Grindhouse Press, April 2011
Available: Pre-order
ISBN-13: 978-0-9826281-6-4
Teen suicides have paralyzed the town of Gethsemane, Ohio. Steven Wrigley’s nightmares spill over into his journal, record the names of the dead, and reveal clues to a bloodthirsty stalker. Unable to sleep peacefully, he walks the quiet streets till dawn, alone, until he meets Elise. Elise has a secret hideaway, the Obscura, that enfolds her and allows her to escape her anger, stress, and conscience, It’s the one place Steven won’t follow her. A monster watches her there, absorbing her anguish and growing stronger.
Steven and Elise know they are both somehow connected to the legendary horror gripping their town. The Sorrow King lurks, a fiend carved from wood and bone, whose empty black eye sockets melt like wax, who reeks of blood and decay. How can they possibly fight the terrifying entity who feeds on fear and misery? Will it demand the ultimate sacrifice from them? Will that be enough to appease its bloodlust?
Anderson Prunty’s novel, The Sorrow King, is a shocking work. The prose is tight and brisk, speeding the reader through scenes of teen angst interesting to any young adult reader. However, passages of serious gore, extremely graphic and disturbing sex, and horrific violence appear in nightmare sequences. These episodes are so terrifying and emotionally painful that they cause the teenage characters to commit suicide. This aspect pushes the fear and image envelope a full step past the rest of the book’s themes, and makes it difficult to recommend a particular age group. Certainly this book is not for anyone just looking for a few chills.
Having said that, the story is gripping, and the style straightforward and clean; just proceed with caution. The violent sequences are a definite speed bump to the flow of the novel and are not fully justifiable to the plot.
Prunty is the author several horror and cult titles including, My Fake War, Slag Attack (both from Eraserhead Press, 2010), Morning is Dead (Atlatl Press, 2010), and The Beard(Atlatl, 2009). His website, www.andersonprunty.com is very well linked to several horror genre publishing houses and sites.
Contains: graphic violence and sex, suicide
Reviewed by: Sheila Shedd