A Review of Skorpio
By Mike Baron
I read the book ‘Skorpio’ by Mike Baron, he of comics fame
from such characters as ‘Nexxus’ and ‘The Badger’.
Mike’s ‘Skorpio’ is a different type of story from I am used
to from him in that it was a horror tale focusing on a terrible, ghostly
creature of vengeance in the American Southwest. The book starts off a little
slow, but it was still interesting. The main character (Or hero, though he was
almost an anti-hero) was a professor named Vaughn Beadles. Who is framed for a
tyheft at the university he worked for and fired as well as disgraced. He loses
his family over it, as well as his home, his car-basically everything. There is
a girl whose story is running parallel to Beadles. She is beaten by her drug
dealing/drug addict boyfriend. Who is also a failed MMA fighter.
The first 40% of the book is a bit slow, but once you get
past that it pops into high gear and a very nicely woven story comes together. I ended up reading the final 60% of the book in
a day or so, including the final 20% of it in one sitting. Let’s just say it
held my attention.
Within this book you will find ghostly monsters as well as
other apparitions that walk the American plains. To me though the most horrifying
things were the creatures that followed title characters commands. Let me put
as one of my favorite all time characters would, ‘I hate snakes!’ and you can
add Scorpions to that as well.
Just so you understand, it is a horror story, not a heroic
tale. Beadles is kind of a fool in a lot of ways, and it seems he understands
that as well before the stories end. The end of the conflict is a bit clichéd
for my tastes, but all in all I liked it quite a bit. The epilogue chapter tied
things up nicely, as well as leaving a new sense of dread.
Four and a half out of five stars.
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