Famine
Chapters (35)
Cover
More Horror from Graham Masterton
BLACK ANGEL
DEATH MASK
DEATH TRANCE
EDGEWISE
HEIRLOOM
PREY
RITUAL
SPIRIT
TENGU
THE CHOSEN CHILD
THE SPHINX
UNSPEAKABLE
WALKERS
MANITOU BLOOD
REVENGE OF THE MANITOU
IKON
SACRIFICE
THE SWEETMAN CURVE
The Katie Maguire Series
WHITE BONES
BROKEN ANGELS
RED LIGHT
TAKEN FOR DEAD
BLOOD SISTERS
BURIED
LIVING DEATH
DEAD GIRLS DANCING
DEAD MEN WHISTLING
THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD
The Scarlet Widow Series
SCARLET WIDOW
THE COVEN
Standalones
GHOST VIRUS
Famine
Graham Masterton
Copyright
First published in the United Kingdom in 1981 by Sphere Books
This edition first published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Graham Masterton, 1981
The moral right of Graham Masterton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781838935757
Head of Zeus
First Floor East
5–8 Hardwick Street
London EC1R 4RG
Contents
Welcome Page
Copyright
Dedication
Book One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Book Two
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
About the author
An Invitation from the Publisher
WHAT MAKES A MAN TURN INTO A MURDERER OVERNIGHT?
FAMINE
The Greek-looking man said: ‘This food in here—you think that you’re going to keep it all to yourself? All of it? Just because you’re a storekeeper you think you’ve got some God-given right to survive while everybody else starves?’
Nicolas didn’t even want to think about it. He said: ‘I’m giving you three. You understand me? Three, and then I shoot.’
The first shot missed. The revolver bucked in his hands, and he heard the bang of broken glass at the back of the store, followed by a sudden rush of green olives from three broken jars. He fired again before he could allow himself to think, and the Greek’s shoulder burst apart in a spray of gory catsup. And then there was a deep, deafening bavvooom! and Nicolas realized with strange slow horror that the Greek had fired back at him with his shotgun, and that he’d been hit, badly hit, in the belly and the thighs…
Dedication
‘They are as sick that surfeit with too much.
As they that starve with nothing.’