Clive Barker's Hellraiser

This is the book that started it all...§From his Books of Blood to The Damnation Game, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show, to scores of short stories, bestselling novels, and now major motion pictures, no one comes close to the vivid imagination and unique terrors provided by Clive Barker.§The story, ostensibly about one man s experimentation with the occult in order to satisfy his jaded appetite for sexual pleasure, revolves around a tragic love tangle. Set on the outskirts of an unnamed English city, it concerns three members of the Cotton family: Frank; his younger brother, Rory; and Rory s wife, Julia, as well as Rory s long time friend Kirsty, who has long pined for him. Frank s pursuit of pleasure has trapped him in an extradimensional hell, and his brother s wife provides him the opportunity for escape. Frank s resurrection provides Julia with the opportunity for escape from the marriage she has quickly grown bored of. Rory, who naively adores his more worldly wife, becomes their innocent victim while Kirsty is drawn into this dangerous realm by her desire to protect him and show him the truth about Julia. Kirsty soon becomes the story s focus as she tries to save herself and Rory from the consequenses of the evil Frank has unleashed.§The Hellbound Heart is one of Barker s best -- a nerve-shattering novella about the human heart and all the great terrors and ecstasies within its endless domain. This book make Clive Barker into what he is now, and is what spawned his major cult following. It remains the source of multiple book and move spin-offs, and is synonymous with the name Clive Barker. It is about greed and love, lovelessness and despair, desire and death, life and captivity, bells and blood. It is one of the most dead-frightening stories you are likely to ever read.