Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones REVIEW

 Summary:

One last laugh for the summer as it winds down. One last prank just to scare a friend. Bringing a mannequin into a theater is just some harmless fun, right? Until it wakes up. Until it starts killing.

Luckily, Sawyer has a plan. He'll be a hero. He'll save everyone to the best of his ability. He'll kill as many people as he needs to so he can save the day. That's the thing about heroes - sometimes you have to become a monster first.

My Thoughts:

The title is misleading. There is only one mannequin, and that was disappointing. Other than that, the book was a fun short ride.

Sawyer and his friends bring an old friend (Manny) out of the garage to prank their friend who works at a movie theater. But Manny just walks out and leaves, and no one notices except Sawyer. Soon after, one of his friends and her family ends up dead, in an accident. Sawyer doesn't think that it's an accident though. He thinks that Manny is killing them out of revenge for being left alone for all those years in the garage.

(Spoilers) it's not true. Sawyer is imagining this, thinking of the worst. And because of this, he kills all of his remaining friends in an attempt to "save" their families from dying.

I think that the twist at the end was done really well. Normally, I wouldn't like it, but it's done very well here.  If you're looking for a short horror read for fun, I would recommend it!

My Rating: 4 stars

Body Art by Kristopher Triana REVIEW

 Summary:

Art comes in many forms.

A disturbed undertaker.

Famous pornographers from the Golden Age of adult films.

And a couple of high school graduates looking for a good time.

Brought together by a mysterious red dust, these unique artists will collaborate on the most terrifying work of art known to man...

My Thoughts:

The story is slow at first, and I almost put it down completely, but then I just couldn't stop reading it.

Harold is an undertaker, in the business with his sister, but he doesn't like her interfering in his part of the job. It's work as normal until the next few bodies that he must prepare are former lovers of his. Something takes over him, and he keeps certain parts of each body, eventually stitching them together to make them into one body. Though I am still confused about how his part in the ending happens. He's definitely my favorite character here.

Kandi is an older porn star who ends up with her old film director, Rutger, on a secret project. She's basically the voice of reason in this book, along with Toby. Rutger just wants to film the project and then leave the industry.

Toby and Jessica are the graduates on vacation for the summer. They coincidentally end up in the next house over to the filming, and go to investigate. They get invited to join, but only Jessica agrees. The more Jessica films scenes, the more bloodthirsty she gets, and becomes a sort of conduit for the weird thing that's lingering around.

The whole supernatural aspect was very poorly constructed, which made it hard to understand.

You can definitely tell that this was written by a man, the way that the female characters are described. 

It is a pretty disturbing book (in terms of like violence and gore). I doubt that this was intentional, but it could be read as the dark side of pornography and maybe an argument as to why it's bad.

I'm glad that I read it, but I doubt that I'll pick it up again.

My Rating: 3 stars

The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III REVIEW

 Summary:

Steve is madly in love with his eccentric girlfriend, Stacy. Unfortunately, their sex life has been suffering as of late, because Steve is worried about the odd noises that have been coming from Stacy's pubic region. She says that her vagina is haunted. She doesn't think it's that big of a deal. Steve, on the other hand, completely disagrees.

When a living corpse climbs out of her during an awkward night of sex, Stacy learns that her vagina is actually a doorway to another world. She persuades Steve to climb inside of her to explore this strange new place. But once inside, Steve finds it difficult to return...especially once he meets an oddly attractive woman named Fig, who lives within the lonely haunted world between Stacy's legs.

My Thoughts:

Yes, I bought this book just because of the title lol. Definitely a very odd concept, but very interesting. There's not much character development, but the book is pretty short.

Unlike Steve, I would not have minded lol. 

I don't even know what to say about this book, except that if you like bizarre  books, give it a try!

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica REVIEW

 Summary:

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans - though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries no to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the "Transition". Now, eating human meat - "special meat" - is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he's given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he's aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost - and what might still be saved.

My Thoughts:

When I first started reading this book, I didn't think that I would be able to finish it. But I did, so here we are.

From the start, you can tell that Marcos is not super happy with the way society is treating the "special meat", or as they call them, "heads". And his uneasiness grows throughout the book. That is what makes him such an interesting character.

Because of this, as well as probably missing someone to connect to, Marcos takes the gifted head and brings her into his home, treating her like a human being and even giving her a name: Jasmine.

His sister is the complete opposite of Marcos; she believes everything that the government says without question. She's annoying, but it makes sense to have a character like her in the story.

The ending was weird. He spent all this time humanizing Jasmine only to kill her in the end, which didn't make much sense.

Overall, this was an interesting concept to read about.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison REVIEW

 Summary:

A young hospital security guard with a disturbingly unique taste in woman. A maternity doctor with a horrifically unusual appetite. When the two of them meet, they embark on a journey of self-discovery while shattering societal norms and engaging in the destructively aberrant behavior. As they unwittingly help each other understand a world in which neither of them seems to belong, they begin to realize what it truly means to be alive...and that it might not always be a good thing.

My Thoughts:

This book is beautifully fucked up. The main character is a necrophile, and the other main character is a cannibal who only eats dead babies.

I think that it is an interesting that the main character's name is never mentioned. The inner conflict that he developed throughout the novel is very well done. Because at the beginning, he can't get it up with living women, but he starts to catch feelings and stuff for the doctor (her name is Helen). At first, he is very solid in his beliefs about himself and the world, but by the end, he's questioning himself. This is mirrored by the fact that Helen originally is questioning herself, but by the end, she accepts herself as she is and no longer questions. I did not expect this book to get this deep.

While I personally enjoyed reading this (I finished it in one sitting), it's definitely not for the faint of heart. It's very dark, and with graphic descriptions. There are mentions of sexual assault as well.

However...

My Rating: 5 stars