The first thing that enticed me with this book was the awesomely creepy cover. OK, and the fact that I was a cheap-o and had this copy for free. But alas, free or a fee, I was hooked. I knew little about the premise, and the author’s note at the beginning had me believing we’d be in for a creature feature tale with spiders. Ugh, *shudders*

How wrong I was.

For a short read this actually came across a little as a slow-burn, and I don’t mean this negatively. I was expecting the gore and terrors to be on me in no time, but instead we become embroiled in the world of our narrator—who has no name, but let’s just call him Mr Unreliable. I hope there are no spoilers there.

Mr U has a bit of problem with the old drink. We first meet him in a bar as he prepares to head home to his wife and small child. As is often the case, he wishes he could be stronger for them and not a slave to the sauce. We get the impression he has also been a little unfaithful in the past, but no specifics are revealed.

There is something very off with the atmosphere at home. His wife appears to be willing to move on even though he has done something pretty bad previously. His son certainly seems to think the world of him so surely he’s not that much of a monster?

It’s here where the spider-thing begins. Mr U begins to see and hear spiders, but it appears he is the only one. Is he going mad, or is everyone else? Before long the call of the booze returns, or has it been there all along.

I mentioned before how this isn’t a creepy spiders horror story per se. No, the ‘spider’, when it comes, is much more disgusting and brilliantly described in all its pulsating and gory glory. What in the hell is this thing Mr U is battling?

Rather than continue to run through the plot, I’ll leave it there. As the story intensifies we learn more about the terrible occurrences that are actually going on. Do we believe a word this guy says, or has the drink settled in and taken hold on his psyche? I, for one, found the unanswered questions here to be superbly handled.

The psychological horror angle was great, the gore was great, and the ending shocking. So what’s not to love? If you were after a simple spiders-taking-over-the-world tale you may be disappointed, although I’m sure you would actually be delighted you stumbled on an even better story that will stay with you for a while.

Categories: book review

Tags: body horror, book review, death, gore, horror, psychological horror, spiders, violence