I listened to this audiobook because of the narrator which is why I review the narration first.
As always, Sean Duregger does a wonderful job. He gives every character a unique voice and and his love for the horror genre is tangible.
No doubt, Sean is one of the most talented narrators around. It’s always a delight to listen to him.
He earned his five stars and is the reason I’m giving the audiobook four stars in total.
The novella itself isn’t bad but it isn’t good either. I think the biggest issue here is that there’s no story.
Satan commands a bunch of his acolytes to run havoc in a little town and kill virgins and that’s what they do.
There’s not much more to the story.
There’s no main character, no development whatsoever, nobody driving the plot – actually there is no plot.
One almost identical chapter follows the next and the structure is always the same: a more or less dumb person we’ve never seen before is introduced, most of them watching horror movies. Then a satanist comes along and butchers them.
Next chapter, next exchangeable victim.
Good horror movies or books have a main character who we can root for. Not here. After the 10th exchangeable victim I began skipping chapters.
The descriptions of violence are graphic and well executed but that alone isn’t enough to keep my interest.
Besides, no one ever tries to flee or fight back (this is a story set in America, why does no one have a gun? Or a knife or a baseball bat to defend themselves?). All victims stare at their attackers like deer into the headlights.
Being a goth myself I smirked and rolled my eyes about the description of the goth chick who happens to be a bloodthirsty satanist. Hail cliche!