{"id":9003,"date":"2021-12-01T23:36:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T03:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=9003"},"modified":"2021-12-01T23:36:06","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T03:36:06","slug":"book-review-women-by-wol-vriey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-women-by-wol-vriey\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Women by Wol-vriey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Women <\/em>by Wol-vriey<\/p>\n

Burning Bulb Publishing, 2021<\/p>\n

ISBN: 9781948278430<\/p>\n

Availability: paperback, Kindle edition\u00a0(\u00a0 Bookshop.org<\/a>\u00a0| Amazon.com\u00a0 )<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Nigerian splatmaster Wol-vriey’s latest novel of enterpain<\/em>ment, Women<\/em> is a solid, fast-paced story, but fair warning: it contains scenes of cruelty and sadism unmatched by anything ever written before.\u00a0 Unlike the somewhat toned-down material in his last novel, The Final Girl, <\/em>this is the author back with a full-throated roar.\u00a0 This is ultra-hardcore, and for adults ONLY.<\/p>\n

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The story runs two plot threads concurrently that tie together partway through.\u00a0 Megan Kemp tracks a friend of hers who is late on paying back a loan, and the trail leads to a mansion in Raynham, Massachusetts.\u00a0 She goes in to confront him, and winds up in a hell that nothing could have prepared her for.\u00a0 Five other women are gathered there preparing to end the life of John Miller, the millionaire who married and divorced them all while dodging any sort of alimony payments. \u00a0They all got nothing due to their infidelity, which Miller facilitated by hiring a porn star to seduce each of them, thus violating the terms of their respective pre-nups.\u00a0 While the women plot, Miller is held captive in the basement and subject to the machinations of Mrs. Pain, the mansion owners’ henchwoman for hire. Megan finds herself in a fight to save her life and sanity, while also trying to save John Miller.\u00a0 Megan is a rare character in the modern world: she has a conscience and wants to help John, even though she has no prior involvement with him.<\/p>\n

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Wol-vriey’s books are usually extremely fast-paced, and this is no exception: the story fires through its 216 pages without a slowdown.\u00a0 It’s a nice split between action and dialogue to fill out the characters, and there’s enough backstory to evoke feelings of sympathy (or disgust) for the five ex-wives.\u00a0 Instead of weaving their backstories into the narrative, the author simply inserts a backstory chapter for each of them where appropriate.\u00a0 It’s a style that works well; they function successfully as interludes to the plot.\u00a0 It wouldn’t be a Wol-vriey story without a few plot curveballs, and John Miller’s fate, along with that of some of the other main characters, provides them.\u00a0 Suffice it to say, this is NOT the standard hack-and-slash revenge plot, and the plot twists keep the interest level high.<\/p>\n

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Mention has to be made again of Mrs. Pain, one of the most psychotic characters I’ve ever encountered on paper.\u00a0 Her acts of sadism make the infamous ‘Animal’ from JF Gonzalez’s landmark horror novel Survivor<\/em> look like a wimp.\u00a0 Her actions are what make the book unsuitable for anyone but mature adults, but they do serve a purpose: readers will be praying for her demise in a painful fashion by the end.\u00a0 She doesn’t spare old people, kids, or fetuses, and grenades, chainsaws, and hedge clippers are tools of her trade.\u00a0 She is what nightmares are made of.<\/p>\n

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Women <\/em>is\u00a0another creative entry in Wol-vriey’s catalogue of excitement and splat, and is perfect for readers of insane fiction who want the boundaries of conventional horror fiction shattered.\u00a0 Recommended.<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women by Wol-vriey Burning Bulb Publishing, 2021 ISBN: 9781948278430 Availability: paperback, Kindle edition\u00a0(\u00a0 Bookshop.org\u00a0| Amazon.com\u00a0 )   The Nigerian splatmaster Wol-vriey’s latest novel of enterpainment, Women is a solid, fast-paced story, but fair warning: it contains scenes of cruelty and sadism unmatched by anything ever written before.\u00a0 Unlike the somewhat toned-down material in his last<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2320,5056,1346,4889,3669,5057],"class_list":["post-9003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-extreme-horror","tag-nigerian-writers","tag-splatterpunk","tag-torture","tag-wol-vriey","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9003"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9008,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003\/revisions\/9008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}