The Cleanup

by John Skipp and Craig Spector

Book Overview

His name is Bily Rowe. Yesterday, he was just another tragically talented loser that the city had chewed up and spat back down on the streets - a failed musician, failed lover, failed friend. But that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553260561
• ISBN13: 9780553260564
• Release Date: February 1987
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 379 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Scared to Death

Even though this is Skipp & Spector's first, it's one of their best. You'll be begging for more, while at the same time, begging for it to stop!! I liked this one even more than "The Light at the End," if that's possible. Billy Rowe seems to be a run-of-the-mill, burned-out artist w/ talent, but little motivation. After witnessing a horrific crime, he begs for help and guidance from the spiritual world. His prayers are answered when he is granted "The Power" to clean up his life and the streets of New York. Whether he uses the power for good or evil is up to Billy and he begins to have trouble differentiating between the two as vengence drives him on.

Skipp And Spector "Cleanup" the horror playground.

Simply put, this is probably the best-written horror story of the mid eighties. The wish-fulfillment fantasy, so long a boring and dreary concept in any genre, suddenly found itself alive and well with the introduction of Billy Rowe. The story deals with redemption, social angst and the question of good and evil. Rowe, a down-on-his-luck muscisian, suddenly finds himself in possession of god-like powers that allow him to "clean" the streets of his city. He does this in a variety of ways, including shaping himself into a woman and burning the word RAPIST into the forehead of one of his would-be sexual assaulters. He loses sight of his humanity, however, and the ultimate price is the forfeiture of his soul. An excellent, if brutal and oft-times gory novel, for any person seeking the ultimate in alternative horror fiction.

A grim reality of loss, redepmtion and deception

This was Skipp & Spector's first work, and although it shows that in places with uneven pacing and some awkward writing, it's still an excellent book. Nothing comes without a cost.

unbelievably good!

This was the first book by these guys and was absolutely incredible! Riveting story, good action, realistic characters. Wish I hadn't loaned it out to someone who lost it cuz' its one of my all time favorites.

Smart, new and makes you want to be there until the end!

When a down and out man is given powers to make the world a better place by an angel, he begains to drownd him-self in his new power. Now this hero of the night must fight off the scum of the city, the police who want to catch him and his own dark thoughts which are now coming into this head