yourspookymom's reviews
217 reviews

Damn you, Sodergren, you’ve done it again. And By God’s Hand You Shall Die was a WILD ride from start to finish. The setting & concept for this book was unique - 1980s NYC in a brothel built on top of the ruins of an old church. A church once run by a crazed priest who is out for revenge on the new institution. The additional supernatural elements in this book were so awesome. I don’t think I’ll read anything like it again!

As Sodergren has done in so many of his books, we are introduced to very thoughtfully fleshed out characters. He did a great job of humanizing sex workers, and I felt as if everyone’s personalities were so well crafted, even if they were only in a chapter or two. The multiple storylines worked well and came together all in the end seamlessly.

Definitely the goriest that I’ve read from this author and many times I laughed out loud at how insane this story was. Hilarious, absolutely terrifying, and fun. 5 stars for me!

Damn! A Sodergren novel that did not do it for me. I had high hopes for this one: satanic biker gang rolls into a small town and goes apeshit. Except, there were literally 4 people in this town & you barely knew a single one.

The story felt so rushed & the points that became overly repetitive should have been replaced with better character development. With The Haar and Dead Girl Blues, the characters were given histories and you ended up really loving & rooting for them. I didn’t feel any emotional connection to Angel & I can’t quite tell what the underlying message for this story was. The book felt a bit void of any real emotion. In my option, this is unlike Sodergren’s others & unfortunately…not in a good way. Some goofy typos, too. Wish it had gone through editing a couple more times.

With that being said, if you’re looking for an over the top splatterpunk, this is for you. I have a rough time with that genre, but will justify if the story was a good one.

2.5/5 stars - I love this author and am excited to read his other books, but yeah…this one was a no for me :(

This was a great and well worth it read. I can see why King raved so much about this story. The writing is very similar to his own - mounting dread, grotesque scenes, with painfully detailed depictions of scenes, characters and situations. The lengthy details and descriptions, at times, felt too abundant. Although, more often than not I appreciated it.

So often I was physically clenching my whole body while reading. I’ve recently found body horror is definitely a way to get the reader to REALLY feel scenes in a story. I often squirmed & itched at the descriptions of the parasites hold on it’s host. Totally gnarly.

As a mom of two boys, I found this story more horrific than the gore and vivid imagery. Couldn’t even bear thinking of my own in this situation. With that being said, there was very much a “boys will be boys” feel to this book. I watch my own kids express every emotion under the sun in a day & found it difficult to read 14 year olds being so stoic in such horrifying situations. In my opinion, unrealistic. Dread and sadness were thought quietly often which made the emotional side of this book lack.

Overall, a solid 4/5. Wild read and a great and original spin on a story told in variations before. Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Unfortunately, this was a DNF at about 75%. I was trying to power through, but the story felt YA with “fuck” & bloody scenes thrown into it. The one pop-culture reference after another got old really quickly & all of the references to famous killers didn’t add to the story only took away from it. Very repetitive.

I really wanted to love this - I loved morbid for a long time, but the banter lately it’s so over the top that it’s gotten difficult to listen to, so I think that tainted reading as well.

1.5 stars for the effort as I do think Alaina had a great concept, just struggled to execute well.

I had originally listened to this on Audible in early 2022. I remember being really engrossed in the story, but then totally dragged through the last 40-50%. Now, reading this month, I don’t feel like my rating has changed much.

The story is incredibly compelling. The characters are very well crafted, with elaborate backstories. The first 50-60% of this book is pretty emotional and fast paced as we walk through the grief of the MC, Claire, who stumbles upon her husband’s very secret and very dark obsessions after his death. Alongside Claire’s whirlwind of despair, we also do a deep dive into the other relevant characters who hold their own sadness. Each character is connected and their stories are braided into one another thoughtfully and in a way that I didn’t find confusing as it can with other multi-narrator books. I struggle to read about sexual violence and Pretty Girls didn’t skimp out on all the icky details, so certainly check any trigger warnings before reading. I would compare this as a very watered down version of Dead Girl Blues by David Sodergren solely in the terms of discussing the dark underbelly of pornography.

Although I enjoyed the ending, I could have done without like…200-300 pages. I’m a 90 min movie max gal (except for LOTR, you can quote me on that), so reading a ~700 page book is daunting. Not that I could imagine it being 200 pages, especially with all the twists and turns.

A solid 3/5 for me. I think I’ll check out some more of Slaughter’s work.

This book was incredibly good. I enjoyed every moment of it! The twist at the end totally got me. Definitely recommend.

I don’t think extreme horror is my thing. No, I know extreme horror is not my thing. This was a way too much for me. The gore I could handle, but the violent rape & mutilation I had to completely skip. Definitely wished I had listened to the other reviews.

2 stars because the story and concept was really interesting. I would NOT recommend this for anyone who doesn’t frequently read extreme horror. At points it was a little confusing, but aside from the topics I didn’t like, this was written well.

If you are pregnant or have children, please reconsider reading this. The pregnancy scene was the most vile thing I’ve ever read & wish I hadn’t. I can’t imagine how much worse it could have gotten had I not skipped over the rest.

Personally, just way too over the top for me. I’ll stick to my Evil Dead gore & paranormal scares

Before reading, I decided to look a bit more into the original author, Osamu Dazai. I wanted to walk into this with a general understanding of his background. With that being said, I did not read Dazai’s novel before this one and that had an impact on my overall feelings, so take that with what you will. It’s worth noting that Dazai’s work has been highly regarded in Japan, with No Longer Human being one of his last works of literature.

Whew, this story was BLEEK. Per usual, Ito has created a beautiful masterpiece through art and is very different than his other books. I recommend looking at trigger warnings before reading either.

**Spoilers ahead**
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This one is going to be long - I’m not sure how to feel about this book.

The story starts off intensely with fairly vivid imagery of child sexual assault by numerous caretakers of young Ōba Yōzō. It then rolls you into how his behavior, which we see as a defense mechanism, begins. It’s clear that he is thrown into the world by his family with little to no emotional support. Despite his wealthy upbringing, plethora of opportunities to start again, and an outright eradication of his criminal record, Yōzō continues to fall deeper into despair. I think the childhood abuse and overall debilitating shame that he feels can be slightly forgotten as the story reads on (especially at 600 pages long).

As a woman, this was a difficult read. I understand that many will say that Dazai’s presentation of the women in Yōzō’s life was actually not that they are to blame for his downfall... but with this rendition, I have a hard time seeing anything outside of that. Yōzō is continuously regarded as a magnet for women and that attention is a large part of his demise. His behavior leads to multiple suicides, death, and imprisonment of the women he becomes romantically involved with. My hope is that the intent of this is clearer in the novel itself.

My heart breaks for Yoshiko - most certainly the most tragic character in this story in my opinion. I think she was an incredible representation of the goodness around him that he could have enveloped his life with. Yōzō’s choice to not intervene the rape of his wife, yet obsess over it while she felt so shameful was also agonizing to read.

This one is a solid 3/5 stars for me. I read it all in one sitting & it made me deeply emotional. Ito’s work alone could have bumped this up, but the issues I have with the story keep it there.

It’s official, David Sodergren is my favorite author of 2023. What a hell of a ride! Jam packed full of sex, drugs, and giant. mutant. spiders....! Ah!

As it’s been in all of David’s other work, a carefully crafted protagonist rocket launches us into tropical hell…in her skivvies. I genuinely loved Ana, felt for her, rooted her on. What a great MC for a unique story. Oh, Chakrit! I really loved his presence throughout; the only redeeming male character…outside of Grub the pug, of course. I’m not much of a creature feature fan, but this one had me creepy crawling out of my skin!

The only thing that I struggled with was the pace of the last 100 pages. It was so action packed that I had a hard time visualizing the elaborate caves, abandoned hotel & apartments - especially with the jumping between locations. I also wished that more was elaborated on with the visions that Ana had. I appreciated the discussion had between the sisters, but felt like it could have been embellished on just a bit more to better flow with it’s significance throughout.

4.5/5 - thanks David for another kick ass horror. On to the next!

P.S.: Thank you for not making sexual violence the center of your fear narrative. You prove that a story can be bloody and horrific without it!!

Per usual, Junji Ito brings us into his unique world with these mind bending stories. This was the first of his short story work that I’ve read. Some worked being 20ish pages long, but there were a few I really wanted more of. The last being exceptionally unique…one of which I personally would hope he would turn into its own book.

Eerie, bizarre, & at times got a good laugh out of me. 4/5!