Embrace The Darkness

Hellsworld Hotel - Matthew Vaughn 

                                                       

      I received an arc from Matthew Vaughn and dove right in. I love Vaughn’s style of writing, and here we have an all-out assault on your senses. From the opening page, you get brutal in your face horror. For those looking for something light to read that doesn’t offend, you may want to skip this one. Vaughn’s latest novella is a love letter to extreme horror and he holds nothing back. This is a book for those who like their fiction raw and unapologetic, and love films that border on obscene. Zed and his family are a sadistic bunch of folks who open a haunted house with a hidden agenda. It;'s that hidden agenda that drives the book. 

     Despite all the violence and gore, it’s a solid read that sets up a premise that we’ve seen before, but the execution (pardon the pun), and the why of it is the blood that flows through this books veins.

 This is a writer that can craft a good story while also making feel a little queasy. It’s horror that gets under your skin and does a great job of making you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s the why of it all that’s so disturbing. We know that there are sick people out there and in Hellsworld Hotel, they’re the main characters. Vaughn has a knack for extreme horror,  but his talent as a writer brings the action to life. You aren’t simply reading these scenes, you feel as if you’re experiencing them along with the characters. It knows it’s not for everyone, but it doesn’t care. There’s an audience for this time of novella and it shows that as a genre, splatterpunk is alive and well. As a fan of Vaughn’s, I think this is by far his most disturbing release. Gone is the dark humor and in its place, we find mayhem and chaos. Halloween has come a bit early this year and all I can do is offer you a warning. You may also want to skip out on the haunted houses in October.