A review by crossbun
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Clive Barker is everything to me. All his work is so tender and human, so monstrous and twisted that one uplifts the other. They cannot be separated and once I start one of his books I simply cannot stop reading. I love how he takes characters that start out as rather boring and pathetic, outsiders, misfits, sad-sacks, (from the initial point of view), and as the story progresses, elevates them to hero status simply by letting them say that they have had ENOUGH. Clive Barker is the champion of freaks and losers, he is the voice from the darkness that whispers "don't you want to go apeshit?" and reader and character alike scream a resounding yes and then he says "ok babe go for it, you have everything to be scared of and nothing to lose" and they claw their way to liberation through the most perverse and repulsively delightful horror you've never dreamed. 

This is a fantastic introduction to his work, super fast read and plenty disturbing without delving into some of the other Really Nasty Stuff he writes about in his other works like Coldheart Canyon (also so good but YIKES!!!)
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