 The book itself is a decent piece of occult horror that in parts is viscerally good, but in other parts has some incongruous character decisions. At times some of the characters were one dimensional, and I felt bordering on the pastiche, especially the Death Metal band. But, putting this aside I enjoyed it. Verum Malum by Michael R. Collins ASIN : B09PW6G8BJ Publisher : Independently published (9 Jan. 2022) Language : English Paperback : 125 pages ISBN-13 : 979-8788512112 A Horror Book Review by The Fantasy Book Nerd As a book blogger, there are many different ways that bloggers write about books. There are those that write a subjective review, will mention story and what they think the book is about, so on and so forth. Then there are the other types. Those that write about their interactions with the book or the story, how it makes them feel, what they like, didn't like etc etc. Me? I flit between the two. I try to do the former kind of review every now and again, but primarily, I fall into the second camp, as a reader that is trying to convey their own interactions with the book they are reading. Now, this becomes more apparent when I like a book because you get all those things (I don't bother if I don't like it! Generally, I won't even finish a book that I don't like because if it's not working for me, it's not working and I don't see the point of writing an endless diatribe of negativity just because I didn't like it). So with that, let's get on to Verum Malum. I have to say, I am a little conflicted about this book. On the one hand there was some good horror in there, but on the other, there was a major plot point that I kind of had difficulty getting past. And whilst I enjoyed the book, I couldn't wrap my head around this main point. So the story revolves around Ben and Noah. Ben is currently in remission from cancer and we start the book with Noah using alcohol to manage the shock news that Ben's cancer has returned. However, it soon transpires that this is actually a ploy from Ben's former satanic cult to get him to return. Not only do they want him to return but they want him to return to raise a special demon - the Verum Malum which is a different dimension from hell and is worse than Satan. The story floats along. We meet the Statanic cult that Ben was involved with and they are nasty bunch to say the least. In addition to that we get to see how Ben has evolved from his angry youthful days to the current iteration of his loving relationship with his husband Noah. We learn that Ben has had cancer in the past and that he is now in remission. The story brings us up to speed when their mutual friend, Jackie, brings along Marius, one of Ben's cult members to dinner. This shocks Ben out of his comfortable reverie with Noah and brings everything from his past back into sharp clarity and the fact that it is not going away and that he has to deal with it. Now, the bit that was a bit problematic for me was that whilst it's lovely to be in a warm and nurturing relationship, which Ben and Noah have, I was thrown by the scene in which Ben tells Noah that he was a bit of a bad 'un and that he was involved in the ritual sacrifice of an individual in order to raise a demon. I expected shock and all that stuff, but what threw me was that everyone kinda went 'Don't worry about it, we've all done some stuff we aren't proud of!' Now this unconditional acceptance of quite a heinous act did cause me some problems. I know it hasn't for other people that have read the book, but this was my experience and I took away different stuff from the story. Like I said, I liked book! The horror aspects of the story gave me a definite Clive Barker feel which ran through the story as it is all about pleasure and pain. We get all the usual themes from the bad guys. They want power and dominion etc etc. However, what is interesting is that the Verum Malum isn't really all that interested. It's not that the main bad guy has to do a series of tests, each more despicable than the last - The Demon Lord/dimension doesn't really care what these people who all want to be punished do. It's a strange attitude as the Verum Malum (who is more than a demon, but is also the dimension) has no actual care for anything and instead sees the 'demons' and 'sinnners' as more of an encroachment on it and its dimension. The book itself is a decent piece of occult horror that in parts is viscerally good, but in other parts has some incongruous character decisions. At times some of the characters were one dimensional, and I felt bordering on the pastiche, especially the Death Metal band. But, putting this aside I enjoyed it. About The Author Michael R. Collins was born at a very young age in the wilds of southern Idaho. After a few decades, he finally got his fill of all the sagebrush and rattlesnakes he could eat so he struck out into the world. After a long stop in Austin, Texas, he currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Mel. His horror stories are scaring the pants off of people. He has published four books, scores of short tales, and a few alibis. (Just in case) He is also an activist for the bisexual+ community. As a member of the Bi+plus Podcast, he tries to fight the good fight. Verum Malum |
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