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Book Review: We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

Quirk Books, 2018

ISBN-13: 9781683690122

Available: hardcover, Kindle ebook, audio CDs

Grady Hendrix’s newest novel presents a modern-day Dr. Faust, framed in the 1990s metal scene, with plenty of band references throughout. Dürt Würk was ready for success until lead singer Terry Hunt decided to set out on a solo career, much to the frustration and anger of his other bandmates. Terry and his new band, Koffin, experienced quick stardom, while his former bandmates and alleged friends lived very different lives in the rural Pennsylvania they all wanted so desperately to escape. Dürt Würk was supposed to offer that deliverance. Terry screwed them all.

Two decades later, former guitarist Kris Pulaski is stuck behind the counter at a Best Western working as a night manager, trapped in a job she despises, but not earning enough money to walk out, let alone get out of town. On top of that, the family home she has occupied since her mother’s death is being sold. She will soon have no place to go. Life is quickly becoming more unbearable after she learns that Koffin will be holding the metal show of metal shows, via billboards and ads constantly being piped through radio stations. All is not well in Metalville, however. When she discovers that Koffin’s fame may have involved the ultimate betrayal, Kris is driven to reunite the rest of the band and confront the man who ruined her life, and career. Her path leads her to murdered friends; a Satanic rehab center; her Viking metal former drummer, JD, whose grasp on reality is tenuous at best; and, finally, to the larger-than-life metal music festival in Las Vegas.

There are parts of this story where you wonder if Kris is insane, or if the things that are happening to and around her are real. She questions her own sanity regularly, which makes me think she is a reliable character. She sees what madness and insanity can do to a person as she is traveling with JD, after he ventures out of his mother’s house, swears a binding Viking oath to Kris, tosses his medications along the way, and scares the hell out of her in the process. But he is a Viking of his word. He is also probably my favourite character in We Sold Our Souls. Despite, or because of, his mental state, JD is a force to be reckoned with, and he provides her the tools and strength to continue her quest to stop the Blind King and topple Black Iron Mountain. He’s also the only one who believes her, who is not directly involved with the betrayal.

If you’re a metal fan, do yourself a favour and pick up We Sold Our Souls. You’ll love the references and chapter titles. There is plenty for collectors of conspiracy theories (MKUltra anyone?). There is also a strong female lead. Kris kicks a lot of ass along the way. Get this book immediately if you like Hendrix’s other novels. Highly recommended.

Contains: blood, body horror, gore, mental illness

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Book Review: Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman
Ecco, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0062259684
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

When Bird Box hit the horror scene three years ago, readers discovered a new voice. Lyrical, rhythmic, and brutal, Josh Malerman wrote like a musician carving away at an album of great songs. The result was a true original that should have won the Bram Stoker award. Malerman is the singer and guitarist of the rock band The High Strung, and in this second novel, Malerman has used his experience to pen a novel about the power of music, both good and bad. Black Mad Wheel is incredibly accessible, with strong characters and a narrative that flows like the best classic rock and roll.

In the post-World War II era, the members of The Danes, a band with a one-hit-wonder, are looking for their next big thing. They find it when an officer from military intelligence makes them an offer that could put them all back on the path to wealth. The officer claims there is a “sound” emanating from the African desert that can disarm any weapon, but can also destroy a human in a horrific manner. The band accepts, and heads to the desert to find the source of the sound.

Meanwhile, in a parallel story, Phillip Tonka awakes from a long coma in a strange hospital, unable to move. Nearly every bone in his body is broken. He is a miracle to those who care for him. Ellen, his nurse, begins to unravel the mystery of what is happening to him, and why he is still alive and healing at a rate that is physically impossible. Both stories weave around each other like a great vocal riding atop a harmony, a guitar riff alongside a backbeat rhythm that can transform the simplest of songs into something magical. What the band finds in the desert is something most won’t see coming; Phillip’s tale is both mysterious and thrilling, and, as Malerman develops the bond between the man and his nurse, heartwarming as well.
Black Mad Wheel proves that Josh Malerman wasn’t a one-hit wonder. The story is just as enticing as Bird Box, with as much heart as horror. Do not miss this. Highly recommended. This ranks near the top of any thriller written about music.

Reviewed by Dave Simms