It’s not unknown that I love the extreme horror genre but I do suspect my parents will call me and try to increase my therapy sessions after reading this review, but I degress. This book was just too damn good. It’s certainly not for the squeamish but if you can handle graphic sex and violence, you’ll find a story that’s thought-provoking and exceedingly well-written. It’s poignant, tragic and has characters that feel disturbingly too real.
Gloria is an aging porn star who takes on the most vile and repulsive gigs just to pay for her drug addiction. She’s used, abused, washed up and nobody in the adult film industry will hire her unless it’s for some nasty, perverted website with content that you couldn’t even conjure up in your worst nightmares. At one point she had a boyfriend and daughter, whom she gave up in an effort to feed her drug addiction and live her life of sleaze. But when one of her gigs gets way out of hand, she finds herself in Hell. She’s taken to Hell and back physically and emotionally. The wretched porn star is sentenced to an eternity of suffering and torture in the deepest pits of Hell. She does anything to get out, even if it means having to take it over.
It’s an examination of Heaven and Hell, good and evil, the Devil and God. At first glance, it seems the authors could have been in this for the shock value. But once you get past the opening, you’ll quickly learn there’s a reason for all the depravity. The ending is gripping and stirring but you’ll have to read it because I wouldn’t forgive myself if I gave it away.
It’s one of the most notorious modern horror novels that will punch you not once but twice in the gut. Question everything, and buckle up.
The Bookish Babe 