A review by leoimj
Dead Men (Libros de Inferno: Book I) by John C. Foster

dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

this may actually be the worst book i've read, just not just this year but ever. I did briefly consider DNFing it (when i was roughly 40 pages in and two people had already pissed themself) but decided it had just enough interesting elements to keep me going. It does, tbf, have some good bits. I can see why horror fans would enjoy parts of this book as i myself did but there are much more glaring mistakes.

First of all the prose is janky at times and the author loves to throw in a big word that doesn't fit the flow the paragraph. There are also multiple grammar mistakes that an editor should have pointed out. The story is difficult to understand at times and certain scenes are completely unfollowable. Characters actions and important story beats are continually under communicated and at a certain point i stopped trying to fully understand the plot because too much of it is random bullshit. There's also things like having a character named Frank in a scene with one called Frankenstein which causes unnecessary confusion. It's not all bad, every now and then there's a line that is quite good and might be at home in a better book. There is clear potential in the author but this book doesn't always reach it. 

The overall plot is interesting though i do feel like not enough of it was explored or explained in this book, i know there's plans for other parts but it very much feels like the author is saving the good bits for later. I was interested to find out what would happen next and the pacing of the story is well done. Again where it fails is not explaining itself well enough since things like the slaughterhouse could have been really interesting if the lore behind it and what the characters had actually done while there was better communicated. The ending does feel anticlimactic as many of the characters in the finale are introduced in the third act and their place in the story isn't earned. I also feel like a final confrontation was needed since the book just kind of ends and the characters just leave without much difficulty. 

The characters are really where this book shines since most of the cast are really interesting and unique characters. The dead men each have something fun going on and are deranged in their own way. Hoodoo girl is incredibly interesting and I will say her arc is probably the best done since she gets her climatic confrontation and a happy ending. I do feel like she didn't seem like a 12 year old girl infact i assumed she was an adult women until her age was mentioned, a better authors would have communicated this through the narrative voice. you can clearly see that the author has interesting and fun ideas for horror characters and knows how to introduce concepts well, the Ghoul and his cannibalistic needs are communicated well with only a few sentences acknowledging them. if only the same care was put into describing scenes and action the book would really shine. 

Another issue i do have is with the treatment of Spike and the other female characters. There isn't a female character in this book who doesn't experience rape. I do think rape can be included in narratives but i think it needs to be handled with care. Having your a character dream she's being raped by corn only to wake up and realise she's actually being raped be a man isn't the way to do that. There is a lot of graphic violence in these books and i know there's plenty of people who would view the rape scenes as just part of that but i don't agree with that representation of rape and feel it needs to be handled with more significance. There's also something to be said with how the sexual elements of the horror are only present with the female characters. Also using rape as a metaphor isn't great, the water scene is very heavy handed. The audience can get from the fact that spike is naked and being nosed down that she is being violated and her bodily automobiles is being taken from her without constant references to rape. The scene would have been more impactful that way too. 

There's also the character Lump who is a black disabled man who is, by the perspective character of his chapters, considered less than human and often mistreated. It is clear that the root of his mistreatment is ableism and the audience isn't meant to side with prejudice but this is handled incredibly poorly. 

Again, there is stuff i enjoyed in this book, just enough to keep me going but i would not recommend it to anyone. I do hope the author keeps writing, he has clear potential but there are a view things to work out. For a debut some of the issues are understandable, others are not. 
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