A review by tracyreads
Kinfolk by Matt Kurtz
4.0
4.5!
Recently, I have begun seeking out more and more titles from Grindhouse Press. They offer a diverse range of horror and dark fiction that pushes me to expand the boundaries of the types of horror fiction I enjoy.
Kinfolk, by Matt Kurtz is no exception. When I saw the synopsis mention a pair of brothers that “get stranded along a hunting ground patrolled by a family looking for fresh meat to feed their hunger for flesh”, I HAD TO READ IT. Backwoods gory cannibalism? Yes, please. This does put me in mind of some of my favorite horror movies; however, Kinfolk boasts a crisp storyline and manages to accentuate the best parts of tales like this in ways that can often be lost in a cinematic format.
A length of 167 pages does not afford much leeway to mince words. Kurtz’s first chapter is a rite of passage of sorts; it challenges the threshold of what a reader may be able to handle with one of the goriest, fantastically bloody, and disturbing scenes I’ve read recently. No detail is spared in showing the levels of depravity this family of hunters can reach as they play with their favorite “toys” – humans. There are plenty of other scenes that will sate a horror lover’s desire for carnage, but the beginning is the most brutal. There are a few places later on in which the pacing lags, as well as some minor issues with phrasing (for me), but it didn’t pull me out of the story.
Often I find that the depth of characters in a novella such as this can suffer, especially when much of the focus is on the action. The author does a great job of giving the characters just enough personality to make me cheer them on as they navigate these backwoods roads and the family that “hunts” there. The brothers are on a revenge mission and have a past of opportunistic crime; their imperfections endear them to me a bit. The reader is invested in seeing them try to escape the chaos that surrounds them. Additionally, I appreciate that Kurtz focuses on male characters for the victim pool; it is a refreshing change from seeing a young woman at the mercy of evil, strong male antagonists.
Intense, brutal, and bloody, Kinfolk delivers everything a reader might expect from a south Texas, backwoods cannibal tale…and then some.
Recently, I have begun seeking out more and more titles from Grindhouse Press. They offer a diverse range of horror and dark fiction that pushes me to expand the boundaries of the types of horror fiction I enjoy.
Kinfolk, by Matt Kurtz is no exception. When I saw the synopsis mention a pair of brothers that “get stranded along a hunting ground patrolled by a family looking for fresh meat to feed their hunger for flesh”, I HAD TO READ IT. Backwoods gory cannibalism? Yes, please. This does put me in mind of some of my favorite horror movies; however, Kinfolk boasts a crisp storyline and manages to accentuate the best parts of tales like this in ways that can often be lost in a cinematic format.
A length of 167 pages does not afford much leeway to mince words. Kurtz’s first chapter is a rite of passage of sorts; it challenges the threshold of what a reader may be able to handle with one of the goriest, fantastically bloody, and disturbing scenes I’ve read recently. No detail is spared in showing the levels of depravity this family of hunters can reach as they play with their favorite “toys” – humans. There are plenty of other scenes that will sate a horror lover’s desire for carnage, but the beginning is the most brutal. There are a few places later on in which the pacing lags, as well as some minor issues with phrasing (for me), but it didn’t pull me out of the story.
Often I find that the depth of characters in a novella such as this can suffer, especially when much of the focus is on the action. The author does a great job of giving the characters just enough personality to make me cheer them on as they navigate these backwoods roads and the family that “hunts” there. The brothers are on a revenge mission and have a past of opportunistic crime; their imperfections endear them to me a bit. The reader is invested in seeing them try to escape the chaos that surrounds them. Additionally, I appreciate that Kurtz focuses on male characters for the victim pool; it is a refreshing change from seeing a young woman at the mercy of evil, strong male antagonists.
Intense, brutal, and bloody, Kinfolk delivers everything a reader might expect from a south Texas, backwoods cannibal tale…and then some.