The Holy Terror

This grisly, sadistic first novel suffocates itself under piles of body parts and excretions. Serial killer Frank Haid, dubbed the Painkiller by Chicago police and media, murders 18 people--all paralytics. Commanded by an unseen presence that he calls ``Father'' and that speaks in the voice of an uncle whose rotting corpse he keeps in the living room, Haid destroys his victims (what's left of them) and evidence in a way that puzzles police. Hardest hit are residents of Marclinn, a home for the handicapped, where survivors decide they must track down the madman themselves. Their efforts bring them into contact with Chicago's weird underworld--including junkie/murderers and a deformed prostitute whose head grows out her chest--and their own true selves. Crippled physically and emotionally, Marclinn inhabitants must overcome their limitations before taking on their nemesis. Sallee bludgeons readers with graphic images whose multiple shocks soon distance us from what might have been a compelling horror tale. (Apr.)