“You can’t change what cloth you’ve been cut from but you can try to at least wash it.”
In my last post in this community, I talk about two extreme horror books that I read while exploring the horror genre, but what I didn't say was that while I was exploring the horror genre, I delved into Splatterpunk unconscious of that the sub genre entails. I think I am done with horror fiction genre.
Splatterpunk is a subgenre of horror fiction that started around the 1980s, I am not sure of the particular year, but it all started around this era. David J. Show came up with the word ”Splatterpunk” in his book titled ’The Book Of The Dead’. This branch of Horror fiction comprises of very graphic and well detailed depictions of violence, gore, assault, taboo subjects, body mutilation,body modifications, torture and any other nefarious act you could think of.
This subgenre is written like this to elicit or aim at unsettling and shocking the readers. Also, most of the time, it consists of themes like the dark nature of humanity, and societal decay. So I would advise that you don't pick up a Splatterpunk book to read if you are not strong minded to handle the dark depictions.
In this post, I will be talking about ’The Slob’. A Splatterpunk that was written by Aron Beauregard in 2019. It is not really a standalone because it has sequel book which is titled ’Son Of The Slob’. I didn't read the second book because I couldn't go through with it and won't.
The story of the book solely revolves around Vera who is a young lady from a traumatizing background and a door-to-door salesperson/cleaner. She goes to houses for her normal cleaning job everyday with her special vacuuming machine. Vera does this because she is a person who has a passion for cleaning and is practically obsessed with it. but soon she enters the wrong house.
On a fateful day, Vera saw a house in the neighborhood of a man called ’The Slob’ who likes to keep to him and loves his isolated life. So Vera decided to go offer a cleaning opportunity. As she approached the pouch of the house, she didn't know her life would forever change from that day. Getting into the house, ’The Slob’ made her never leave and then Vera discovered that the man is a cannibalistic, rapist, necrophiliac and more. Will Vera escape from the clutches of ’The Slob’?
My Review And Rating.
One thing I can say clearly about this book is that don't read it. Don't be curious like a cat, don't be brave and don't be courageous by testing your limits. I tested my limit with this book hence why I bid my farewell to the horror genre fiction until further notice.
Regardless of how vile this book is, Aron Beauregard did a fantastic job with this book and at the same time he messed up in some parts which I will talk about.
This book had an interesting beginning where we got to know a lot about Vera Harlow's early life, our female protagonist. Her background and family history was described. We got to know why she was obsessed with cleaning and what fueled her passion for vacuuming people's houses for money. Gradually, Aron introduces the male antagonist in a disguised manner that his personality was an unexpected outburst.
The two main characters in this book were well written that it is obvious that Aron put in so much work into building them. Especially Vera’s character. Aron gradually depreciated this character till she lost her identity as a person. At first she was full of life but in the end, she was a walking dead and a human who didn't die regardless of the torture she went through in the hands of the antagonist. Aron made his reader care about all the characters before he let's their1 world crash in the most vile way. This book was literally character driven.
The setting was good, the storyline was set in 1980 too. The suspense was well built, and it dealt with dark and sensitive themes. I thought the author was done with his dark depictions. No he wasn't because this story also is riddled with fatphobia, ableism, foeticide, cannibalism, sexism, body mutilation and modification. Then to top it up he went far as including racism into the mix at the tail end
The flaws I find with this book was that; it was very much obvious that the author is not literate with the woman's anatomy. Also, there were lots of grammatical errors that should have appeared in the pages of the book, and spelling errors. Regardless of these flaws and errors, this passes the features of a good Splatterpunk fiction. One thing I learnt from this, don't go knocking on strange or weird people's door. If only Vera hadn't knock.
Rating this book, I will give 3.7 out of 5 stars.This book is disgusting and vile. You literally feel the nastiness coming out from book to pollute your environment. Hence, you might feel the urge to go shower and deep clean your room / space. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, BUT if you a Splatterpunk fiction fan, you can check it out and good luck to you.
All images above are from my E-library
Header images compiled in Canva.
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