Books › Hammers on Bone
Hammers on Bone
107 pages
A gritty, dread-soaked supernatural noir where a monstrous private eye hunts an even darker evil lurking in the shape of an abusive stepfather.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a rain-slicked, dread-soaked alleyway where classic noir collides with visceral cosmic horror. The narrative moves at a brisk, hardboiled clip, following a deeply cynical and menacing tone that perfectly matches its monstrous protagonist. It is an oppressive, eerie experience that wraps the reader in a suffocating atmosphere of supernatural corruption and hidden monstrosity. The prose twists the familiar tropes of a private investigator story into something ancient and arcane, dripping with dark magic and terrifying potential. It is a story about the lesser of two evils, exploring the heavy burden of unleashing one's own darkness to stop an abusive, alien terror. This is a perfect read for fans of gritty urban fantasy who delight in antiheroes with teeth.
- Mood
- dread-soaked
- noir-inflected
- oppressive
- monstrous
- Tone
- gritty
- hardboiled
- menacing
- dark
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- hidden monstrosity · the lesser of two evils · supernatural corruption · confronting abuse · the burden of power
- The writing
- Hardboiled noir conventions twisted with visceral, monstrous horror imagery.
- The arc
- A descent into a dark, supernatural underbelly where confronting a horrific evil requires embracing one's own terrifying nature.
- Who it's for
- Fans of gritty urban fantasy and supernatural noir who love a monstrous protagonist fighting even worse monsters.
Content notes
- child abuse
- domestic abuse
- monstrous violence
- supernatural horror
About the book
John Persons is a private investigator with a distasteful job from an unlikely client. He’s been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid’s stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable.
He’s also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he’s hunted gods and demons, and broken them in his teeth.
As Persons investigates the horrible McKinsey, he realizes that he carries something far darker. He’s infected with an alien presence, and he’s spreading that monstrosity far and wide. Luckily Persons is no stranger to the occult, being an ancient and magical intelligence himself. The question is whether the private dick can take down the abusive stepdad without releasing the holds on his own horrifying potential.
Description from Open Library.
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