Does anyone remember Grinny? Nicholas Fisk

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

This scared the crap out of me in the 80s as a child!

Yes! The cover was terrifying!

Yes! I was thinking about this the other day. My sister and I both read it on holiday in France. She started it it when I was in the middle of it so we had to race to get it out of the beach bag / wrestle over it. Happy days.

Anyway my main memory of it is that she didn't smell of anything.

You remember me!

It was wasn’t it?

Never read this one but just saw it in google.

It’s just right for my almost 8 year old nephew.

God yes, absolutely chilling it was. And there was a sequel called 'You Remember Me', with a populist politician called Lisa Treadgold. It was brilliant.

I read it as an adult. Thought it was excellent. But I wouldn’t give it to an 8yo. I think 10 would be a better age to read it.

I have tried ‘eyes right’ on people. It’s really difficult to maintain!

Ok I’ll hold back on it for my nephew. It gives 8 on Google on some review.

I don’t know why i suddenly thought of it today, my mum bought it for me, I read it aged 12 and then a few years later but it really freaked me out! So it was very well written in my eyes.

I loved Trillions by the same author although it also scared me.

Still have my copy somewhere, was an award for great success in early secondary school!

Omg yes!!! It scared me as a kid, especially the front cover, but I kept borrowing it from the school library because it fascinated me in equal measure. It’s the book that inspired to write “horror” for younger audiences, and in fact Nicholas Fisk and I shared an agent for a brief while (my only claim to “fame”)

Yes! I read it so many times, I was obsessed.

Yes! I loved it! And You Remember Me.

I need to read that one!

I was the same. Really got into my head.

Exactly it’s the morbid fascination!

I posted on here about how I was taken to Madame Tussaud’s and Chamber of Horrors numerous times as a kid, you could choose not y go in COH if you wanted to, but oh no, I always returned (mostly different execution methods/murderers). What with that and my nana constantly telling us how she lived in Ladbroke Grove as a child near where Leonard Christie lived (she lived there before the murders) (I was 9 ffs!) and my mum hissing at her to shut up! I’m surprised I escaped childhood unscathed.

Terrifying book. There is an excellent episode of the podcast ‘Backlisted’ which discusses it in detail (as well as the sequel). Well worth checking out.

I loved it as a child and it came back into mind ages ago but couldn't remember the title. Googled eyes right for ages until I found it. Ordered a second hand copy to reread while on holiday. Thought about reading it to my 8 year old but maybe not if its scarier than I remembered. Might make my teen read it though.

I didn't read Grinny but I still remember "A rag, a bone and a hank of hair", and "On the Flip Side". I remember I didn't always follow the plot exactly - IIRC both those books climax with a sudden lurch (one from the 40s to the future, one from one dimension(?) to another) that wasn't entirely explained - but his ideas and imagery and the sense of tension and the creeping unknown definitely stayed with me.

Oh yes it was terrifying!!

Oh yes, I found it really scary.

A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair is brilliant. Odd, but brilliant.

Space Hostages was also good - far better than the sum of its parts.