The Damnation Game by Clive Barker - Book Review

I think of all of Clive Barker’s works, this is the one I relate to most. I was fortunate as a child to get a private scholarship to a rich school. As the token poor kid at an extremely affluent institution, I was exposed to how the world works for the 1%. I spent 12 years watching the world work for them while I tried to live off the scraps that were thrown to me. I witnessed drug fueled orgies, extreme violence, and immeasurable excess. It was a fantastic education on why the world is in its current state. I picked up a distaste for the wealthy to go along with an intense opioid addiction. Clive seems to share my dislike for the ruling class, as this book is a parable of the generational cost of wealth. It shows the repercussions of feeding your dark desires with no thought of the cost others will have to pay for it.

Clive Barker (Full Disclosure: Favorite Author) wrote this following the incredible success of the Books of Blood. It was his first long form novel to be published. I can’t even imagine having that level of talent. He wrote one of the greatest short story collections ever written and followed it up with a concise attack on the upper class.

The Damnation Game is the story of Joseph Whitehead. Although Marty Strauss is the main protagonist and the main eyes of the reader, this is Joseph Whitehead’s story. Post WWII, he rose from the gutter to become the Jeff Bezos of his time. Whitehead’s corporations span the world and control innumerable resources. He holds liens against the governments of multiple countries and thus holds sway over the course of the world’s economy. All things must fade. Whitehead’s companies begin to experience immaculate misfortune. As if he knew it was coming, Whitehead begins making moves. The first of which is springing a felon from prison to be his bodyguard.

Enter Marty Strauss. He’s a rugged former boxer, gambling addict, and low level muscle. He’s never been in control of his own life. Which is exemplified by Barker’s subtle hints at his inability to control his fate. He is given warnings, signs, and yet he pushes deeper into the rabbit hole. Strauss isn’t told why he’s been let out of prison, other than that he is going to be protecting Mr. Whitehead’s person and estate. He’s treated fairly. He is given a staff suite that includes an ensuite bathroom. He’s given money, a car, but no information. All that he is told is to expect enemies attempting harm to Mr. Whitehead soon. Not that this information is a lie. Marty soon finds himself defending the estate from an ancient being named Mamoulian and his undead, child-murdering sidekick, Breer.

The book carries the atmosphere of old money. You can feel it pull you in as you turn the pages. It is nostalgic for me, having walked the corridors of mansions much like the one in the book. Houses the size of strip malls, filled with precious things, but that feel abandoned. There is a cold in those places built on the blood and tears of the lower class. Clive Barker is able to relay this feeling better than any writer outside of Michael McDowell. It’s a strange, surreal vibe that for the uninitiated can be disheartening. I knew that my life was meaningless to those people, so for me it was just another place. For Marty Strauss, its a different story. Marty is your eyes into this world. He’s a simple man who is trying to be a good man, or at least a better man. The horrors he sees in the lives of the Whitehead family are equal to or worse than anything the monster Mamoulian dishes out. Its like Fredrik Backman says in his book, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, “…Not all monsters look like monsters. There are some that carry their monstrosity inside.”

This is not a jump scare book. It feels closer to a Victorian ghost story directed by Eli Roth. There is extreme violence, graphic sexuality, and many taboo acts and implications. This is not a book for the faint of heart, or for the short of attention span. It builds and builds until the levee breaks.

I highly recommend the book, especially in its audiobook format. Clive Barker’s writing is almost musical and the audiobook readers used on his texts are some of the best there are.

So, next rainy day, sit down and take a chance on the Damnation Game.