A review by yogicath
Bad Parts by Brandon McNulty

5.0

This is book one of the Dark Parts series and follows the main character, rock guitarist Ash Hudson, after they suffer a career ending injury to their hand. Her band were playing a Battle of the Bands competition, but one of their band members was badly beaten before they went on stage. They have to play without him, only for the crowd to push up against the safety barriers too much, leaving those at the front getting squashed. Ash calls out for people to back off, but everyone is too carried away with the music. She does the unthinkable, in an effort to stop the crowd, and walks off stage, leaving them out of the running for a guaranteed win and some long needed funds! After the gig, Ash is chased by someone in a balaclava, who turns out to be a music fan who hates their music and wants her to stop playing, forever! He strikes her repeatedly on her hand, breaking every bone!

The start of the story shows an old man being driven out of the Hollow Hills, Ash’s old hometown, and begging the driver to turn back. He has received kidneys, which if he leaves the town boundaries, he knows will kill him. The sheriff is called to his dead body, left in the back of a car. Only it turns out the body isn’t quite dead yet! Candace, the woman who called him out for a bear attack, tells the officer to sort it out before she does. They have a secret to keep in town and sending mac to a hospital without any kidneys and no sign of any incisions, is going to raise a lot of questions. There are over sixty other Traders, as they call those people who have made trades for body parts, who have made a deal with the devil, or demon in this case. Only problem is, there is only one of each body part available and it can only be made available again, if the recipient leaves town or dies!

Knowing all of this, Ash’s first thoughts after being given the bad news after her surgery, is that she needs to go back home! Her band have a big gig coming up on Friday and she needs to be able to play her guitar. She heads off to a certain creek called Snare Creek, hoping to follow the tale her own father told her when he made a trade. What she does, will affect everybody in town, not just the Traders themselves. When you make a deal with the devil, you should expect some surprises and not those of the good kind! The Snare Creek demon is getting antsy and wants out of the creek, using Ash to finalise the parts it requires, for completion. Lots of twisting, dark shocks and surprises to come in this book, as the demon and the head organiser of the Traders, Candace, have their own plots in the offing. Definitely not what you might expect at the end of the tale! A good read for all who like a bit of a dark tale, mixed with the supernatural. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.