Death Obsessed by Robert Essig REVIEWED

It's always a pleasure getting new work by author's I'm not familiar with especially when it's nasty little blast like this one.

Death Obsessed is a brand new book, just released in late June from a publisher I'm not familiar with, Grand Mal. However, upon some quick research of their previously released titles, I should have taken notice a while ago...they've got quite a few books I would be happy to read.

In any event, Death Obsessed is the latest in the rash of newish books I've been reading that I feel are truly by horror fans, for horror fans, and well...about them. As such, it's very easy for the reader, as a horror fan, to identify with scenarios, characters and engage with the story. It's really a smart story move for the smaller presses, as it truly embraces the horror culture, aimed squarely at the market. Essig delivers a warm, gory hug to horror fans with this one.

It's essentially a character study, looking at Calvin, a horror fan, whose fairly normal. He's got a job, an apartment, a good girlfriend and a baby on the way. He's also got an insatiable hunger to see the nastiest gore he can, obsessed with well...death.

It gets even worse when he gets a strange VHS tape, then becomes an addiction for him. Soon he's seeing visions, his life is falling apart and he's being dragged into the gruesome, supernatural underbelly of the sick world of snuff...

It takes a little but too long to get off the ground, being a little repetitive in the start. But once it starts rolling, man, does it roll.  Calvin ends in up some seriously nasty situations and you're glued to the page.

Repetition nature aside, I really enjoyed this nasty little piece. Faces of Death, Shocking Asia, etc fans? If you've ever felt guilty or weird about your taste, here's the book to drive that nagging feeling in the back of your head home...YOU ARE WEIRD AND PROBABLY GONNA DIE CUZ OF IT!

I'm kidding. Kinda.

I recommend Death Obsessed for just about any fan of gross-out horror. It'll appeal to you in more ways than one.

4/5.

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