Marty Strauss, a gambling addict recently released from prison, is hired to be the personal bodyguard of Joseph Whitehead, one of the wealthiest men in the world. The job proves more complicated and dangerous than he thought, however, as Marty soon gets caught up in a series of supernatural events involving Whitehead, his daughter (who is a heroin addict), and a devilish man named Mamoulian, with whom Whitehead made a Faustian bargain many years earlier, during World War II.

As time passes, Mamoulian haunts Whitehead using his supernatural powers (such as the ability to raise the dead), urging him to complete his pact with him. Eventually Whitehead decides to escape his fate after a few encounters with Mamoulian and having his wife, former bodyguard, and now his daughter Carys taken away from him. With hope still left to save Carys, Marty Strauss, although reluctant to get involved in the old man Whiteheads deserved punishment, decides to get involved and attempt to save the innocent gifted addict from being another victim to the damnation game.

**

From Library Journal

"I have seen the future of the horror genre, and his name is Clive Barker," Stephen King has written. Fortunately, this first novel (Barker has published short story collections) more than bears the weight of King's praise. Barker is a better writer than King, and his characters are just as interesting. Set in modern Britain, the story thrusts a flawed "innocent"parolee Marty Straussinto an epic conflict between wealthy Joseph Whitehead and Mamoulian the Cardplayer, a centuries-old creature with whom Whitehead had struck a bargain to obtain his wealth and power. Whitehead reneges, and the resulting struggle is played out primarily on his fortress-like estate. Barker's excellent writing makes the graphic, grotesque imagery endemic to current horror fiction very effective. Highly recommended anywhere horror fiction is popular. A.J. Wright, Anesthesiology Dept., Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Touches of sheer brillance throughout James Herbert 

There are things worse than death. There are games so seductively evil, so wondrously vile, no gambler can resist. Amid the shadow-scarred rubble of World War II, Joseph Whitehead dared to challenge the dark champion of life’s ultimate game. Now a millionaire, locked in a terror-shrouded fortress of his own design, Joseph Whitehead has hell to pay. And no soul is safe from this ravaging fear, the resurrected fury, the unspeakable desire of...

**

From Library Journal

"I have seen the future of the horror genre, and his name is Clive Barker," Stephen King has written. Fortunately, this first novel (Barker has published short story collections) more than bears the weight of King's praise. Barker is a better writer than King, and his characters are just as interesting. Set in modern Britain, the story thrusts a flawed "innocent"parolee Marty Straussinto an epic conflict between wealthy Joseph Whitehead and Mamoulian the Cardplayer, a centuries-old creature with whom Whitehead had struck a bargain to obtain his wealth and power. Whitehead reneges, and the resulting struggle is played out primarily on his fortress-like estate. Barker's excellent writing makes the graphic, grotesque imagery endemic to current horror fiction very effective. Highly recommended anywhere horror fiction is popular. A.J. Wright, Anesthesiology Dept., Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“A deliciously scary tale...Barker’s brilliantly literary work has raised horror to a level of excellence it has rarely reached before.” —Whitley Streiber

“One of the best horror novels in a very long time...do not miss it!” —USA Today

“Original and memorable...engrossing...disturbing...Horror mavens who enjoy violence and harrowing imagery will find plenty of both here. But there is more to The Damnation Game than gore. This story of a supernaturally powerful man who can resurrect the dead probes the many varieties of corruption.” —Publishers Weekly

“Remarkably powerful...Barker has created a truly legendary monster. In pure descriptive power there is no one writing horror fiction now who can match him.”—The Washington Post

“Wonderful, moving and apocalyptic. Death and damnation hang at the end of every chapter. Barker makes us squirm.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Will fry your eyes off! Keep the lights on.” —Larry King

“A masterly novel...a thrill a minute.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“A tour de force of gruesome supernatural horror...startling, hard-hitting, graphic...brilliantly executed.” —Fantasy Review

“A horrifying thriller.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A gripping tale of hideous evil.” —New York Daily News

“Will hold you in its spell. Barker has a keen knack for ripping the skin off every detail and exposing the horrors lurking just below the surface...Captivating and original.” —South Herald Tribune

“Shattering...A full scale, hair-raising assault on the imagination.” —Anniston Star

“A writer of stunning imagination...With his artist’s eye for detail, Barker instills a mythic quality into his vision of hell.” —The Atlanta Journal & Constitution

“The most literate and disturbing horror novel I have ever read. This is the place that nightmares are spawned—read it at your own peril, but read it you must!”—

Imagine

“A powerful, thrilling novel that provokes the imagination and raises the blood pressure.” —The Orlando Sentinel

“Frightening...Scalpel-clean prose and wild inventiveness.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Powerful...original...Barker’s horror is elegant enough that one can admire it as a kind of hellish choreography, with the characters all dancing to his phantasmagorical tune.” —New York Newsday

Marty Strauss, a gambling addict recently released from prison, is hired to be the personal bodyguard of Joseph Whitehead, one of the wealthiest men in the world. The job proves more complicated and dangerous than he thought, however, as Marty soon gets caught up in a series of supernatural events involving Whitehead, his daughter (who is a heroin addict), and a devilish man named Mamoulian, with whom Whitehead made a Faustian bargain many years earlier, during World War II. As time passes, Mamoulian haunts Whitehead using his supernatural powers (such as the ability to raise the dead), urging him to complete his pact with him. Eventually Whitehead decides to escape his fate after a few encounters with Mamoulian and having his wife, former bodyguard, and now his daughter Carys taken away from him. With hope still left to save Carys, Marty Strauss, although reluctant to get involved in the old man Whiteheads deserved punishment, decides to get involved and attempt to save the innocent gifted addict from being another victim to the damnation game.