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Book Review: Cluck: Murder Most Fowl

I fretted about how to begin this review for hours. I was afraid that if I came right out with the basic premise—how a boy with a very special gift is whisked away to a chicken-obsessed secret society in France to learn the fine-points of poultry exorcism, and then gets tested years later in an extremely haunted farm house infested with ghost-chickens—you would probably laugh out loud, then go on your merry way without even considering the idea of reading the book, and that would be a shame.

But, readers of this blog know good quality entertainment when they see it (obviously) and I know they will give it a chance; besides, who could resist a novel featuring a zombie Rooster King and his army of phantom hens?

Cluck is extremely well-written and is story-telling at its best. Author Eric D. Knapp shows his skills by successfully blending the difficult combination of humor and horror without the whole thing unraveling into something stupid. This is not so easy to do as I’ve seen with other novelists attempting this type of thing; the humor tends to clash with the horror and the author tragically turns it into something really dumb. Not so with Knapp; he grabs you on page one and doesn’t let go until the last zombie-chicken is plucked.

However, be forewarned: sections of this novel get down-right spooky! I get the sense that Knapp, who studied English and writing at the University of New Hampshire and the University of London, could have easily written a successful main-stream horror novel without so much as breaking a sweat. The opening scene of Cluck so vividly describes the creepy mouth of hell that I literally had goose-bumps forming on my arms.

Luckily for me, Knapp also crafts several scenes throughout the book which are absolutely hilarious. In particular, I enjoyed the exchanges between the book’s hero, Armand, and “The Charge,” a friendly but wise-cracking supernatural entity inhabiting his body. I defy you to suppress the laughter when these two (sharing the same body) disagree.

In the book’s final battle, Armand must face a very powerful Dead Rooster (yes!), “The largest rooster, living or dead, ever known to walk the face of the planet.”

Cluck: Murder Most Fowl is independently published so there’s no telling how long it might still be available. It is not, to my knowledge, available in any brick-and-mortar bookstores, so you will have to order it from Amazon or some other online bookseller.

CLICK HERE TO GET IT FROM AMAZON

One thing is certain: Cluck is completely original. You will not find anything like it anywhere and probably never will.

Cluck: Murder Most Fowl
Author: Eric D. Knapp
Illustrator: Ian Richard Miller
Published by: Booksurge
340 pages
Available only in Paperback

Here at the Dead Rooster Online Entertainment Laboratories (DROEL) we are constantly on the lookout for high-quality rooster related entertainment. That’s why, this week, we were especially pleased to unearth a major work in the rare “Zombie Chicken” genre.

NEW BOOK—Cluck: Murder Most Fowl

As my loyal readers already know, I’m a big fan of Horror fiction, so when I discovered a book featuring zombie chickens—and considering the name of my blog—I nearly began to hyperventilate. So far, I’ve only read the sample pages available at Amazon, but I’m already truly impressed.

After those first few pages it became immediately apparent that author Eric D. Knapp is a serious and skillful writer and his book is going to be a delight to read, especially for those of us that love the Horror/Comedy genre.

“Ancient evils have trapped the souls of a group of hens somewhere between life and death, and Bobby Garfundephelt, trapped inside the farm must make his way though the maze of the farm while avoiding the deadly traps of the evil Rooster King and his army. Fortunately for Bobby, the Exorciste de Volaille… a sort of exorcist of poultry has caught wind of the situation and must now enter the evils of the henhouse to rescue Bobby and face off against the evil Rooster King in an epic battle.”
–Revenant Magazine, March, 2008

Although I won’t know until I’ve read the entire novel, I’m sensing an Army of Darkness kind of greatness here. I can’t wait!

I’ve got a review copy on the way and intend to do a full review when I finish the book.