A review by revilsky
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

I'm not exactly sure what happened with this book, though there have been some rumors online about what was possibly going on behind the scenes, which would explain a lot if true. While I enjoyed reading it, it wasn't up to Barker's usual level of storytelling. The characters were rather clichéd, the story lacked the scare factor for anyone familiar with Barker’s previous work, and the emotional moments felt somewhat forced. Additionally, the ending was somewhat underwhelming, especially for a character as iconic as Pinhead. The novel started off strong, with Barker's signature flair for the grotesque and visceral, but then it turned out to be almost a pulp kind of novel. It certainly didn't match up to the sprawling epics that Barker is known for.  Still, I enjoyed it for what it is, even though it was ultimately underwhelming.