Marty Strauss is given a chance at parole while serving time for an armed robbery in an attempt to pay off his gambling debts. His job? Serve as bodyguard to billionaire Joseph Whitehead. However, it turns out Mr. Whitehead also has a history of gambling, and Marty quickly begins to realize that it's not WHO he needs to protect Mr. Whitehead from, but WHAT.

I knew nothing about The Damnation Game before picking it up from a library booksale for $1, relying purely on Clive Barker's name for validation. Clive Barker is the master of short story horror; how well would his first attempt at a novel go?

I want to like The Damnation Game a lot more that I truly did. The writing itself is phenomenal; some of the most disgusting scenes I have ever read in a horror novel resides within the pages of this book. Barker also excels at character writing; the more you read, the more you connect with ALL characters. There are no "good" and "bad" characters here, only varying shades of gray. 

For as enjoyable as "the gross scenes" are, there are trigger/content warnings abound; I encourage you to research them before picking this book up.

Why doesn't The Damnation Game get a better grade from me? The story remains largely unfocused and distracted throughout the course of the book. It's clear the amount of love and detail Barker put into this novel, but it does considerably slow down the pace. The Damnation Game tries very hard to be a good book, and as a result, loses sight of what it initially set out to do - instill fear into the heart of the reader.