Family Portrait - Graham Masterton

Graham Masterton is a highly versatile author who hs had no end of books published across the globe and had bestsellers written in both sex self-help books and in romantic fiction as well as his main genre of horror chillers. But for some strange reason, perhaps because his style of writing is not always as polished as fellow authors Stephen King or say Dean Koontz, he has never quite managed to garner the same reputation. Which is a shame as, as a horror writer, I find him often very under-rated... Not so with this book, Family Portait, based on Oscar Wilde's Portrait Of Dorian Grey which aims to transport this classic tale into the modern age the way that ...  Read the complete review

I have read several of Graham Masterton's books, but "Family Portrait" is a firm favourite. I've lost count of the number of times I've read it, or lent it to friends. Mostly set in New York and Connecticut, it is the story of the Gray family. They should have aged and died years ago, but their appearances never seem to change. The dreadful secret they hide is their insatiable need to kill innocent people for their skin, which they use on themselves to disguise the ageing process. The horrific thing is, to preserve the skin properly, all their victims have to be skinned while still alive. The main character is Vincent Pearson, the ...  Read the complete review