'Urban Gothic' – Brian Keene (Deadite Press)

It has been far too long since I last read 'Urban Gothic', something that became all too clear when I saw the cover for 'Suburban Gothic' and realised that I had no idea who was on the cover... (I found out later that it was Scug and the son of Noigel but the damage was done, I used to just know stuff like this). The Deadite Press edition of 'Suburban Gothic' is due to be published at the end of the month so I thought that now would be the best time for a re-read of 'Urban Gothic', as well as a first time read of Bryan Smith's 'The Freakshow'; just to get myself up to speed for the two books coming together in 'Suburban Gothic'. I tossed a coin to decide on which book to read first and 'Urban Gothic' it was...

No one gets out alive! When their car broke down in a dangerous inner-city neighborhood, Kerri and her friends thought they would find shelter inside an old, dark row home. They thought it was abandoned. They thought they would be safe there until help arrived. They were wrong. The residents who live down in the cellar and the tunnels beneath the city are far more dangerous than the streets outside, and they have a very special way of dealing with trespassers. Trapped in a world of darkness, populated by obscene abominations, they will have to fight back if they ever want to see the sun again.

Bloody hell... I had forgotten what 'Urban Gothic' was like. It's relentless, that's what it is. From the first 'head explosion' until the ending; the gore, jump scares and sexual encounters with inbred mutants doesn't stop. And it's all driven by this electric mixture of Kerri and her friend's need to escape versus Scug (and his friend's) need to tear the teens to pieces before eating/fucking whatever is left. I can't say it enough, it just doesn't stop and Keene's mixture of relatable leads and the most fucked up eco-system you've ever seen make it incredibly easy to just jump on and just go with it. Honestly though, it's like Keene went into the film studio where they filmed 'The Thing' (the good one, you know the one) and used all the models to populate the caverns under the house. Not only are all the denizens eye catching (and nauseating) examples of body horror, especially when they want to have sex with something, but they are all capable of taking a chunk out of Kerri and her friends and this makes for the aforementioned jump scares as well as deliciously creepy drawn out moments where you know something grim is coming and you have to remember to take a breath.

Can you tell that I loved 'Urban Gothic'? ;o) The high stakes, on both sides, drew me in but it's the world under the house that kept me reading; not just to see if Kerri etc. made it out but also for those little nods to the Labyrinth Mythos and just seeing how this nightmare world works. And it does, it really does. We're not just looking at background scenery here, Keene has given us a backdrop that is just as key to the plot as anything moving through it. And for a lover of sheer nauseating spectacle like myself, I love the fact that Keene will write something utterly vile and then immediately challenge himself to go one better on the next page. He succeeds every time, by the way; this is very much a 'no holds barred, anything goes' kind of book; the only kind of approach to take when you're setting your heroes against inbred, mutant cannibals.

Keene even finds the time to show us that looking out for your fellow humans can only be good thing and also not to judge someone by appearances. It's a theme that runs as a neat little counterpoint to the main plot thread and I'm not going to lie, I know it probably won't happen but I wouldn't mind seeing Leo putting that lesson into practice when 'Suburban Gothic' lands in my clutching hands ;o)

'Urban Gothic' is a bloody good read then ( like a homage to every dingle crazy 80's horror movie that you've seen) and definitely one of my favourite Brian Keene books. If you haven't picked it up for a while either, give it a read before you pick up 'Suburban Gothic'.