THE EDGE magazine | Book reviews | Clive Barker

The Great and Secret Show
Clive Barker
Collins hardback, 698 pages, £12.95
Published August 1989
ISBN 000223453X
Review by Gerald Houghton (1990)

After the fast-paced, almost book of the film feel to his last novel, Cabal, The Great And Secret Show sees Clive Barker returning to the more literary concerns that last taxed him in the gargantuan (and inferior) Weaveworld. And once again, in common with that fantastical tale, this mammoth new tome gives his imagination free rein to exercise upon his favoured subjects: life, sex, death, religion – and dreams.

Dreams have long filtered through Barker’s work – indeed, he has claimed their influence upon it – and it is essentially their nature and purpose that The Great And Secret Show concerns itself with. Retaining Cabal’s North American setting, it opens in Omaha Dead Letter Office, where Jaffe slowly assimilates the information from disparate souls that points him towards the Art – an all-encompassing power over the nature of reality and beyond. He single-mindedly pursues the Art, eventually employing the talents of Fletcher, a brilliant genetic scientist, to distil the Nuncio, a potent fluid that enhances the evolutionary process, elevating the now warring pair to the level of demigods. Their conflict eventually lands them in Palomo Grove, a small all-American town on the outskirts of Hollywood, where they each father children – intent on continuing their battles through their offspring. But then two of the children fall in love . . .

Barker orchestrates his tale, flipping between reality and fantasy, with his customary flair and ability. The book’s length never overshadows its plotting, building to three very distinct climaxes, each more daring than its predecessor, culminating in what ranks as his most audacious move to date; welding together the machinations of the fantastique with the stark realities of the late 20th century. One could argue that Barker nudges pretension in his musings, particularly when his characters descend into Quiddity – the dream sea – but fortunately he never loses sight of the ultimate prize, avoiding the meretricious cliché of many a competitor. A vicious sideswipe at the vagaries of Hollywood, moments of pure surreal invention, and another in Barker’s long line of fiercely independent heroines (residing under the somewhat unbelievable and prophetic name of Tesla Bombeck) haul the book to a position head and shoulders above most of the competition.

We are also warned that this book marks the first book of The Art, a fact telegraphed towards the climax by the appearance of Barker’s occult private investigator, Harry D’Amour, who threatens to transplant The Art to his New York haunting ground for its continuation.

The book describes Barker as a ‘master fabulist at the height of his powers’. Whether or not this marks the summit of his achievements – and one doubts that it does – it certainly confirms him as the leading exponent of horror/fantasy working today. •

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