Steve-Calvert.co.uk
Steve-Calvert.co.uk
A Passion For Horror
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Guy N Smith's The Master was first published in 1988 and is a little over 200 pages long. On the front cover of the book, underneath the title, there is a single sentence that says: 'Dark, Satanic Evil Haunts The Scottish Highlands.' I think that those few words might give you a good idea of what to expect should you ever decide to read the book. The Master has not one but two main characters Ann Rawsthorne and Phil Cumbes both of which are teachers at Hurst College, an exclusive boarding school that has the kind of fees that make it affordable only to the rich. It is also apparent that the parents who send their children to Hurst are perhaps more concerned with getting them out of the way than with their education. The reader gets to meet Ann in the first chapter and finds her attending an interview for a position at Hurst. Ann doesn't really expect to get the job and after meeting the headmaster, Mr Lazenby, who is rather a sinister fellow, and seeing what a bleak and depressing place the school is, Ann is not so sure that she wants the job anyway. It is good money though, so she would be a fool if she didn't take the job if it was offered to her. Money talks, as they say, and chapter two finds Ann sitting on the staff bench and watching the Hurst football team take a beating on the pitch. It's winter, it's cold and she hates football, but at Hurst the headmaster expects his staff to turn out and show their support to the team. More than this, he expects his team to win. Loosing is not considered acceptable by the headmaster, and there is not a pupil or a teacher at the school that does not fear his wrath. Phil Cumbes is Hurst's senior master, like Ann, he also makes his first appearance in chapter one, and there is an almost instant attraction between the two teachers. This is something that would also be frowned upon by the headmaster should he become aware of it. The headmaster frowns on many things and is a hard man to please. What he values, above all else, is physical fitness and he expects his pupils to be the elite (think Hitler trying to build his super-race). Ann and Phil are in many ways outsiders within the school, and they have no idea of what is going on behind the scenes, or of the headmaster's hidden agenda, the origins of which, if they knew where to look, could be found in the history of Hurst College. I didn't particularly dislike The Master, but neither did I like it particularly either. I found it a little hard to get into the story at first and sometimes the dialogue didn't seem very natural. On the positive side though, if positive is the right word, I think that Smith managed to create a very strong character in the form of the Lazenby the headmaster. He's intimidating; he's scary and just plain nasty. In fact I can't remember when I have encountered a more sinister character, his evil just oozes from the page and he is truly the stuff of Nightmares. |
