A review by molokovell0cet
The Rattler by Greg Hinkle, Jason McNamara

4.0

*I would like to thank NetGalley and Image Comics for providing me with an ARC for review*

It’s no secret that I love all things dark and twisted. Yeah, there’s probably something wrong with me, but what the hell, that’s just me. I saw the cover of The Rattler while browsing through some of the recently added titles on NetGalley, and it definitely stood out to me. The black and white image of a man with hints of red to accentuate the blood that covers him. Not to mention the ominous red woman in the background. This cover screamed horror and I was all for it.

The Rattler tells the story of a man named Stephen who is still in search of his missing fiancee ten years after she had been kidnapped in front of him. As the story evolves we learn that these ten years of searching have really taken their toll on Stephen.

I can see The Rattler EASILY being turned into a horror film or mini-series. It definitely has all of the right elements there. I actually would love to see an adaptation of this graphic novel, if it were done right of course. Parts of the story moved really quickly and were slightly harder to follow. I think these particular scenes could have been stretched out a little and provided a little bit more detail.

Although the cover was black and white with hints of red, I wasn’t expecting the entire graphic novel to be the same. I wasn’t sure if I liked it at first, but it definitely grew on me as the story progressed. It definitely provided a more noir/horror feel to the story.

The epilogue was nuts. Not only was The Rattler a downright creepy and dark story, but it was lightly based on true events! McNamara definitely added a lot more horror and suspense to it, but the fact that the base of this story is partially true is insane.

If you’re looking for something super dark and slightly disturbing, The Rattler is perfect for you!

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Initial Post Reading Thoughts:

Well that was definitely dark and twisted. So many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. It started off a little slow and I had trouble following at times...but damn, this could make a fantastic horror/thriller movie.