Urban Gothic

May 15, 2011 Kasia S. rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have dreamt about reading this book for months and once I got it I read the sucker in half a day. The good part - it's full of icky, gross horrific stuff that makes horror books fun, the not so good part - I wasn't crazy about it. The character development was shallow and maybe if the six kids who get stuck in the bad part of town at night weren't so stupid and lame, I would have liked the book more. It's hard to relate to someone who acts in a way that gets them in trouble in the first place,...more I have dreamt about reading this book for months and once I got it I read the sucker in half a day. The good part - it's full of icky, gross horrific stuff that makes horror books fun, the not so good part - I wasn't crazy about it. The character development was shallow and maybe if the six kids who get stuck in the bad part of town at night weren't so stupid and lame, I would have liked the book more. It's hard to relate to someone who acts in a way that gets them in trouble in the first place, not to mention I could hardly tell them apart, yes they had different names but they were mere filler in the book, something for the monsters to snack on, fish food I guess one could say. And if I wanted to read a book about fish food I would have shopped in the marine biology section of Amazon, not the non existent horror section. Basically a bunch of white kids get stuck in the ghetto and when confronted with another human being that doesn't look like them, they freak out and end up making a grave mistake. They run into an abandoned house and find that they can't get out, but that's not the worst part. They are not alone in the house, and what they encounter makes them shriek, about forty times for each person, that action is repeated through out the book. Fans of "Hills Have Eyes" and those who love vile descriptions will enjoy, to me it felt more like a way to take up pages, but didn't build the story into something great. The parts of the book where someone is mourned were good, those little bits of misery and missing the dead person made them feel real, but when alive, the kids weren't so interesting. Fewer characters but with better development would have shined. I didn't get the dark gothic part of this, the urban part yes but the cloying, eerie intensity was not there, it was more of a teen outing gone wrong.

Keene has slowly emerged as the recognizable name in horror, I personally look forward to his books and stories, my favorites were "Dead Sea" and "Dark Hollow" but I felt that this book lacked that special something, at least for me. I know that Keene doesn't let his audience dictate his craft, but I could clearly see the lack of juice in the novel when I read Ketchum's "Cover" the next day, the difference was night and day. "Cover" flowed and entertained with writing that was easy to absorb while this felt like I was following words written on the page. I thought of giving up on "Urban Gothic" half way through but decided to stick to it and just finish it, honestly I didn't get into the story until I got to page 260 which was the ending to my favorite chapter, the one that really grabbed me. Too many additions, unnecessary characters ( give us less and it will be more) and hastily finished resolutions to few things in the book that took away from the story were just few of the problems that I had with it. To each his own of course, some will love this some won't, I simply wouldn't want to read it again but I will definitely buy his next novel, after all horror is hard to resist when you really love it. (less)

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May 03, 2012 Gavin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-thriller

Haunted houses litter the horror genre, but URBAN GOTHIC, by Brian Keene, takes the subject and slams it on its head.

Ya see, this starts off as if this is your garden-variety haunted house tale. That is until you meet the residents of the "haunted house". Ya see, this house is full of backwooded-hillbilly-cannibals that are thirsty for some fresh meat. (Oh, I forgot to mention that it is located in da hood.) And these BHC are so grotesque from inbreeding and lack of sunlight that they are not s...more

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Feb 05, 2010 Melissa Helwig rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Being a huge Brian Keene, fan I had been looking forward to Urban Gothic for months before it was released. But it took me almost six months to finish reading it. I got halfway through and gave up. It actually turned me off horror for awhile and made me wonder why I preferred gore and monsters over interesting characters. I don't, what I want is for my horror novels to have it all: fascinating characters that I don't want to see die, monsters and gore. But Urban Gothic focused more on the charac...more Being a huge Brian Keene, fan I had been looking forward to Urban Gothic for months before it was released. But it took me almost six months to finish reading it. I got halfway through and gave up. It actually turned me off horror for awhile and made me wonder why I preferred gore and monsters over interesting characters. I don't, what I want is for my horror novels to have it all: fascinating characters that I don't want to see die, monsters and gore. But Urban Gothic focused more on the characters' torture than on their description and development. Eventually I got back to reading Urban Gothic (obviously, or else I wouldn't be reviewing it now) and found the second half to be better than the first.

Three young couples attend a rap concert and on the way home their car breaks down in a bad neighbourhood. When a group of young black men approach them, they become frightened and run away, hiding in an abandoned house. Or so they think - the house is actually inhabited by a family of mutant creatures.

The plot is a familiar one, but I didn't mind because it's a plot I love (almost) every time I encounter it. It's similar to Brian Keene's last novel, Castaways, which was also about monsters killing and eating people, but had a different setting (a tropical island).

The pace moves fairly quick, having the first mutant sighting/teen killing by the end of Chapter One. But the teens' efforts to hide or escape get old fast. Eventually Urban Gothic becomes dull and monotonous, which was the point I stopped reading. But when I picked the book up again months later, I was surprised to find that it wasn't as bad as I remembered. And it introduced a few fresh plot developments (killer mutant babies, for instance), which kept me reading to the end.

As I already mentioned, the area of the novel most lacking are the characters. Keene gives virtually no back story on them, making me careless about what happens to them and wonder why I should read any further. And because of this, I couldn't tell any of them apart. I spent the entire novel trying to identify Kerri from Heather, having to flip back to previous chapters to remember.

But I liked the group of black young men. They were the only interesting, non-stereotypical characters in the story and Urban Gothic would've been better if Keene focused on them more instead of the teens. And I did find the mutants (and mutant babies) disturbing.

It's not a bad novel, especially if gore interests you more than compelling characters. But if you're looking for a good mutant cannibal novel, I would stick with Ketchum's Off Season.

Read more of my reviews at http://littlemisszombie.blogspot.com (less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Shannon Barber rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am right in the middle of this book. As other reviewers have commented it's gross. You have all the gross out points, blood, menstrual blood, bodily harm, poop, pee, fat people, stink etc. A few of the scenes so far have been a little long for my taste but not anything that I find upsetting. However I am having a hard time finishing this book because I just don't care about the protagonists. At this point I kind of hope they die.

I stopped caring almost as soon as the plot was set up. To put a...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Initially, when the main characters are trying to figure out how to fix their car to get out of the ghetto, a group of black kids come up to them, and a bit of confrontation takes place. I rolled my eyes at yet another depiction of the clean-cut white kids being threatened for minding their own business by the troublesome black kids, but these perceptions were shattered right at the beginning of chapter two, when it turns out the black kids had come over to help, were upset but not surprised at...more Initially, when the main characters are trying to figure out how to fix their car to get out of the ghetto, a group of black kids come up to them, and a bit of confrontation takes place. I rolled my eyes at yet another depiction of the clean-cut white kids being threatened for minding their own business by the troublesome black kids, but these perceptions were shattered right at the beginning of chapter two, when it turns out the black kids had come over to help, were upset but not surprised at the racist reactions of the white kids, and then become major characters in their own right. Congratulations, Mr. Keene, you have subverted my expectations and made me positively gleeful about it.

The action moves along quickly, but this is not just a blood-soaked splatterpunk story. After all, six teens don't provide nearly a high enough body count for that sort of thing. The real terror is in the horrible wrongness of the almost-people-things, in the way they look and the way they live. It's a little like uncanny valley creepiness, but with living, breathing creatures. Who, y'know, like to eat human flesh and do nasty things with dead bodies.

The prose disappeared into the background almost immediately (aside from Keene's penchant for the word "hapless"), leaving the focus on the plot and particularly the characters. The very human reactions to what was happening all around them were marvelous, although in some cases lasted a bit too long. I'm pretty sure, for example, a man being decapitated would be dead before he could see the blood pouring out of his neck.

I was a little disappointed that the question of what exactly these cannibals are, where they came from, and the why behind it all was never answered. I can't think of a way it would have fit naturally into the book, at least not the way it exists now, but the question was raised often enough by the characters that now I'm curious. I'll admit my brain kept flashing back to the creepy cannibals in the Jade Empire video game. (Yes, I'm a geek; were you expecting something different?)

This is a great read for those in the mood for something genuinely creepy without the use of supernatural elements. It's horrifying in a way that goes beyond simple terror, and absolutely worth a look for any horror buff.(less)

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Jul 08, 2011 Reese Copeland rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was the first book I read by Brian Keene. I absolutely loved it! It was very raw and chock full of absolute terror. Situations and experiences of the characters I would never have thought of before, but written in such a masterful way that you just can't stop reading. Sick as what happens to the characters is, you just keep reading hoping they will find a way out and it will be a happy ending. This is one reason I love the book so much. It's not a happy ending. The people in the "bad" neigh...more

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Jun 29, 2011 William M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

3 AND 1/2 STARS

This latest Brian Keene was quite a departure from zombies and end of the world scenarios. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of action and gore (reminiscent of classic Laymon and Ketchum), but although nothing happened that I didn't already expect, it did give me quite a few hours of giddy enjoyment while reading it. One of the highlights for me had to be some of the priceless dialogue made by the mutants regarding their sexual organs and their desire to perform some unspe...more

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Aug 27, 2010 Liz rated it 2 of 5 stars

I don’ t know why I got so link-happy in the review.

How to describe Urban Gothic? In a word: icky.

The premise: Six white teens from the suburbs are returning home from a concert when they end up lost in the ghetto of Philadelphia. Their car breaks down in a dangerous neighborhood. When they’re approached by a group of black teens who act in a threatening manner. One of the white teen panics, calls them the ‘n’ word, and runs.

Sidebar: This didn’t ring true for me. Believe me when I say that this...more I don’ t know why I got so link-happy in the review.

How to describe Urban Gothic? In a word: icky.

The premise: Six white teens from the suburbs are returning home from a concert when they end up lost in the ghetto of Philadelphia. Their car breaks down in a dangerous neighborhood. When they’re approached by a group of black teens who act in a threatening manner. One of the white teen panics, calls them the ‘n’ word, and runs.

Sidebar: This didn’t ring true for me. Believe me when I say that this is not a complete criticism; in today’s schools and society enough white guilt is taught that the use of that word wouldn’t even be part of the active vocabulary of an upper middle class white teen. Not that I think they wouldn’t know that word, I just don’t think it would be used. But perhaps I’m naïve; I just know that my lower middle class friends and I wouldn’t have used it. End sidebar.

The slur has its expected effect though, the white teens start running and the angry (and as we find out later, hurt) black teens chase after them. The white teens head for a creepy, old, Victorian style house at the end of the street. They go inside and the mayhem begins. Almost immediately the way out is barred and one of them is decapitated.

What they find in the house reminded me of the movie Bleeders (http://bit.ly/bYOrPo) a little. Inbred, animalistic freaks that enjoy eating humans begin to hunt them through the large house which has secret passages, sliding walls, and booby traps throughout.

Except this is much, much, much more disgusting and violent. And seriously, perhaps I’m a bit impulsive, but if I was trapped in a house of mutant, cannibalistic freaks with little hope of survival and I had a lighter – well I wouldn’t see much harm in setting the place on fire. Or one of the mutant cannibalistic freaks. Seriously, Let’s Start a Riot! http://bit.ly/UqwYE

I must congratulated Mr. Keene on creating some truly unsympathetic villians though. On the downside, note that I haven’t mentioned a single character name. It hardn’t matters; there isn’t much personality to be found here.

Meanwhile, outside, the black teens who hadn’t meant to scare the kids so badly are feeling guilty. The house at the end of the street, to borrow a phrase from Shirley Jackson, “was born bad.” http://bit.ly/21zGBf. Or at least they know that nobody in the neighborhood goes near it, not in their generation and not in their parents. However, despite the fact that they were called a bad name, they feel guilty that their intimidation sent the other teens charging into the house of unknown evil. They go to an older neighbor’s house to place a call to the police which goes unanswered (not uncommon in this neighborhood). While waiting for help that never comes, they finally decide to go offer what help they can.

Bottom-line: If you want to read about humans fighting for their lives in horrific circumstances, this is indeed the book for you. If that doesn’t appeal to you, give it a miss. As for me *sob* I’m going to go read something by Dr. Seuss or Laura Ingalls Wilder.
(less)

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Jul 30, 2010 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

I love Brian Keene's books. The Rising is, bar none, the best zombie book ever written, and Conqueror Worms is the best modern "Lovecraftian" book I've read.

Urban Gothic, to me, fell largely flat. I really just felt like a less impressive version of Ketchum's "Off Season", and, like another reviewer, it took me a long pause between reading the first half and second half to finish it (it's the first Keene book that I haven't been able to read in a day or two).

All told, the writing was fine (par f...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Lincoln rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just like the cover suggests, Urban Gothic is a haunted house story. It starts out with six suburban teens stuck in a bad city neighborhood when they get lost and their car breaks down. They have a misunderstanding with some of the locals, believing (understandably, from the way their interaction began) that they were gangbangers about to rob them. The protagonists, three boys and three girls, run for cover into an evil-looking abandoned house.

Not all of them make it to the end of the book.

Urb...more Just like the cover suggests, Urban Gothic is a haunted house story. It starts out with six suburban teens stuck in a bad city neighborhood when they get lost and their car breaks down. They have a misunderstanding with some of the locals, believing (understandably, from the way their interaction began) that they were gangbangers about to rob them. The protagonists, three boys and three girls, run for cover into an evil-looking abandoned house.

Not all of them make it to the end of the book.

Urban Gothic is filled with vile, deformed, cannibal mutants, some more humanoid than others, and Keene packs each chapter with brutal detail and gruesome deaths. There's a diverse group of characters; by the end of the book the six suburbanites, the local kids, their older neighbor and a scrap-metal thief all end up facing down the horrors within. The bad guys are some of the nastiest Keene's written (worse than the Siqqism from The Rising, Earl Harper from The Conqueror Worms and Sherm from Terminal combined) ; giants, dwarves, mutant babies that should have never survived the womb and even one particularly nasty creature that wears a woman's preserved skin as clothing. Just about everyone who dies goes crazy or close to it before meeting their end and even the people that survive will never be the same. The setting itself is impressive; the house, of course, is creepy as hell and described in great detail, but most of the action and horrible nastiness occurs deep underground, in the basement and caves inhabited by more loathsome creatures as the characters progress deeper within.

I had high expectations for Gothic just because it's a Brian Keene novel, but this surpassed them exponentially. I haven't read all of Keene's work, but this is my seventh book (not counting Deluge, because it's a serial novel) of his and I do believe it's his nastiest work yet. I made the mistake of reading it over dinner one night and... well... I had to cut my feast short, let's just say that. In addition, if you're a long-time reader you'll even catch a connection or two to some of Keene's other work. 10/10 and I want to see this book made into a movie NAO(less)

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Sep 14, 2009 Logan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

I started reading Brian Keene with "Dead Sea", which I really enjoyed. It changed up some Zombie conventions (species hopping, etc.) and had a realistic, well developed protagonist. While everyone was an archetype, it also acknowledged that flat out, which was funny.

Unfortunately, the past few offerings have fallen flat for me. This book was pretty much crap. As I read, I felt as though I was reading the script of a film that I would decry as symptomatic of the ruination of the horror genre. Wr...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Wayne Simmons rated it 4 of 5 stars

A young group of friends seek solace in an old, ruined house after their car breaks down in inner-city Philadelphia. When the teenagers don’t emerge, a gang of local kids seek the help of disillusioned old stalwart, Perry Watkins, to lead the rescue party. But deep inside the house are monstrosities that neither local nor outsider can fathom...

I’ve enjoyed several of Brian Keene’s horror novels prior to reading URBAN GOTHIC, his tribute to horror veteran, Edward Lee (here seeing re-release throu...more A young group of friends seek solace in an old, ruined house after their car breaks down in inner-city Philadelphia. When the teenagers don’t emerge, a gang of local kids seek the help of disillusioned old stalwart, Perry Watkins, to lead the rescue party. But deep inside the house are monstrosities that neither local nor outsider can fathom...

I’ve enjoyed several of Brian Keene’s horror novels prior to reading URBAN GOTHIC, his tribute to horror veteran, Edward Lee (here seeing re-release through Deadite Press). Keene once described himself as a blue collar horror writer. I love to read about ordinary people in extraordinary situations and Keene writes ‘working class’ (for want of a better expression) characters that are believable, flawed and engaging.

URBAN GOTHIC doesn’t disappoint. It’s different to other Keene books, the gore and violence turned up to eleven, suitably paying homage to Lee’s famously uncompromising style. For the most part, however, characterisation is tight. The teenagers trapped within the old house do, at times, blend into one another, their universal plight to escape blurring individuality. However, it's the story of the well-meaning locals, led by jaded community leader, Perry Watkins and local youth, Leo, that grabs me most. These are typical Keene protagonists, their hopes, fears and baggage proving tangible to the reader as they argue (often in a rather comical way) over whether or not to help the middle-class white kids invading their neighbourhood.

Fans of backwoods horror, such as DELIVERANCE and THE HILLS HAVE EYES, should particularly enjoy this book. The monstrous creatures within the house are as wildly eccentric as they are vicious, the pursuit of their prey vividly played out, with guts and peeled skin slopping around by the bucket load. There are cliffhangers aplenty, the kids’ fight to survive becoming more and more useless as they fumble their way along dark, dank corridors, a seemingly endless maze of blood-spattered hell. Torture features heavily, the creatures’ raison d’etre cannibalistic, the trapped kids forced to watch each other’s fates in full technicolour glory. But it’s not all grim, the heart of this story (being a community trying to rediscover itself, taking control and exorcising its own demons) reaching a satisfying and (dare I say) touching conclusion.

URBAN GOTHIC is not a book for the faint-hearted. The gore is front and centre for the majority of the book, meaning those looking for nothing short of brutal may find it a challenging read. However, fans of a less compromising brand of pulp horror, such as that on offer from fellow Deadites Andre Duza and Wrath James White - and of course Lee himself - will definitely be pleased.

Originally reviewed at: www.waynesimmons.org (less)

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Aug 22, 2010 Jacki Frasier rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It reminded me of a few movie I had watched, Decent and The Hills Have Eyes. Your typical group gets lost and runs into mutants type of movie. It was gory, and even had some comedy in parts. It was fast passed and held my attention long enough to finish reading it. With that being said, I think the character development was lacking on the main characters, and I really liked the character development on the minor characters. There were too many additions and unnecessary characters. It was hard fo...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Six friends, white kids on their way home from a hip-hop concert, find themselves in car trouble, deep in a rundown black area of Philadelphia. The wrong choice of epithet leads to them sheltering in an abandoned old house, that contains more peril than anything they might have faced outside. Although Keene is a good writer who drags you along at a tremendous clip, this doesn’t stand up like his other books have and is very similar to “Castaways” (and feels more like a Richard Laymon homage, tha...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Marvin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, horror

This flashback to the splatter-punk days of horror novesl is a difficult book to compare to other horror novels. Why? Because all I can think of to compare it to are movies. Indeed it feels like Roger Corman was looking over the author's shoulder and saying "Here some money. Come back in 15 days and give me a script". Urban Gothic ends up being a bloody mixture of movie ideas: The People Under The Stairs meets The Hills Have Eyes meet every other mutant cannibal novel.

Not that this isn't any fun...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Alysha DeShaé rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

My full review is here on my personal website. I'll post a few excerpts here, though:

0.5 out of 5.0 stars

The very worst thing about this book is that it is everything. First, it was misshelved in the store – not the books fault, I know, but I would never have bought it if I had known it was a horror book. Second, it’s a horror book and it’s far too graphic for me to sleep soundly after having read it. Third, was it really necessary to describe a deformed giant’s penis in such horrific detail?

The...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I haven't read horror in a good long while, so it was nice to have something that felt relatively new. The book admittedly started out rather slow, and the initial introductions of the key players made them seem like stock high schoolers about to meet some monsters. And to some extent they remain that way, but deep characterization really isn't the point of a horror novel; there's enough there that you can take an interest in the characters, relate to them, and keep track of who's who. While I a...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Nanci rated it 1 of 5 stars

The most vulgar disgusting book I've ever read. By page 260 I was just skimming through because I was getting so frustrated with how wordy and descriptive it was getting after having heard about the man wearing a woman skin suit with a penis coming out of the tanned vagina and literal mind-fucking over and over. The characters are pathetic and under-developed. There's weak attempts of trying to get more information about them however they all seem the same and it's not worth really recalling all...more

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Feb 11, 2010 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Let me begin by saying that the first book I read of Keene's was Dark Hollow, and I found it to be so original and unique that I instantly took a liking to him. However, I have yet to read a more recent book of his that comes close to the fun of Dark Hollow. Of all of the recent ones (Castaways, Ghost Walk, Urban Gothic,) this one impressed me the least.

I found the plot to be very recycled, i.e. teens in peril go into a forbidden place with mutants, but at least Keene takes the setting a little...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

For most people, there's nothing scarier than being lost. That was the premise of The Blair Witch Project, which scared the crap out of me because I could relate to the situation the characters found themselves in. Not the part of being "hunted" by a supernatural creature, but the part about being lost in the woods. It has happened to me. There's nothing more terrifying than not knowing where you are going, if you are constantly going around in circles, going the right way to freedom, or working...more For most people, there's nothing scarier than being lost. That was the premise of The Blair Witch Project, which scared the crap out of me because I could relate to the situation the characters found themselves in. Not the part of being "hunted" by a supernatural creature, but the part about being lost in the woods. It has happened to me. There's nothing more terrifying than not knowing where you are going, if you are constantly going around in circles, going the right way to freedom, or working your way deeper into the wilds. And that's in the daylight. Now imagine being in that situation in the dark of night. If you can't relate to that, how about a corn field maze? An amusement park fun house? Or something as simple as an unfamiliar neighborhood. That's what you will find in Brian Keene's Urban Gothic.

Kerri and her friends are on the way home from a concert when her boyfriend, Tyler, gets it in his head to score some drugs in order to keep the good mood going. Everybody just wants to go home, but Tyler's driving, and he claims the guy is a friend and it's not far. However, when a closed road causes him to detour, he gets himself all turned around and they find themselves in one of the seedier parts of town. As if that wasn't bad enough, the car picks that moment to give up the ghost. Insisting that he can fix it, Tyler forbids anybody calling for help, but when a group of locals approach them, they panic. They run straight for the abandoned house at the end of the street despite to other kids telling them not to go in there.

From the moment they get inside, they realize they are in trouble when the door locks behind them. Despite the rundown condition of the house, the door is stronger than it appears. When they decide to search the house in order to find another way out, they are set upon by a giant of a man, or so they think. Tyler and one of the girls are killed immediately, and Kerri and her remaining three friends run deeper into the house in order to avoid meeting the same fate. They get separated, and soon discover that the house is rigged up like a carnival fun house, with sliding panels and trap doors. They also soon realize that what they are up against isn't just one psychotic killer, but multiple generation of deformed mutants that have lived beneath the house longer than anybody knows. Driven by fear and a desperate desire to stay alive, the four remaining friends search for a way out, but in order to reach it, they must pass through the mutant lair. Can they do it?

In the meantime, the neighborhood kids who had approached the car know the house's reputation. They don't know what lives there, but they do know that whoever goes in is never seen again. Feeling partially responsible, they call the cops, but the police are all too familiar with the house as well, and when they don't show, the kids decide to take matters into their own hands. Somebody has to help those other kids, and it looks like it's up to them. Will Leo and his friends be able to gain access to the house and help those trapped within, or will they, too, become victims of the house?

Reading Urban Gothic, I was reminded of one of my favorite movies, The People Under The Stairs (yes, I'm a freak, I admit it, but I love Wendy Robie and Everett McGill in that movie. It's kind of like Lucy and Ricky on acid.). The house Keene has created brings to mind the creepy castles of Gothic fiction, with their secret passageways and miles upon miles of tunnels running beneath them. Those castles and the ghosts that haunt them are tame in comparison. Keene's house is inhabited by a tribe of cannibalistic freaks, which he paints with a grim brutality that will have you looking over your shoulder as you read. His human characters are painted with that same gritty realness that will have you on the edge of your seat as they make their way through the house looking for a way out.

As much as I liked Urban Gothic, there were certain things that stood out as problematic, at least for me. Keene reveals that these mutants have been around a long time, longer than the town has been in existence, but that is the extent of it. We are never informed as to the origin of these creatures, which I found disappointing. I kept hoping that the kids would stumble across something that would reveal the origin of these monsters. Given that the house appears larger on the inside than is perceived from the outside, you wonder if maybe it's a portal to another dimension. There was also a moment where I thought Keene might be attempting a Cthulhu mythos tie-in. There's nothing definite, which was frustrating to me as a reader.

The other issue I had with these mutants is that some of them spoke English in complete sentences. To me, this would imply that they had more contact with the outside world that we are led to believe. One of the questions that is raised by one of the characters in the book is what do these creatures live on? Their sole sustenance can't be the chance individual who happens to stray into their lair, and there aren't enough rodents to keep their race alive. Are they working with somebody from the outside, somebody who regularly lures unwitting victims to their demise? This would help to explain how they can communicate with their victims. We just don't know, and for me, it ruined the credibility of these mutants. I would have preferred it if they stuck with grunts, groans, and moans as a means of communication. If language was necessary, they should have spoken in a fragmented dialogue.

All in all, however, I did enjoy Urban Gothic, and would highly recommend it to anybody who doesn't mind raw, brutal, graphic horror fiction. (less)

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May 30, 2010 Morganscorpion rated it 2 of 5 stars

A fairly good horror novel. Pretty much a modern version of "The Lurking Fear". Worth reading once, not sure I'll read it a second time.

I did go out and buy another of his books after reading it though. You see, I get the strongest feeling that he can do much better than this, and probably already has.

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Nov 02, 2009 MK (Consultant, Corporal Therapist) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of wierd/gross horror, mutant-creatures

Recommended to MK (Consultant, Corporal Therapist) by: excerpt from Castaways by Brian Keene

Shelves: horror-monster-creature

The story begins with 6 best friends running through an urban neighborhood to a haunted house. 3 paired off couples. As with most[any:] Brian Keene novel the action waits only for you to turn the page. To say who dies first and who survives would give away a GREAT horror story, so I'll just say that the flesh munchers had crude weapons but imaginative deathes/tortures for their victims. An honorable Ob mention, hats off.

The creature/horror/monster in Urban Gothic are described at best as mutant...more

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Sep 04, 2010 Jayme rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first horror novel I've read in a long time. In hindsight, I probably should have eased myself back into the genre. I'm not really sure how to describe this story. Six stupid kids run into an abandoned house to hide and then spend the rest of the night trying to survive a bunch of psychotic mutants who want to eat them for dinner. It's "The People Under the Stairs" meets "Rose Red" meets that creepy episode of X-Files with the inbreds who keep their mutant mother/sister/whatever hidd...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Kevin Kuenkler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: demons, haunted-house, cave

This book grabbed me from the start. It is so well written, that I in fact read it twice. Keene is known for his Zombie Apocalypse type stories, ie; Dead Sea, Rising, City of the Dead.
But this one takes the reader into a whole new realm of fear...the neighbors down the street. When a group of people, or should I say one guy in a group, makes a rude comment to another person, they run to this "house" to get away. Once inside, they find it is maze of dark hallways and staircases with no way out....more

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Apr 02, 2011 Kelleynotlp rated it 2 of 5 stars

*****************SLIGHTLY SPOILERIFIC*******************************************************************

I just finished "Urban Gothic" by Brian Keene. There was a really good idea behind this book: Take the inbred, deformed, cannibal family slasher formula, push it to it's furthest extreme and then place it in the middle of an inner city neighborhood and let the blood fly. Sounds great. The book started with a bang introducing us to one of the horrifying family members right at the end of the fi...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Grep rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Hills Have Eyes, but in the a house in the Ghetto. I found some of the "villains" to be comedic and gruesome (tough to pull off), the inhabitants of the ghetto where memorable and I wish there was more of them than the teenagers, the dialogue was authentic.

I did get confused by some of the maze-like wall-shifting that occurred and found myself re-reading several parts over and over never comprehending the make-up of how the rooms changed - maybe some hand drawn descriptions/graphics could be...more

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Oct 27, 2009 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: being-used-as-toilet-paper-in-the-9

There are days that I want a "mindless" read. Something that takes about a day and doesn't require any thought. And while this "book" (for lack of a better word) fits that description of a mindless read, Urban Gothic is the worst thing I have read in a very long time. It is a paperback version of Saw I-VI. The plot was nonexistent(6 people walk in a house and all but one dies is not a plot), there were no redeeming characters and the story isn't even that scary/creepy. I don't know where this mi...more

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Aug 29, 2010 D. rated it 3 of 5 stars

I used to really like Keene, but after Dark Hollow he seems to have partially lost it (this is based on Ghost Walk and Urban Gothic, Kill Whitey was pretty cool). I didn't care for any of the characters in the book at all, but reading about them being chased and ripped apart by an inbred cannibal family in various ways was fun. Don't expect much story and/or character development, but for what it is the book isn't bad at all.

Oh yeah, Even though this wasn't his worst in this respect (Dead Sea wa...more

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Aug 17, 2009 Terry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Keene goes splatterpunk in his latest entry. Three teenaged couples find themselves stranded after a rap concert with their car dying in the wrong part of Philadelphia. After a run-in with some of the locals ends with the n-word, the teens run for their lives eventually finding shelter in an old Victorian home – which despite its decrepit appearance, is not deserted.

Urban Gothic would be a conventional take on Texas Chainsaw Massacre if not for the unique setting and Keene’s penchant for weaving...more

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Mar 19, 2010 L added it

Shelves: horror

Great title! It grabbed me but the book didn't. I had hoped it would have wonderful characters (or at least adequate) and would scare me. Instead, the characters are rather empty-headed teens (if only I'd known!) and instead of fear I found myself nauseated. If you go for descriptions of disgusting monsters and mayhem, blood and spit and s&it, and stinks, this might be the book for you. It wasn't for me. Life is too short. Great blurbs and he's won an award; I was so, so disappointed. No sta...more

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title link	preview: Urban Gothic
avg rating	preview: Urban Gothic Goodreads rating: 3.62 (1167 ratings)
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Urban Gothic

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