Well, although I’ll probably take another break from reading books, I thought that I’d take a look at one that I have been meaning to re-read for absolutely ages. I am, of course, talking about Shaun Hutson’s 1984 novelisation of James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd’s classic sci-fi thriller film “The Terminator”.
If I remember rightly, I found this book in a charity shop when I was about twelve or thirteen and really enjoyed it. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to who wrote it, and it was only after I became a Shaun Hutson fan at least several months later (when I happened to find a copy of “Assassin” on a market stall in Stafford) that I finally noticed that “The Terminator” was also a Shaun Hutson novel too. So, yes, this is technically the very first Shaun Hutson novel I ever read 🙂
The book itself also has a rather interesting – if hazy and confusing – history too. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there was some kind of issue with the rights to this novel and that it was withdrawn from sale a while after publication. However, when I did some quick internet research before preparing this review, I couldn’t find any references to anything like this. But, according to one website I found, there were actually two separate novelisations of “The Terminator” published on either side of the pond (with the US novelisation being written by Randall Frakes and Bill Wisher instead). Regardless of the reason, this novel is something of a rare and obscure out-of-print curio.
So, let’s take a look at “The Terminator”. Needless to say, this review may contain some SPOILERS. Then again, it’s “The Terminator” – who hasn’t watched this film at least once?
This is the 1984 Star (UK) paperback edition of “The Terminator” that I read.
Set in Los Angeles, the novel begins at night with a cat scavenging through some rubbish near a graffiti-covered school. Suddenly, there is a bright flash of purple light and a muscular naked man appears from nowhere. The man wanders the empty streets, until he is stopped and ridiculed by a group of local delinquents. He demands that they give him some clothes. They refuse and, after a very one-sided fight to the death, the muscular man takes their clothing.
In an alleyway further inside the city, there is another flash of purple light and another naked man – Kyle Reese – appears from nowhere. He begins to steal the clothes from a nearby homeless man, but is stopped by the police. Reese flees – eventually hiding inside a department store and stealing both a cool-looking trenchcoat and, later, a shotgun. After this, he finds a phone book and frantically looks through it for someone called Sarah Connor. There are three names listed.
The next morning, a nineteen-year old student called Sarah Connor is rushing towards a crowded diner, worried that she will be late for work. Meanwhile, the muscular man enters a local gun shop and – after selecting several semi-automatic weapons – decides to bypass the mandatory waiting period by shooting the shopkeeper. He then finds a phone book and pays a visit to the first Sarah Connor listed there. He asks her name before shooting her seconds later.
Sometime later, local detectives Traxler and Vulkovich are called to the posh part of town to investigate another murder. This victim is also called Sarah Connor and it doesn’t take the detectives long to realise that they are dealing with a serial killer who is fixated on women called Sarah Connor….
One of the first things that I will say about this novel is that it was a hell of a lot of fun to read 🙂 If you are a fan of the “Terminator” series, the 1980s and/or classic Shaun Hutson, then you’ll probably enjoy this novel. Yes, a few brief moments have aged badly, but this novel is still really enjoyable most of the time. The best way to describe it is that it is like a more intense “turned up to eleven” version of the film. The best metaphor I can think of is a reasonably “faithful” heavy metal cover of a classic rock song.
In terms of the novel’s thriller elements, they are absolutely excellent 🙂 This is an utterly badass fast-paced and intense thrill-ride of a novel that contains a really good mixture of suspense and action. There are just about enough slower moments to provide atmosphere and dramatic contrast, but you’re usually no more than a few pages away from something suspenseful or fast-paced.
Plus, being a novel from one of the UK’s leading splatterpunk horror authors during the 1980s, all of the novel’s fight sequences are suitably grisly and melodramatic too. Yes, this novel is slightly less gory than the horror fiction Hutson was also writing during the 1980s – but this is often more of a case of the gory descriptions taking up a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs, rather than entire pages.
Another thing that helps to keep this novel thrilling is that – although most people these days already know the story – there is a wonderfully suspenseful ambiguity about whether Kyle Reese is someone that Sarah can trust or not. Hutson also adds to this by including at least a couple of mysterious scenes where Kyle follows Sarah before they meet. Likewise, as you’d expect from the film, the police are also out to catch Kyle too. Yes, this is all very similar to the film, but it helps to add a bit of extra suspense to the story.
Being a Shaun Hutson novel, there is – of course – also a heavy focus on guns too. Still, although Hutson’s extensive knowledge about firearms will be no real surprise to long-time fans and these segments mostly sound “realistic”, I was surprised to notice a small error – namely how Hutson uses what seems to be the names for the civilian and military variants of an American rifle interchangeably during the police station fight sequence. Then again, US gun laws/gun culture was probably covered less by the UK press at the time, not to mention that in those pre-internet days he’d have had to research this topic the old-fashioned way (and I have no clue how many books about rifles were available in Hutson’s local library, bookshop etc… at the time).
Still, if there’s one thing that this novel gets absolutely right, it is the sheer badassery of the original film, which is turned up to eleven here. This is a slick and intense thrill ride of a novel that is kind of like an amplified version of the original film, and it is an absolute joy to behold.
The novel’s sci-fi elements are, like in the original film, kept relatively understated. A lot of the suspense and drama in this story comes from this understatement – with the Terminator being a highly-advanced killer cyborg from the distant future of 2027, who seems chillingly futuristic because of what we don’t know about him. Still, we get enough information to get a general sense of the Terminator’s capabilities, his history and the dystopian future that Kyle Reese is trying to avert. If anything, we actually probably get a little bit more information about the backstory and technology of the series than in the film.
As for how well this novel adapts the film, the basic story seemed extremely close to my vague memories of watching the film when I was younger. Still, there are some noticeable differences that help to set the novel apart from the film.
Not only is the Terminator described as having short black hair (rather than brown hair), but Kyle Reese’s dream sequences about the future are noticeably “grittier”, longer and more spectacular/explosion-filled than what I remember from the film. There is also slightly more emphasis on the police investigation into the Terminator’s killings too. Plus, surprisingly, the Terminator says “I’ll come back” instead of “I’ll be back” – this is a tiny detail, but perhaps a hint that the novel was based on an earlier version of the film’s script.
This novel also has a little bit of a subtle British flavour to it at times with – for example – a large rubbish bin being called a “skip” instead of a “dumpster” etc…
Plus, being a Shaun Hutson novel from the 1980s (which, unlike a film, also didn’t have to pass the BBFC either), this novel is also significantly gorier and raunchier than the original film was. This adds extra intensity to the story in a way that will be nostalgic and/or familiar to anyone who has read the horror fiction that Hutson wrote during the 1980s, but it might surprise people who have never read a classic Hutson novel before.
As for the writing, this is very much a classic 1980s Shaun Hutson novel 🙂 In other words, this novel’s third-person narration is a really unique and distinctive mixture of gritty “matter of fact” narration, some hilariously melodramatic phrases (eg: “an orgasm of fire and lead”) and some slightly more formal descriptions. These elements blend together to produce a fast-paced story that has a bit more weight to it, a slightly “retro” atmosphere and a distinctive personality too.
Fans of the author will also be delighted to spot pretty much every classic “Hutson-ism” here. There is “coppery” blood, switchblades that “swish” and “click”, and words like “cleft”, “orb”, “putrescent” and “liquescent” also make an appearance too. Fans of Shaun Hutson – and the writing style that he used to use during the 1980s – will feel at home here 🙂
The characters in this novel are reasonably good too. Although you shouldn’t expect huge amounts of ultra-detailed characterisation, there is enough here to make the characters seem a bit more complex and realistic than they are in the film. We get to see Sarah Connor’s life before she meets Reese in a little bit more detail, which contrasts well with the rest of the novel and allows for slightly more character development too.
There is also a bit more focus on the two detectives, Traxler and Vulkovich, too – which also adds a bit more depth to the story. Kyle Reese seems fairly similar to his character in the film, and we also get to learn a little bit more about his backstory too. The Terminator is, of course, the Terminator – and, interestingly, Hutson often just refers to him as “Terminator” which makes him seem like an even more chillingly inhuman character than in the film.
In terms of length and pacing, this novel is excellent. At a lean and streamlined 172 pages, this is the kind of gripping novel that can be enjoyed in just a few hours. The pacing is really good too, with the novel becoming more intense and fast-paced as it goes along. Still, even during the relatively few “uneventful” parts of the novel – there are still dramatic “cutaway” scenes that help to add a bit of suspense and drama. Seriously, this is the kind of ultra-lean and efficient gripping thriller novel that could probably put some more modern thrillers to shame.
As for how well this thirty-six year old novel has aged, it both has and hasn’t aged well. On the plus side, the story is just as fast-paced and thrilling as it probably was in 1984 and most of it also has a wonderfully ’80s atmosphere to it that just becomes more and more enjoyably “retro” as time passes. However, this novel unfortunately includes a small number of outdated words and/or “politically incorrect” moments. Thankfully, this isn’t really a major part of the novel – but it can still be a bit cringe-worthy.
All in all, this novel was a hell of a lot of fun to read 🙂 Yes, a few brief moments have aged badly, but if you want a more visceral, thrilling and intense version of “The Terminator” then you’ll probably enjoy this novel. Plus, it’s a “Terminator” novel by Shaun Hutson – film novelisations don’t get much cooler or more badass than this 🙂
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get at least four and a half.
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