Major trigger warnings for this book. It has SA in the first two chapters and it's very brutal and violent. While graphic, the book was well written and had a good take on "who is the actual monster here". The ending was very karmic and satisfying. I had some issues with the damsel in distress bit. It would've been fine without it or more satisfying with a stronger female revenge at the end. Overall, still an intriguing read and had a great creep factor for horror fans.

I was pleasantly surprised by this story. It did take a bit of time to get through, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

#NetGally #MothersBoys

Alright, Mother’s Boys didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I’m giving it 2.5 stars because while it has moments of horror that might appeal to hardcore fans, the story itself felt a bit like shock value over substance.

First off, the pacing is all over the place. It starts with a bang—Natalie, the main character, witnesses a brutal murder and ends up trapped in the sewers with a mutant colony and a gang of sadistic killers. But from there, it’s just a nonstop barrage of violence and gore, with little breathing room to actually connect with the characters or even make sense of the plot. At times, I found myself lost in the chaos, and not in a good way.

Natalie’s character had potential, but she never really develops beyond the surface-level “alternative girl who’s always wanted to be different.” With all the trauma and twisted characters she encounters, there was an opportunity for deeper exploration of her personality and resilience. Instead, it feels like she’s just tossed from one horrifying situation to the next, without much growth or introspection, which left me feeling disconnected from her story.

And then there’s the horror itself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m here for intense, dark stories, but the graphic violence in Mother’s Boys often feels excessive, like it’s trying too hard to shock without adding anything meaningful. The mutant aspect could have been creepy and atmospheric, but it never fully takes shape, instead feeling more like a backdrop for the relentless brutality of the gang and sewer dwellers.

Overall, Mother’s Boys might work for readers who are purely in it for the gore and action, but if you’re looking for a horror story with depth, character development, or even some meaningful tension, this one misses the mark. It’s a quick read, but I wish it had more substance beneath all the blood and shock.

There’s a lot to unpack here, Mother’s Boys was an absolute ride from start to finish. Full of horror, blood, guts and… a little bit of heart? It was weird and wonderful; definitely a story that was hard to put down.

We had two “sides” to this story, and it was strange empathizing with either of them, as they both were horrific in their own ways. I definitely was rooting for the underground, and honestly I love seeing the monsters win sometimes!

I definitely enjoyed this weird novel, I thought it was a great mix of extreme horror, some “Evil Dead II” kind of over the top gore, and a story that was unique. I’d definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blood Bound Books for the review opportunity!

Thank you net galley and publisher for this book

It kept me engaged from start to finish. I definitelyneed to read more books from this author. I recommend this for all horror book lovers

I'm adding more extreme horror into my reading diet and this book delivered. The violence starts early and doesn't wait to get really rough. Our main character Natalie comes into contact with the situation and runs underground to hide, where she encounters.... surprising people.
The best part of the story is that there aren't totally good people but there are interesting characters I found sympathetic. It was a bit of a wild ride with an interesting ending. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Quite odd at times. I found it hard to find the right pacing.
The story is interesting. There are a few "Oh" moments to leave you scratching your head.
Once you find a good pace, it becomes a faster read.

The storyline is more of the “choose the worst evil” than the good vs evil we’ve come to expect. I’m pretty jaded when it comes to horror books but this one waws one of my top horror reads for the year. I read it in a single day and it lived in my mind for weeks after.

Mothers Boys by Daniel I. Russel was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before but I will be looking out for his materials after reading this. Mothers Boys is an old school, non-stop, action type book that keeps the reader turning the pages, not skimming due to boring dialogue that seems to be a thing nowadays. The storyline is not even good vs evil, more a deplorable vs ore deplorable and the reader needs to choose who they want to survive, the monsters or the crappy humans who were in all the headlines in 2014 when this book was released. If you like your horror book to be actually horrific, give this book a read.

This was a wonderfully done horror novel, it had everything that I was looking for in the horror genre. The characters were wonderfully done and enjoyed the overall feel of them in this book. It worked well and was glad I got to read this and hope to read more from Daniel I Russell.

If you are looking for a “disgusting/gore horror”- horror book, "Mother's Boys" is an okay choice.
If you are sensitive to very strong violence against women, hands off.

The story is straight-forward and does not come with too many surprises.
It switches between being super brutal and very disgusting.
The disgust is caused by the environment, the sewers, and the misogynistic thoughts of a gang, that murders and rapes women for fun.
The "good" characters are comprehensible. The bad characters are just bad and repellent.
To me, the book misses atmosphere.
Although, it was interesting to read a "being-hunted-in-the-sewers" story in which you really, really just want the “lurking evil” to torture the humans to death.
Admittedly, this somewhat killed the tension in the last third of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

A well-developed splatterpunk novel, this book is a really wild ride from start to finish, although it does feel somewhat underdeveloped in places. None of the characters are particularly well fleshed out, but the development comes in from the story and the action itself. It's so fast-paced that it feels a bit out of place in terms of the things that happen so quickly, and some with little to no explanation.

I did appreciate that this book did its utmost to think outside the box, and to give something that you don't often see. New concepts are integral to horror, and it was good to see a book that did something totally left field. I did think this was a fabulous book conceptually - I just wish that it was extrapolated on a bit more to be more than just a concept.

Hoping to see more in future in this sort of vein, but with just a little bit more development and heart in the characters.

Mother’s Boys by Daniel I. Russell is a gruesome, gritty ride that tests the boundaries of extreme horror. If you're a fan of underground mutant tales mixed with psychopathic gangs, this book will pull you in—and not let go!

The story follows Natalie, who’s always prided herself on being different. But when she witnesses a brutal murder and escapes into the sewers, she finds herself trapped between two deadly groups: sewer-dwelling mutants and a sadistic gang of murderers. The question of who to root for becomes more complex than you'd expect, and that’s part of the twisted fun of this book.

The opening is intense, and the violence is relentless, but if you can stomach it, the story delivers moments of both horror and unexpected heart. I appreciated the unique, if sometimes unbelievable, underground scenes (and trust me, you'll never forget that baby pram!). Russell does a great job creating memorable characters, though a few slip into cliché territory.

One of the most fascinating parts of this story is how it flips the typical horror script—forcing you to side with one of the groups, despite neither being truly "good." The sewer family of monstrous outcasts is strangely compelling, even as they commit horrific acts. Meanwhile, the above-ground gang is as vile as they come, making the eventual clash between these two groups both thrilling and gruesome.

While I had some issues with the motivations of the characters and a few underdeveloped changes in the later chapters, overall, Mother’s Boys is a wild, bloody ride. If you're into intense horror with dark, underground themes, this one’s for you!

#MothersBoys #DanielIRussell #HorrorFiction #ExtremeHorror #BookReview #GrimReads #UndergroundHorror

I have tried to read this book several times and have never succeeded. The entire first page is discussing the colour of someone's hair and it's terribly uninteresting. The sheer number of adjectives made me lose interest so quickly it became a DNF.

Interesting concept but the writing style is very much not for me.

This is a novel with mostly bad people doing horrific things and, eventually, two distinct groups will stop at nothing to kill one another.

Above ground, a group of younger men kidnap, rape, and torture women for fun. It's as grim as it sounds. Their motivation seems to just be "because women are horrible".

In the sewer system beneath the city lives a family who are quite different. Although human, they are monsterous in their appearance and live below so nobody bothers them. They are killers and sometimes cannibals when they can't obtain food to eat. One communicates with birds, another is an extremely large Hulk-like man with a violent streak, and another is simply the most human looking and he begs for money and food to bring back to his brothers. There are others as well.

One night the group of women haters attack and kill an older prostitute. This is going to lead to a bloody revenge plan as these two groups will be hunting one another through the sewers.

Our main protagonist is caught up between these groups and she tries to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. But her boyfriend has dark secrets and this will also come into play.

The scenes of violence are pretty gruesome and the cat and mouse games in the sewers are claustrophobic and thrilling.

The main issue I had, personally, was with the motivations for these groups. We're meant to be on the side of the sewer family but there's really no clear reason for rooting on a group of murderous cannibals. "We get mocked" is basically it.

There are some changes in different characters later in the novel which, again, aren't really explained enough to warrant those changes.

That being said, if you're looking for a bloodily violent book with some extreme horror elements, I would recommend this book. There's more to like than not and once we get underground the action and suspense really kicks in.