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A review by maxstark
The Visible Filth by Nathan Ballingrud
2.0
When everyone in the horror community in the Twitterverse were so hyped about this novella I knew I had to get my hands on it. It took me a long time to get this book since the hype started just to finished it and realize I was gonna be the unpopular opinion here.
Every little part that everyone seem to love about the novella I just simply didn’t get them.
Nathan Ballingrud’s writing is not bad. But the synopsis of the book is way much better than the book itself. It was a fantastic idea just gone wrong. Nothing really happens in the story. Ballingrud plays with the reader through all of the story, when you finally arrive to a tension science (which he describes very well I might add) nothing happens. And he repeats this trick several times, “something is lurking in the shadows and coming behind Carrie, it is getting near, and then”, nothing. Cut to, whatever Will is doing somewhere else, or simply Carrie fell asleep, or whatever.
The main character Will, is just simply an idiot making bad choices in life. He’s being played by the 2 women in his life and he’s is so fucking blind, or too horny, to notice it. Carrie, her girlfriend, is cheating on him with her teacher and is a controlling bitch. And Alice just goes to the bar where he works and seduces him even though she has a boyfriend. So Will is not the only miserable human being in the story.
The idea of Will finding a cell phone and then start receiving creepy messages on it, and that it escalate to something truly horrifying was great, that’s why I bought this. But instead I got a romantic soap opera triangle with some kind of body horror at the end and some tension moments that simply just weren’t worth my reading time.
But hey, if you like contemplative and cosmic horror, this might be the right novella for you. Read other reviews, compare, and give this a chance. I know I will give the author another try.
Every little part that everyone seem to love about the novella I just simply didn’t get them.
Nathan Ballingrud’s writing is not bad. But the synopsis of the book is way much better than the book itself. It was a fantastic idea just gone wrong. Nothing really happens in the story. Ballingrud plays with the reader through all of the story, when you finally arrive to a tension science (which he describes very well I might add) nothing happens. And he repeats this trick several times, “something is lurking in the shadows and coming behind Carrie, it is getting near, and then”, nothing. Cut to, whatever Will is doing somewhere else, or simply Carrie fell asleep, or whatever.
The main character Will, is just simply an idiot making bad choices in life. He’s being played by the 2 women in his life and he’s is so fucking blind, or too horny, to notice it. Carrie, her girlfriend, is cheating on him with her teacher and is a controlling bitch. And Alice just goes to the bar where he works and seduces him even though she has a boyfriend. So Will is not the only miserable human being in the story.
The idea of Will finding a cell phone and then start receiving creepy messages on it, and that it escalate to something truly horrifying was great, that’s why I bought this. But instead I got a romantic soap opera triangle with some kind of body horror at the end and some tension moments that simply just weren’t worth my reading time.
But hey, if you like contemplative and cosmic horror, this might be the right novella for you. Read other reviews, compare, and give this a chance. I know I will give the author another try.