker has written books this long (or longer) and they had more punch, better characters, and didn't FEEL as long as they were. They also had a goal and stuck to it. Coldheart Canyon has prologues in the middle of the book, has a 100 page epilogue that is almost completely pointless, introduces characters with three dimensional back stories only to have them die instantly, creates subplots that are never finished or are left so ambiguous that when they show up again, you kind of forgot what happened with them in the first place.

Too many ideas, both good and bad, mixed with little substance, not enough Barker-mythology, and no editing. It makes for one of my only Clive Barker disappointments.

Give it up Clive. Your creative well has run dry if this piece of dreck is an indication. Bought this for a dollar at a used book sale, so had no qualms about literally throwing it in the garbage after 100 or so pages.
Filth for filth's sake.

I loved this story. Oddly erotic in a few parts. Not nearly as gruesome as some of his works and much less homoerotic than Sacrament and Mister B. My favorite other than Thief of Always.

My best friend, April told me about this book "Marisa, you're got to read this, this will nock your socks off". I love the Kayta. Kayta is a sexy film star from the 1920's. Kayta and her agent are in Europe and the by some stuff that is haunted by a Count. Years later actor, Todd stays in the old house that Kayta used to live when she was alive.
I don't want to wirte anymore, The reader has to read the book because its so sexy. It makes "50 Shades of Gray" look the bible. I did enjoy reading the erotic parts.

This is not the book for just anyone who loves fantasy. You have to be a little warped to be entertained by this story, but then again, if you're reading Clive Barker, what would you expect? If you have a good imagination, and are a bit on the "kinky" side, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy it. Sexually explicit involving creatures you've probably never dreamed of. Some say it is a bit too long, but I would have enjoyed another couple hundred pages. I've only read a few of Clive Barker's other books, and this one by far has left it's mark in my imagination more than any other.

Good book. I hadn't read Barker in a few years, but this book was really good. I will gladly recommend this book.

Very happy with the book. Now marks or bending visible. Really good read too

I have often found Barker’s work a combination of compelling and ridiculous with the latter, sadly, often outweighing the former, but I can usually find something in his books worth taking a look at.. COLDHEART CANYON has an interesting idea; an action movie star makes the mistake of bad plastic surgery which leads him to escape into isolation where he ends up confronting the ghosts of old Hollywood. At least that is what I thought it would be, but after being confronted with a priapic devil child and sexually frustrated ghosts and their bizarre hybrid offspring I basically thought, “Here we go again…” Barker can write some seriously scary stories but the novel form does him know favors as more room to expand on the concepts generally lead to absurdity not terror.

Not a thriller...or overly suspenseful...but enjoyable and satisfying read for me.

The biggest reveal of all...what really drives personalities and celebrities...What's their driving force. The craving for adulation.

I realized that one of the reasons so many celebrities jump on any political or social bandwagon is not any deeply held beliefs....but the chance to be anointed in the spotlight that they are still "someone". I suspect this is especially true for the ones that aren't at the top of the game anymore (Ashley Judd, Madonna)...or never were (Any annoying C lister who craves attention.)

But on to the book

I bought the book because the movie "Hellraiser" written by Barker still is one of the creepiest movies I've ever seen. Real horror to me.

And I was searching for an enjoyable diversion read.

Story wanders around...but it has enough details...and differences..that kept my attention.

Set in current Hollywood...referring back to the Golden Ages and the one of the most stunning stars...and her secret chamber that brought
all the luminaries to her hidden home...to delight in each other...in all the open and sexual ways possible. There's a whole chapter that could be turned into "The Aristocrats" monologue.

But what kept me going...was the personality expose's of the the characters. The STAR. The #1 Fan. His Agent. And all the other characters. Their personalities weren't forced into your mind by dull "here's what they are"...but slipped into your mind by showing you "what they are like" by their actions.

Noble. No. Base. Yes.

And it was more than just a wink wink...it brought to life many of the old ways of Hollywood.