Succulent Prey
by Wrath James White
Synopsis: Could serial killers be victims of a communicable disease? Fifteen years ago, Joseph Miles was attacked by a serial child murderer. He was the only one of the madman’s victims to survive. Now he himself is slowly turning into a cannibalistic killer. He can feel the urges, the burning needs, getting harder and harder to resist. Can anything stop him—or cure him—before he kills the only woman he’s ever loved? Or before he infects someone else?
One thing is for sure... Wrath James White is a hardcore horror writer. He pulls absolutely no punches in his writings, something which you'd think I'd have learned reading his novel The Ressurectionist but apparently I needed to have the point driven home even more, and this book does just that. It's just as vile and disgusting... maybe even moreso.
I like the thought of serial killing being passed on and a search for a cure. Sadly, it didn't touch on this as much as I'd liked and instead concentrated more on the gore. I feel it might have been more effective with less gore, as I just sort of got numb to it.
The book starts out with a bloody bang and never lets up, and at times that was a problem for me. With such disturbing happenings coming at you like a machine gun, a break here and there for some character development would be welcome. Doesn't happen. I think this leaves all the characters pretty unsympathic and without a hero to cheer for, or without a horse in the race as the old timers might say, I'm not so sure I cared about the outcome any more than I was just sort of ready for the repulsiveness to end so I could take a shower and start a non-horror book.
But having said all that, it's a fast read and the story and graphic descriptions will stay with you. The pace is non-stop and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. This guy writes extreme horror so newbies to the genre will want to pass on this. It's bloody, gory, gross and stomach-turning... but hey, that's what extreme horror is. White is good and having read his newest book before this one so I can compare the 2... he's getting better.
6/10
