Episodes of Violence

This book was truly horror. It was dark, disturbing, gory, violent, sexual, vile and real life all wrapped up together. There was even some love and friendship (the good side and the bad) thrown in there. It was action packed and fast paced which held my attention from page 1 to the end.
To me what made it so scary is that I could see something like this happening in the world we live in today. I liked how the author wrote the first 2 sections because they seemed like different stories and I wasn't sure how they would connect. Once they did the story ratcheted up even more.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I will definitely check out some more. This book isn't for the squeamish, but if you like graphic, over the top horror this one is for you.

I received a free ARC, and this review is voluntary

There's some build-up before we meet the protagonist of the story (referenced in the synopsis), which occurs about a third of the way through. From that point forward within the plot, we see the rest of the synopsis unfold. After having read the description, I initially felt that there was some type of supernatural element present causing this "brutal violence," but that was inaccurate. Just folks in the story going to the extreme. Each character is very much driven by personality, with the story being sketched in around that point. In psychological terms, it's as if Freud's id was given 100% control, and let loose with a kitchen knife.

Certain aspects of the story felt drawn out, or weren't necessary because it did not add much value to the plot itself, which again, was more or less dictated by whichever character's personality was in-charge at that scene, or chain of events. Not the most original idea, especially in the horror genre, and the direction could have been a bit better if it dedicated more time to the atmosphere of the scene, rather than relying on the character to move things forward. Overall, it wasn't bad.