This was the biggest bloodbath I’ve read since “The Groomer.”  It was definitely not my favorite from Jeff Strand, but it’s not that it was terrible.  It’s incredibly graphic, so if you’re into that sort of thing, it’ll likely work out for you really well.  At the same time though, the plot did not work for me in the slightest.  I genuinely felt as though I had almost no time to get to know Frank, and even though we started the story off strong, it just quickly dissolved into a giant bloodstain in an incredibly brief period of time.

This was a bold endeavor, and some of the “black comedy” bits worked.  I laughed a couple times, specifically whenever Wulfe spoke, but in the end it wasn’t enough to save the story for me.  I powered through because I wanted desperately to get to the end, and the end does have some memorable moments.  I do not want to spoil anything, but the bit with the arm is quite disturbing and might just stick with you.  The prime reason I’m giving this book three stores is that it went out with a giant bang, and that made the whole affair a bit more sustainable.

Like I said, by no means is it a bad book.  I understand where the author was going with this, I just felt like we jumped from new relationship to love to drug dealers and….. Jesus Christ.  It was a fun ride but it had moments where I felt genuinely lost and did not even know what to make of what was going on.

I don’t want to pan it completely because it does have dazzling moments.  I’d simply say the relationship between Frank and Abigail is fairly swift and a bit unbelievable- BUT I’m not the type of person to sit here and say that stories have to perfectly emulate reality.  They shouldn’t, and they don’t.  I just felt like I, personally, was missing the emotional drive that takes me through a book.

But… it was interesting.  It was horrific.  And I had to throw out my bagel while I was reading it because the violence grossed me out that terribly.  That definitely counts for something