PopHorror Let's Get Scared
(Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
PopHorror has reviewed several books for far for Confessions Publicity, including author Jason Parent’s last novel, A Life Removed (read our review of the book here). We were highly impressed with Parent’s humor, gory descriptions and storytelling technique, and we couldn’t wait to read more of the author’s work. Then along came What Hides Within, a brand new novel by the Massachusetts author. Would this book be as good as his last one, or was Parent a one hit wonder?
What Hides Within’s Official Synopsis:
Clive Menard is just an ordinary guy living an ordinary life. But when a talking spider crawls inside his head, things get a lot less ordinary…and people start dying. Could an itsy-bitsy arachnid be behind the killing spree terrorizing Clive’s community? To evade a sharp detective and find a murderer among friends, Clive must shake the cobwebs loose and piece together the puzzle of his life, all without falling prey to a dark force beyond his comprehension.
What Hides Within is a hilarious, creepy and disgusting book that horror readers will love. The idea that a tiny bug could crawl into your head through your ear and begin talking to you 24 hours a day, never letting up, in a voice that sounds like Queen Elizabeth on helium, would make even the most well-rounded person crack. The fact that Clive wasn’t exactly the most stable guy around, even before the spider took up residence in his head, only makes the whole thing that much scarier. The spider – a female named Chester – is a funny, sarcastic, emotional battering ram that knows Clive’s weaknesses and exploits them at every turn of the page. She knows what she needs this human vehicle to do and say and has no problem twisting both his feelings and his memories to get what she needs out of him. Plus, there’s the matter of Kevin, Clive’s antisocial roommate, who may or may not be the guy blowing up government buildings in his spare time.
The only tidbit I didn’t like about What Hides Within was that the dialogue was sometimes stilted and unreal. This bugged me the most with Clive’s niece, Victoria. While I realize that she’s supposed to be a bug genius, eight-year-olds don’t talk the way she does, and it took me out of the story a bit. I was also a bit put off by the fact that all everyone in this book seemed to think about was getting laid. I could contribute that to What Hides Within being an homage to the late author Richard Laymon’s book, Flesh, but since I can’t confirm that, I’m going to call it a coincidence.
Final Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed What Hides Within. The book is terrifying in the most fundamental way. I twitched and squirmed my way though each page. There were several intertwining stories going on at the same time, and it was a lot of fun to ride the papery wave to the final climax. One thing I learned from reading What Hides Within was to never piss off people who hear voices. Ever. At this time, What Hides Within is an EPIC Finalist and Independent eBook Award Runner-Up for Best Horror.
I’m totally excited for Jason Parent’s next book, although if it involves clear, eight-legged, British brain-spiders, I may have to read it with earplugs blocking all auditory entrances. You can check out my interview with the author here.
Thomas W. Everson, author of The Rain Experience Trilogy:
“I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes horror. It will make you cringe. It will make you shudder. It will make you want to take a shower. But you won’t be able to put it down.”
