This has to be my most favourite story of the bedlam bible series so far, I’m a bit gutted I haven’t managed to read them in order but still enjoying it. Each time I thought I solved the clue to who murdered Sensei, I kept getting proved wrong and I wasn’t expecting the twist at the end!

Soo at first I was a little bit iffy about this one but.. just stick with it! The concept is not like anything I’ve read before!

Thanks #NetGalley for letting me read this ARC!

I listened to this audiobook first. It was quite jarring and disjointed. After reading another in the Bedlam Bible series, I now understand it more and think it's quite enjoyable. A little more of a serious tone than the other book in the series that I have read, but still enjoyable. The characters are insane.....some literally, and the memory issues of the protagonist often leave us wondering what is happening.

Narrator did a nice job with the pacing for 2x speed and kept me going. Already a short listen, this one took me about 2.5hrs based on the accelerated audio.

As a reader unfamiliar with these stories, it took me a bit to get into this story. I was a bit lost, a bit uninvested...but I held on and was pleased with how the story played out. The MC wakes up without a memory and tries to figure out what's going on. He encounters quite a few other characters--each of whom have their own "sordid" pasts that he is going to learn.

Character development was fine. The short story worked. Some bigger ideas (big brother, judgment, so on) leave items to discuss. In the end, though, it just wasn't for me.

Overall: 3 stars

I'll tell my students about: language, child abuse, self-mutilation, graphic descriptions, murder,

**Thank you to NetGalley and Doom Fiction for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

HOLUS BOLUS by William Pauley III Narrator Connor Branigan is the latest instalment in the series which proved to be an absolute delight from start to finish. I ahve really enjoyed these audiobooks and these are great as they are a quick listen and creepy

I highly recommend these books I love them

Highlights: Dystopian, murder mystery, thriller
Favorite Character: Mauden
Favorite Scene: The game show scene at the end was my favorite. Answered a lot of my questions and gave the book an interesting twist.
Overall thoughts: This is the first audio book I have listened to. The narrator did a great job differentiating between characters with different voices. I don’t think I was able to absorb the story as much as I would have had I read it myself but that is my issue.
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Why: I gave the book a 4 out of 5 because I enjoyed the story and I think the narration was very good. I am definitely going to “reread” the book to get the full experience.

I received the audiobooks version of this story thanks to NetGalley

Connor Brannigan as narrator Is always a great choice for this series

This story is the longest in the series by far, about twice as long as any of the previous stories actually. I feel that with it being longer, you were able to get to really know all the characters better than if it was the normal length.

This is also my new favorite book in the Bedlam Bible Series.

Holus Bolus is a surreal, wild story packed with bizarre characters and situations -- like if Chuck Palahniuk novelized Memento in his version of a Metropolis world (Lang, not Lane!).

A man wakes up with no memory in a room with a melted, unrecognizable body and a book. A voice in his head assures him that he's not the murderer and shouldn't go to the police, so he takes the book and flees.

He finds the book to be some sort of bizarre manifesto, and it leads him to a group of eccentric people who have been following the book and it's author, whom they called Sensei and is apparently the body.

The man and the group attempt to investigate through various angles while not trusting each other, leading to several surreal and comical encounters and mishaps. All the while they are competing with a mysterious broadcast tower and mind altering substances, both of which the Sensei's support system seemed to help them manage.

All of this culminates in a freakish "This Is Your Life" judgement game show.

This is a very original and eye-opening perspective and a quick, entertaining read (or listen).

Holus Bolus leads down a dark and tense journey that can only be compared to an episode of black mirror in the intensity and whirl wind it sends your mind through. I was deeply intrigued with every minute of this story.
A man wakes up in a room with a decayed corpse on the bed, he doesn't know who he is, how he got there, or what is going on. He immediately things to call the cops and turn himself in, but a voice that he can hear only in his mind and isn't his own tells him not to and that he isn't the guilty person. The voice convinces him to try and solve the crime himself and to read the book the body is holding for more information. The book then leads him to a group of people in a secret club. None of these people are what someone would expect, none of them plain in any way, and all of them decide to kidnap the lost man when they realize he smells like their leader (the dead man back in the room). the book goes on a wild and tense journey from here to a place I never saw coming involving the most severe kind of game show that literally is life or death.

I love the short story from the bedlum Bible and Holus Bolus is now my favorite when a man wakes up and finds a dead guy who looks as if he has been melted with a book in the middle of all that gore he really doesn’t know what happened he doesn’t even know who he is and when he hears a voice and realizes it is talking to him he learns his name but not much more. He’s instructed to take the book out of the gore which is the bedlam Bible he wants to call the police but the disembodied voice tells him not to and so they negotiate and he says he will wait three days because that’s as long as he could stay up and if he falls asleep he will forget everything he’s learned since waking up. This takes him on the strangests murder/death investigation I have ever read he meets a cult that seems to have lost their leader sensei, gets kidnapped or becomes a captive depending on who you’re talking to, does drugs and many more strange events and of course it all happens in the tower an apartment building I would never want to live in but would definitely love to visit. This is one wacky crazy horror story that I absolutely loved! I have read every short story from the bedlam Bible and this is my favorite by far William Paule three has such a visit and bass imagination and it makes the stories unique is definitely one-of-a-kind and it is a book I highly recommend if you love horror wacky stories and just things that or just a little bit different then you’ll definitely love this book I certainly did! As always the narrator did a stellar job he is so good and I love his voice. I want to thank doom press and net galley for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Going by the title of the book I was a little hesitant but it turned out to be very interesting and intriguing. The main character wakes up without knowing how he got there and next to a dead body. He is suspected of the man's murder who is known by the name of sensei. Now he also has a condition where he forgets everything and a tattoo saying he did a bad thing.

To know the full story and to investigate the murder of Sensei he joins the members of a group headed by Sensei aimed for their spiritual journey. Each member loved him deeply and wanted to find the murderer but each person also has a v deep secret to hide.

I think more than anything or any book I found myself inclining towards this one to know more and more, uncover secrets and solve the puzzle. Overall a weird yet keeps you guessing Sci fi story, only that's how I can describe the ending.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for providing the audiobook arc for the book!

William Pauley III is one of most interesting writers I've ever discovered and I've fallen in love with everything he's done. Connor Brannigan is the perfect narrator. His voice suits Pauley's writing so well.

Thank you @NetGalley for the chance to listen to this story in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I jumped into this book not knowing there were several others in this world. This story, specifically, was so unique and truly original in comparison to so much other stuff I’ve read lately, especially in the creepy genre :)

I went into this expecting an unreliable narrator, but I loved the level of absurdity that the whole game show vibe presented. I’m definitely going to be reading more of this in my near future.

I approached Holus Bolus with a fresh perspective as this was my first intro to the Bedlum Bible series with its sixth installment. Given I didn’t have any other background, I was still able to grasp the context and stay engaged with the story.

The protagonist wakes up with a melting dead body in the room and is convinced he has committed murder. Only he can’t remember due to a memory loss condition that resets his memory every time he sleeps. He has a relentless inner voice and a strange book found with the body guiding him to uncover the truth.

With a cast of suspicious characters, the premise has a tantalizing mix of secrets, danger, and uncertain alliances. More background and context about the tower may have enhanced my understanding but I found the storyline interesting, unique, and delightfully weird. The secondary characters were well developed and I enjoyed them just as much as the main character.

Overall I enjoyed this and suspect that fans of the Bedlum Bible series would count this among their favorites. The audio version is very well done and would recommend this format!

Thank you to NetGalley and Doom Fiction for this opportunity to listen rage and review this arc which has been available since July 31,2023.

The narrator Connor Brannigan has the best voice for audiobooks. Smooth with proper inflictions.

As for the book? It was okay. Properly creepy, properly descriptive of the grossness. Like I dug it. It kept me entertained for the 5 hrs and 17 minutes it took to listen to it. I recommend it for a road trip.

So first of all I’d like to say thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in exchange of an honest review!

Important notes:
This review will be focused on the audiobook and the narration most importantly. I’d like to state that Holus Bolus is the six installment in The Bedlam Bible series - I personally haven’t read the previous ones since I - for whatever reason - didn’t notice that. So I have read the audiobook as a stand alone, without reading the previous books in the series. This caused for much confusion on my side! So you have been warned.

Synopsis:
The main character wakes up to a gruesome scene: a murder has been committed and he’s sure that he’s the cold blooded killer. Though we as readers quickly learn that he battles a very rare brain condition that erases his memory after sleeping. On top of that he also hears a voice in his head.

At the scene he finds a book that makes him believe he isn’t the killer after all. He searches for clues and stumbles upon a bizarre cult that resides in the Tower. For the first half they are searching for the killer, all suspecting each other. And for the second half they are participating in a Game Show that is hosted on the Towers television networks - as I understood.

What happens after that I won’t spoil.

My opinion:
The narration was incredible! The narrator really went all out with the voice acting. Amazing!

Though the story in itself wasn’t really my type. I accidentally mistook it for extreme horror but it turned out to be bizarro-fiction - which I had never read before.
I also had no idea that this was part of a whole series, I don’t know how I did not realize that - but that’s on me. So I had not really any background on what the Tower actually is.
But if you are a reader who is into some bizarre, weird, strange fiction then this one’s definitely for you. Especially if you have read the previous installments.

4 stars

I did not realize that this was part of a series. That being said, I’m not sure if I missed anything or not, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Now, I loved the narrator, and I am picky with narrators, so I feel like that’s pretty high praise. The story had me hooked right away, and I listened in a single sitting. I’m left with a WTF kind of feeling, but that good kind, lol.

I’m off to find more of this series to see if I’ve missed out on anything, and to enjoy more of this weird awesome horror that I’ve just encountered.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of Holus Bolus.
First of all, what a cover! The story starts with a man waking up in an unfamiliar room with a body next to him. He has no recollection of how he got there, what happened and who is he, as he forget everything when he falls asleep. A set up for a great story. The side characters are just as interesting as the protagonist. The book is fast-paced and every atmospheric. Definitely one you can binge in one sitting. I’d recommend for fans of horror stories and thrillers.
I listened to this in audio which I highly recommend as the narrator did a great job, especially with the last few chapters. I was into it!

Thank God my life is not like the lives of Willam Pauley III’s characters in his books. How does he do it? How does his brain think this way? Do these ideas just fall out of his brain onto the paper? However it’s done the reader is better for it. The protagonist thinks he’s murdered somebody. He wakes up to see a body with its flesh dripping off the skeleton. Ok I need to throw up now. The book takes you into the lives of a rag tag group that end up fighting for their lives on a talk show where everyone seems doomed including the audience. There is a great ending in this book too. Go read it!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book!
I'm not sure if it would've made a difference if I read the previous books in the series. This was mostly just weird and sometimes confusing. There were a few potholes but overall it was okay.