“She winced and reached for her leg, just above the foot that looked like spoiled meat.”

Essig gives us a dark and gritty collection of intertwined tales in this new story. From roaches, to alcoholism, to decaying while alive, to horrifying family secrets exposed.

As you delve further into the book, there are short segments about a man named Markus and the models he creates and works on in his attic. You’ll soon learn how he and all the stores connect and it’s a very interesting concept.

I did find the first and second stories a little underwhelming. Some of the characters in the tales felt superficial; I get it, these are short stories, but I wanted to understand Tom and Angela more especially.

“The meat mallet felt heavier than Emily expected, but comfortable in her grasp. She didn’t think about what she did. It didn’t come naturally, but more as a result of extreme trauma and heartache. A lashing out. A reprieve for her tormented soul.”

The last tale, “Photo-Graphic Content” was the most extreme, and I think my favourite part of the book (despite the vileness within the tale). It was so terrible how the family started to doubt each other as the photos showed up, and the ensuing chaos turned brutal.

Thank you to NetGalley, & Robert Essig for a copy!

3.5 stars
I love Essig’s books. Dark gross gritty! This one was really fun, I love how each story was its own but also tied together within the whole picture.

Fast paced brutal entertainment is how I’ll wrap up my time with this one.

Seemed to be trying to hard to be shocking and scary and not really focusing on the quality of the book itself. Something is definitely here but the wrong things were focused on to make this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review!

3.75 stars!!! rounded up

I really enjoyed these, some more than others but really liked how different each story was with their own characters but still kept the dark and disturbing content amped up

My fave was probably Photo-Graphic content just for how wild and messed up it was but also how it was just nothing but bleak too.