PRETTY LITTLE DEAD THINGS By Gary McMahon – Reviewed
Harrowing. If I had to sum up this book in one word it would be that one. Disturbing, horrifying, terrifying, creepy, gruesome, unsavoury, rotten, nasty, filthy would all work too. This is the kind of book that makes you want a shower afterwards. The kind that leaves a lingering sense of decay, one that takes a little part of your soul with it. There are horror novels, and there are Gary McMahon horror novels. He is simply in a different class.
Thomas Usher’s was driving when a car crash killed his wife and daughter. He survived, but quickly found he had been left with a terrible, horrible gift. Usher can see the dead. But if you think this is going to be Haley Joel Osmond in The Sixth Sense, or Jonah Hex or Odd Thomas, then you are so very wrong. Usher’s guilt-filled existence is horrible enough, but he happens to be following a young woman who is murdered (the third to be hung), and his friend is related to a young girl who is abducted. How are the abduction and the murders related, and can Usher uses the powers that he’s been trying to suppress for the past year to help solve the cases?
McMahon builds a gritty world of urban decay, his human characters are just as revolting, gruesome and disturbing as the supernatural elements. Our narrator and protagonist, guilt-riddled as he is, is the only faint hope we have.
As depressingly realistic, as nasty and brutal as this novel is, you have to read on. You must. There is a grinding darkness that saps your will to escape. McMahon’s first Usher novel is a stupendous feat of hideousness. In the best possible way. This is horror as it’s most revealing. You cannot read this book and not feel unclean, untouched. McMahon does what the best writers do, he makes you feel. You feel disgust, you feel slightly sick, you feel relief. McMahon makes you hurt. Pretty Little Dead Things should be McMahon’s break out novel, this should be a best seller, every horror fan must read this book. They will find out what they’ve been missing all these years. Pretty Little Dead Things is hardcore. Unrelentingly dark and terribly atmospheric, you have not read a horror novel until you have read a McMahon horror novel.
Never, in over twenty years of reading horror, have I been so intensely disturbed by a novel.
Pretty Little Dead Things is sublime. Real horror at it’s very worst (meaning best). Hardcore horror. Not for the faint of heart.
This entry was posted on August 11, 2011 at 09:04 and is filed under Reviews with tags afterwards, best possible way, book, books, brutal, car crash, characters, child abduction, creepy, crime, darkness, death, decay, depressingly reality, different class, disgust, disturbing, entertaining, every horror fan, exciting, existance, faint hope, fiction, filthy, gary mcmahon, grinding, gritty, gruesome, grusome, guilt, guilt-filled, haley joel osmond, hardcore, hardcore horror, harrowing, have to read on, horrible enough, horrible gift, horrofying, horror, horror novel, horror novels, hung, hurt, intensely disturbed by a novel, jonah hex, killed, lingering, makes you feel, makes you hurt, mcmahon, morpheus tales, murdered, must read, nasty, not for the faint of heart, novel, novels, odd thomas, pages, plot, pretty little dead things, read, read horror at its very worst, reading, relief, review, reviewed, reviewer, reviews, revolting, rotten, saps your will to escape, see the dead, sense of decay, shower, slightly sick, so very wrong, soul, story, stupendous feat of hideousness, sublime, supernatural elements, survived, terrible gift, terrifying, the sixth sense, thomas usher, thriller, unrelentingly dark and terribly atmospheric, unsavoury, urban decay, usher, wife and daughter, write, writer, writers, writing, you have not read a horror novel until you have read a Mcmahon horror novel, young woman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 11, 2011 at 12:14
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