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Summary
“The long-beleaguered detective Harry D’Amour, investigator of all supernatural, magical, and malevolent crimes, is back―and about to face off against his formidable and intensely evil rival, Pinhead, the priest of hell. Bloody, terrifying, and brilliantly complex, fans and newcomers alike will not be disappointed by Barker’s horror, which will make your worst nightmares seem like bedtime stories.
The Gospels are coming.
Are you ready?”
-From Amazon.com
Review
This book was a lot to read and took me much longer than it should have, not because of the length but because of how dark the book was. I mean it was REALLY dark to read. Within the first few chapters, abortions were talked of, people were degraded to animals, chains ripped people apart….like man. It was like a supernatural SAW movie. So getting past the first few chapters was difficult because it was pretty gruesome, but I kept wanting to know what was going to happen and refused to give up.
As the story progressed, it got more and more complex – and more and more out there. By the end of the book, these humans were literally wandering around hell and watching the Cenobite mess stuff up. Wasn’t expecting that at all.
As for the Cenobite, also known as Pinhead (you probably know him by that if you’re familiar with Hell Raiser or read The Hellbound Heart), I had mixed feelings about him. You’re supposed to hate him, and for most of the book I did, but there were moments that you felt bad for him. Like he was doing this all for a reason because he was ostracized and wanted to get back at his makers and leaders for what they did for him. So of course you hated him and knew he was a bad guy, you just sometimes were able to understand why he did what did, or was able to slightly understand it instead of it being senseless violence (like…really violent violence).
This is the third book by Clive Barker that I have read and I love all of his work. He’s a master at writing these stories and making you question what you think you know. His books are terrifying and gruesome and make you want to keep reading. They’re absolutely perfect for this wonderful Halloween season. If you don’t mind a horror book, then this is perfect. I just highly recommend not reading this book before you go to bed because I honestly would have trouble sleeping after reading it too late at night. It messed with your head that much.
But it’s a fantastic book. It was scary and messed with you but that means that the author did an amazing job and I really do recommend reading it.
I give it a 4 out of 5 tea cups. I would have given it a 5 out of 5 but I felt that sometimes the violence was just a little too much and I’m not a massive violence book reader. I don’t mind ass kicking and stuff like that..but this was torture and that’s not my cup of tea exactly.
Happy Reading!
