Of course, nothing goes right and that’s not even counting the stories of people going missing in the tunnels. Tom realises this is their next assignment, attempts to butter Malgren up to get enough information on the sewers layout - and Mary secretly photocopies the plans - and then Five-Star launch their expedition. Mr Malgren (who has the great quote 'The world is fine, but people stink') is the supervisor at the local sewage plant and, according to Mary, has just been bitten on the leg by an alligator, though he wants to keep that very quiet. Clearly in love with her, their relationship is hampered by her father, a misanthropic alcoholic who controls her life and hates intellectuals (and plenty more besides) since his wife left him for a French teacher five years before, who expects Mary to be at his beck and call. The group is trying to work out which feature to work on next as Tom walks Mary home. A stock-in-trade of the horror novel (see also The Losers Club in IT), this little gang of outcasts works well together and we get some nice bits of history, later in the book, fleshing out their back stories. His partners-in-crime are Mary Malgren (also his girlfriend), overweight (and over-bearing) Cherry, Krevitch who does the photography but seems scared of his own shadow and the mentally impared Hunk who, it later transpires, isn’t a student at all but offered once to help carry their equipment and is now a member of the team. Tom Marsh is a journalism student and member of a campus production group called Five-Star, whose regular feature Touring has become a hit in the University paper.

Still here? Well that's an excellent decision because I picked this up expecting a creature feature and, far from being disappointed, found a lot to like. If you're looking at this thinking 'yay, a creature feature!' then, seriously, I'd advise you to move along now.

This is called Death Tour and an alligator features on every single cover version there is (see more below). To start with, I'll address the elephant in the room. HOW MANY OF THEM CAN SURVIVE THE DEATH TOUR?

Death Tour by David J. Michael