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loogenhausen's review
5.0
Lyrical, dreamlike, disgusting, nightmarish, and above all thought-provoking.
Nicholas Day has supplied us with a fast, bittersweet knife to the heart. Yearning, longing, and lust collide with ugliness, depravity, and destruction.
This is one big bang theory that will settle under your skin like a strip of oil-coated sandpaper and stay there long after your death.
Nicholas Day has supplied us with a fast, bittersweet knife to the heart. Yearning, longing, and lust collide with ugliness, depravity, and destruction.
This is one big bang theory that will settle under your skin like a strip of oil-coated sandpaper and stay there long after your death.
thomaswjoyce's review
5.0
If you read the synopsis, you may be thinking "what the f...?". But I'll tell you, nobody can pull off a story like this like Nicholas Day can. Often brutal, sometimes gory, it is VERY entertaining and original. This isn't a cosy mystery or run-of-the-mill horror story; it is challenging and thought-provoking and great fun from beginning to end. Perhaps not as palatable as his short story collections, or as poetic as his next novella or debut novel, this is still the work of a genius storyteller who isn't afraid to push boundaries and transcend genres. Nicholas Day at his most raw and unleashed is still much more rewarding and entertaining than 99.9% of the stuff being churned out by the so-called big publishers.
motherhorror's review
5.0
I devoured this book last night before bed. Then, I was up at 3 am ruminating on what I had read; scenes on a loop running through my head. There's no traditional way for me to review, Necrosaurus Rex. I can't lean on my casual standby methods. This is one of those books that perhaps should come with a sticker that seals the book closed. On the sticker, it could read "Open at your own risk--you can't unsee these things and you won't be able to stop yourself from reading so if you break this seal, just know that this was a choice you made and neither Sadie Hartmann's review nor Nicholas Day the author is responsible for what you're about to read."
It's a warning message Nicholas Day himself wrote in my copy.
"I apologize in advance for this..."
Which is basically a very thinly veiled DARE, is it not? You can't warn a horror fiction fan...you can't suggest that something is too scary or too visceral or too disturbing, can you?
No.
So I'm going to plainly explain that there is something horribly wrong with this story. It's messed up. There are scenes in here that are repulsive and graphic--hard to stomach.
And at the same damn time, I caught myself smiling. Laughing inappropriately. Giggling at cleverly written dialog or the author's carefully chosen details. Day can write a scene, man. I'm telling you all this right here and now, the scary thing about Nick Day is that his writing is so magnetic and so provocative, he could literally write ANYTHING, and you will not stop reading it. You will not look away or skim past and that is powerful. He has a gift that he could wield in the worst possible ways (and probably does, if I'm honest)
and I'm just sitting here, a junkie for it.
I'll read it.
I'll risk a bit of my sanity for it.
It's why I'm here--because I don't want basic horror tropes, I want something new, lustrous, and memorable. This is what Nick Day offers you. So don't read this book unless you're down for whatever. Because this one is...
...a nasty one.
I guess I could throw you a bone, a little glimpse into what transpired in this tale. Basically, you have this person who was conceived during heinous acts of violence against a woman. Atrocious.
He grows up and he's adopted and he's off. He's just...off.
And like that little picture book for toddlers called, ARE YOU, MY MOTHER? This man is looking for love. Motherly love.
He's unloveable. He's horribly abused and mistreated.
Then he meets these scientists (which is hilarious)
and things go off the rails. Like bat-shit crazy off the rails.
I just don't even need to explain any further because you either will or you won't.
I did. And I enjoyed it.
It's a warning message Nicholas Day himself wrote in my copy.
"I apologize in advance for this..."
Which is basically a very thinly veiled DARE, is it not? You can't warn a horror fiction fan...you can't suggest that something is too scary or too visceral or too disturbing, can you?
No.
So I'm going to plainly explain that there is something horribly wrong with this story. It's messed up. There are scenes in here that are repulsive and graphic--hard to stomach.
And at the same damn time, I caught myself smiling. Laughing inappropriately. Giggling at cleverly written dialog or the author's carefully chosen details. Day can write a scene, man. I'm telling you all this right here and now, the scary thing about Nick Day is that his writing is so magnetic and so provocative, he could literally write ANYTHING, and you will not stop reading it. You will not look away or skim past and that is powerful. He has a gift that he could wield in the worst possible ways (and probably does, if I'm honest)
and I'm just sitting here, a junkie for it.
I'll read it.
I'll risk a bit of my sanity for it.
It's why I'm here--because I don't want basic horror tropes, I want something new, lustrous, and memorable. This is what Nick Day offers you. So don't read this book unless you're down for whatever. Because this one is...
...a nasty one.
I guess I could throw you a bone, a little glimpse into what transpired in this tale. Basically, you have this person who was conceived during heinous acts of violence against a woman. Atrocious.
He grows up and he's adopted and he's off. He's just...off.
And like that little picture book for toddlers called, ARE YOU, MY MOTHER? This man is looking for love. Motherly love.
He's unloveable. He's horribly abused and mistreated.
Then he meets these scientists (which is hilarious)
and things go off the rails. Like bat-shit crazy off the rails.
I just don't even need to explain any further because you either will or you won't.
I did. And I enjoyed it.
sjgomzi's review
4.0
What a crazy fucking ride this book was. Shocking, hilarious, nauseating... I couldn’t put it down. This pushed into that realm of anything can happen crazy ass insanity that I love. Looking forward to more!
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