KILLTEST

by Graham King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 1978

Killtest, Inc. is a new entertainment giant staging gladiatorial bouts to the death at various resorts around the world. These sado-masochistic orgies of chainsaw duels and naked women with whips and detonation devices taped to their chests--one well-placed whipcrack will explode the opponent--are televised on closed circuit to S/M freaks around the world and are attended by the wealthier bloodlusters wherever the bouts are held. And they are big show business, even touted in Variety, and Killtest has CIA connections. But Kipling Leering of Special Branch is on their trail, packing his special Immobilion-B gun, a gadget that shoots frozen needlespray knockout stuff. Kipling fails to stop the S/M entrepreneurs during their Canary Islands meet, and so Special Branch invites a British entertainment mogul to set. up a rival S/M empire, called Deathblow, to lure Killtest into joining a conglomerate. At the final big meet on a big passenger ship off Scotland, an operative disguised as Martin Bormann (!) penetrates the Killtest group. King has elaborated his conceit with enormous detail, giving a mock history of cryptosadism that is based on violent underground comic books, snuff movies, etc., which lends a kind of baroque credence to Killtest. Lively futuristic trash, modeled on William Harrison's story ""Rollerball Murder"" (filmed as Rollerball), but less metaphorical, more merely kinky.

Pub Date: Oct. 23, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION