Adrian Collins's Blog, page 13

EXCLUSIVE: Cover reveal for The Scour by Richard Swan

The Empire of the Wolf trilogy (The Justice of Kings, The Tyranny of Faith, and The Trials of Empire) is one of my absolute favourite dark fantasy trilogies, so when author Richard Swan agreed to publish The Scour as part of our 2025 novella releases, I nearly passed out with excitement. Once I’d read the novella–it’s absolutely fucking awesome, just quietly–I knew I had to throw the kitchen sink at the cover.

The Scour by Richard Swan

Collaborating with Richard on this cover was an absolute world of fun. And when you get to work with an artist like Rene Aigner and the titan that is Shawn King, you know something amazing is going to come out the other side.

This brilliant creative duo did not disappoint.

And so, without further ado, I give you the cover for one of the most anticipated dark fantasy releases of 2025!

About The Scour

Fifteen years before the events of The Justice of Kings, Vonvalt and Bressinger investigate the imprisonment of a fellow justice for murder.

Pre-order The Scour

The Scour by Richard Swan is currently available for pre-order in ebook, but will also be released in hardcover, paperback, and signed special edition. Pre-order below.

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REVIEW: The Gilded Crown by Marianne Gordon

Do you have a bookish friend whom you are sure you would like the recommendations from? Luckily for me, as part of the Grimdark Magazine review team, I have many like-minded friends with excellent reading suggestions. Through one of their recommendations, I picked up The Gilded Crown, a debut dark fantasy novel by Marianne Gordon. The first in a duology, The Gilded Crown is the story of a woman called Hellevir and her rare magical ability. Hellevir can raise the dead.

When Hellevir first visits Death, she is ten years old. She doesn’t initially realise that for every soul she brings back from Death, she has to pay a price. A piece of her body. A piece of her soul. When she is an adult, influential people discover her skill, and she finds herself trapped. Hellevir is charged with protecting Princess Sullivain and must bring her back from the dead no matter the cost. If she refuses or fails, the Queen will have everyone she cares for killed. As the resurrections continue, the price Hellevir pays increases; Death will always take what he is due.

I went into The Gilded Crown fairly blind to the plot, armed only with the knowledge that I trusted the friend who said I’d enjoy it. They were right, The Gilded Crown is a good dark fantasy, set in a richly complex world, and it will appeal to readers who enjoy those sorts of novels. Many political and religious machinations are at play, of which Hellevir is not a central piece. Her anxiety about navigating this complicated and dangerous world as a pawn in this larger game that she doesn’t fully understand is incredibly relatable. Religion, particularly religious oppression, and parental alienation are significant themes in The Gilded Crown, which will resonate differently for readers depending on their experiences.

Most of the darkness in The Gilded Crown comes from the fact that the magic in the novel is death magic. The reader should expect a lot of death. Some more poignant than others. Some very violent. It makes you question life’s value. If Princess Sullivain knows she will be resurrected, how much value does she place on her life? Is her life more valuable because her death will trigger a war? What makes her more worthy of another chance than a poor child or a stray cat? Hellevir wrestles with all these issues and her attraction to Sullivain, even though Sullivain is not particularly likable. Hellevir does seem to have a strange fascination with powerful beings who pay her attention – the character also has powerful chemistry with Death. However, this is nowhere close to a romantic attachment. I will also make abundantly clear that anyone trying to slap a romantasy label on The Gilded Crown is wrong. Besides a small amount of confused attraction, there’s no romantic subplot at work in the novel. It is a story of anxious, somewhat toxic people, in a dangerous world, trying not to mess it up even more. Not a love story. Not even close.

As the first in a duology, The Gilded Crown sets up nicely for the next novel. It is quite pleasant to feel, when I start The Antlered King, that I’m ready for a conclusion to everything. The fantasy world is full of trilogies and longer series, which are great, but two books for a finished arc gives a chance for deeper world-building than a standalone novel, without the long-term reading commitment of a bigger series. As a dark fantasy, The Gilded Crown worked for me. I liked Hellevir as a flawed central character, and Gordon’s writing interested me in her journey. I also enjoyed the other relationships in the story – Hellevir’s family dynamic, how she tries to maintain those relationships despite being iced out by a parent, and the bond with her brother were stand-out moments for me as good parts of the story, which weren’t the death magic.

The Gilded Crown’s satisfying ending left me with some theories about where the threads will go in the next novel. I look forward to continuing with the final book, The Antlered King, shortly. Thank you both to Marianne Gordon and the team at Harper Voyager for sending us a copy.

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REVIEW: Paradise

Paradise is a 2025 political thriller that shockingly diverts into a science fiction one after the first episode. It’s one of those things that is best experienced without spoilers so if you want to enjoy Paradise in the best manner possible, you should go and watch it without reading any further. It’s a good series. There are some flaws but it is a solid and serious take on the subjects it tackles. It also has a truly spectacular seventh episode. That’s about as much as I can say about the series without spoiling anything.

You ready for more?

Okay then.

The premise for Paradise is that Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) is the head of the United States Secret Service, protecting the President of the United States, Cal Bradford (James Marsden). Cal is assassinated and there’s a severe question of how the Secret Service could fail so utterly. A lot of allusion is made to things having gone horribly wrong as well as a once close friendship between the two that went horribly wrong. At the end of the first episode, we finally find at least one of those secrets out.

You ready?

No take backs.

Specifically, the secret is that the two are living in a massive underground city and the rest of the world has been destroyed in some sort of unnamed catastrophe. The disaster was successfully predicted by a billionaire tech mogul, Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond (Julianne Nicholson) who used both her and their government’s resources to make a luxury bunker to ride out the apocalypse.

Paradise basically takes the premise of Fallout and proceeds to do it completely straight. If I had to make a comparison, I’d say it’s what happens if you combine Fallout with Lost. Every character is carrying immense survivor’s guilt as well as dealing with a variety of tragic backstories. America was not in its best shape even before the apocalypse and what happened to the surface world is another driving mystery. We get a decent set of answers to most of the pressing questions but, like all good writing, adds more questions.

Sterling K. Brown does a fantastic job at making a lead that isn’t necessarily the most likable individual. His wife didn’t make it down to the bunker in time for it to be shut and his hatred for both the President he’s sworn to protect is only matched for his own. The fact his kids depend on him to provide a semblance of a normal life and the remainder of what qualifies as military force/security in the 10,000 person community falls under him doesn’t relieve his stress. James Marsden also gets to show off his acting chops as Cal is a somewhat Bill Clinton-esque figure who has his vices but was, ultimately, a good man in a horrifying situation. Much of the series deals with flashbacks to his tenure as President as well as setting up his life in the bunker.

If the episode has a highlight and lowest point, it will be the seventh and eighth episodes. The seventh episode finally provides concrete answers as to what happened during the End of the World and how everyone responded to it. It is well-written, dramatic, and even genuinely horrifying at times. Some of the best television I’ve seen in the past decade. The eighth episode, sadly, provides a thoroughly unsatisfying answer to the President’s murder.

Paradise has a lot of themes of class consciousness, environmentalism, wealth inequality, government corruption, corporate malfeseance, and more but they’re all very subtle. All of the survivors in the bunker are the “lucky ones” that get to live in a climate controlled Rockwellian community while the rest of humanity has gone extinct (maybe). However, society is set up so there’s still people who clean the toilets, pour coffee, and serve an elite that doesn’t make any sense to have anymore.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend this series. It’s some of the best science fiction I’ve seen in years and certainly deserves to have many more people talking about it than I’ve seen. I was a bit disappointed by the final episode but absolutely want to see another season of this if not several more.

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REVIEW: I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde

Like all great horror authors, the messages of Rae Wilde’s books work for both a specific and a universal audience. From her triumphant revenge tale Merciless Waters through to her resplendently incel-baiting-titled collection I Do Not Apologize for My Position on Men, Wilde has developed, through her queer horror, an unapologetic, raw, feminism which examines the freedom that comes with being allowed to be imperfect. But Wilde’s work has also covered universal themes of rage and love and self-hatred. Nowhere is this more true than her latest effort, I Can Fix Her, out from Clash Books June 3, a literary horror time-travel lens into a toxic queer relationship trapped in a grim space-time purgatory that also functions as a trauma-hallucinogen thought experiment for anyone, queer or not, who’s wasted part of their life trying to love or be loved in a relationship that all your friends know is inexplicable masochism. This one really fucked me up, and I love it deeply for that.

It begins with Johnny spotting her ex-girlfriend, Alice, at the local café, complete with a sense of déjà vu. Angry about their break-up, she’s compelled to give her ex a second chance and soon she’s back at Alice’s apartment. What happens next is a week, all spent in the apartment, where it quickly becomes clear that nothing is what it seems, reality is not behaving normally, and Johnny’s goal of changing the toxic cycle that drives their relationship will be harder to achieve than she realised.

I don’t know if I’ve given that plot justice, but rest assured, I Can Fix Her is not just two people talking about their relationship for a week, although given Wilde’s sublime prose and dialogue I’d still read that book in a shot. Rather, it’s a perverse cyclone of fever nightmare logic, symbolic imagery whose cleverness won’t become apparent until you’ve read the denouement, ultra visceral gore, and a descent into cosmic madness. I imagined much of it like the scene from the film Inception where dream logic is introduced and buildings arch into the sky at impossible angles, complete with Hans Zimmer horns blaring out the sapphic chain of self destruction.

But if that sounds too abstract, be assured there’s a distinct theme tunnelling its way through I Can Fix Her like a possessed tapeworm: how one person in a relationship can hammer their head against the other, desperate to change them, unwilling to see their own self-hatred, unwilling to accept that the only change is to leave. Wilde has ruthlessly identified how pathological this form of relationship is; how perverse it can be; how it turns love into this violent, self-immolating thing that defies sense. If you know you know, and this book’s coming for you. That said, it’s a mistake to make it too universal and forget this is a sapphic relationship. These women are fucking up in plain sight—that’s the point. Queer women will see further angles than I as Captain Straight of the USS Man did. Nonetheless, this book captured my past sins more than anything I’ve read for a while, regardless of the author’s intent.

And then there’s the denouement, which ties things up narratively and thematically. As much as I loved what prefaced it, I needed this ending—a cold, clear-eyed, heartbreaking counterpoint to the abstract madness before it, pitch-perfect dialogue encapsulating the cyclical inevitability of our toxic delusions. It’s a brilliant ending—if anyone accuses this book of being confusing, then they fell asleep before this. It introduces the idea, perhaps even more revelatory than the themes discussed earlier, of the divisibility of the self; how you can watch yourself from afar, knowing what you’re doing is wrong even as you’re compelled to do it. How one day, your future self will wonder if that was ever really you who fucked up so badly. Is it hopeful? Is it depressing? Who knows—maybe that’s the point.

Overall, with I Can Fix Her, Rae Wilde has taken risks and absolutely no prisoners. If you’ve ever been in a relationship where you’re both bad for each other, then this nightmarish groundhog day of surreal narrative genius is coming for your jugular and trust me—you need to bleed.

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REVIEW: Behooved by M. Stevenson

Behooved by M. Stevenson takes a time-worn trope – arranged political marriage – and twists it in this charming and quirky subverted fairytale, perfect for readers who like their grimdark so light that it almost isn’t grimdark at all!

Bianca is the second daughter of House Liliana, one of the few ruling houses of Damaria. When the threat of war from the neighbouring kingdom of Gildenheim arrives in the form of a treaty, requesting the marriage of Bianca to Prince Aric, the heir-apparent, (and rumoured murderer of the Queen) Bianca must put her duty first. After an assassination attempt on Bianca and Aric’s wedding night goes awry, Aric is magically transformed into a horse, and Bianca is now the prime suspect of a supposed regicide. So what does she do? She mounts her husband and rides off to safety, of course! At the setting sun, Aric returns to human form, and both husband and wife discover that the assassination attempt is actually part of a much larger plot against the throne. Tensions rise and feelings grow, while the fate of the kingdom rides on Bianca and Aric’s ability to unravel the curse and protect the throne.

Grimdark readers – be warned! Whilst the synopsis does highlight a few themes that you would typically find in many grimdark stories: wars, assassinations, murder; it is exceptionally light in its execution. Behooved does not take itself seriously at all, pottered with all the best horse puns you could think of, and hand in hand with the type of hyperbolic scenes you’d often find in children’s fairytales. Honestly, it was almost a breath of fresh air!

The bulk of the story focuses on the budding romance between Bianca and Aric, framed with each of their humorous personalities. The characters subvert typical fairytale norms; with Bianca being the protector, experienced with a sword, whilst Aric favours the comforts of a book, and questions whether he is truly made for the throne. This refreshing take is coupled with the fact that Bianca also suffers from a chronic illness, which is not at the forefront of her character at all, and is simply just something that she deals with. Alongside the queer-normative setting of the magical world, it was a nice change from the normal societal expectations that often frames typical fairytales.

My major qualm with this book was that the reveal of the attempted murder plot was too simple, and lacked in fulfilling the potential it had to build up a really elaborate scheme to overthrow the throne. It almost felt like an epilogue was missing, which could have gone into more detail regarding the assassination attempt and subsequent coup. I also wished that the magic system had been explored more.

For those looking for a truly grimdark-esque fairytale, you won’t find it here. However, if you’re looking for something light and fun, it would simply behoove you to pick this up!

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EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Polansky to return to Low Town in new novella

Daniel Polansky’s stories and characters are right in the sweet spot of the grimdark fanbase. Grit, snark, pitch darkness, amazing characters, brutal stories, black humour, badassery, betrayal, weakness, exploitation, strength … I could go on and on about the kind of awesomeness Polansky brings to the page.

Last year I finally got off my arse and started reading The Straight Razor Cure. It was so completely unputdownable I that I finished the trilogy (Tomorrow, the Killing and She Who Waits) later that year and rolled on straight into A Drink Before we Die.

When I was looking at possible novella authors for our 2026 catalogue, Polansky naturally came straight to mind—especially when you consider his absolute mastery of the novella format evident in The Builders. Knowing that he had expressed zero interest previously in returning to Low Town, I said that I’d be pretty much interested in whatever he felt like writing.

Much to my surprise, and I hope to the celebration of Low Town fans, Polansky said he felt like he had a Low Town story that needed to be told.

In July of 2026, Grimdark Magazine will be publishing a yet-to-be-named novella by Daniel Polansky set in the Low Town world, with a worldwide English rights deal in print, ebook, and audio.

When I asked Polansky about returning to Low Town, he said:

“ I never, ever, ever, had the slightest inclination to return to the world of Low Town. I am uneasy with sequels and dislike franchises. I get bored easily; the fun of a new project is figuring out the voice and structure, and once that’s been determined, much of the fun is lost. Then one day it occurred to me there was a way to do a Low Town book which would feel fresh to write (and hopefully to read) and still indulge some of my half-forgotten low-fantasy chops. By happy coincidence, Adrian reached out to me not that long afterward, and here we are.”

We’ll have plenty more updates to come in the following months. I can’t wait to get back into Low Town, just as much as a publisher as a rabid fan of those books.

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REVIEW: You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca

Eric LaRocca’s You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood is a dark and moody book about a serial killer, his collected writings, and his relationship with others and himself. A story-within-a-story, told through different documents, is not new to the horror genre, but LaRocca handles it in such a way that makes its blood-soaked, nigh cosmic horror-style tale such an awesome read.

You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood shows us Martyr Black and his partner Ambrose Thorne, two people in toxic relationships with not only each other, but also with each others’ obsession with violence. Told through poems, transcriptions, and stories written by Martyr himself, You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood is also the titular title of a novella written by Martyr about Tamsen and Presley, a game designer and her little brother sent to a mysterious mansion to work on a game created by the equally mysterious Abbus Zimpago.

LaRocca’s writing is ethereal, even when describing horrific bloodbaths and eerie confessions to murder. You feel a level of otherworldliness from his writing, right down to the sentence level. It’s an atmospheric ride that will stay with you long after you put the book down.

The non-novella parts feel like profiles of the man as we get his thoughts, his mores, and his feelings towards his partner Ambrose and their shared crimes. You feel what he feels, see how he sees the world. Ambrose feels like the perfect foil for Martyr, someone who both understands and challenges him at every step. Occasionally, you may forget these two are murderers while they have arguments about philosophy or morality. You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood, for all of its violence and musings on death, is a story about relationships with those closest to us. This relationship plays out between Presley and Tamsen in the novella portion; Tamsen has her own troubles with taking care of her kid brother while also trying to have a life for herself. It’s fascinating to see the novella holding up a mirror to the character writing it.

While a short read, You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood packs a lot in its pages. The horror takes its time to reveal itself, and it exists under the surface for most of the book, but when it hits, it hits hard. The book itself seems like its drenched in blood: the madness that Tamsen walks into, and the madness that Martyr engages in, saturate each sentence.

What I do wish had been included in the book was more about Martyr from another character’s perspective. We get everything from Martyr’s view, and can only really view him as “serial killer”. So much of it is metaphorical, or biased based on the narrator’s views of things.  Ambrose is certainly a character who knows Martyr the best, so having a viewpoint from him would’ve helped things along at getting the audience to understand Martyr better. It would’ve been interesting to get Ambrose’s take on his significant other and the crimes they commit.

I also think the novella portion of You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood could’ve connected more with the narrative of Martyr Black. There’s a twist regarding the novella and the writer, but I wish it connected a bit more to serve as a reflection of the person writing it.

You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood is a fascinating look into the mind of a serial killer that builds and builds until it unleashes a wave of horrific violence and blood upon the reader. I’ve been a fan of LaRocca’s for a few years now, so it was delightful to find this little book, its insides dripping with blood and fear.

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REVIEW: The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Following its original publication in 2014, The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey quickly became my favorite zombie book, an expertly crafted post-apocalyptic thriller that ponders what it means to be human while delivering a steady onslaught of undead action. Upon revisiting the novel this month, my respect for The Girl with All the Gifts has grown to even greater heights with a newfound appreciation of the emotional depth in M.R. Carey’s character work.

The Girl with All the Gifts takes place in a post-apocalyptic Britian twenty years following a mass fungal infection that turns humans into zombies, known in the book as “hungries” for their insatiable hunger for devouring human flesh. The infection is extremely contagious, spreading through contact with bodily fluids or airborne spores. Unfortunately, there is no known cure.

As the novel opens, a group of military scientists are researching a potential cure by studying a new generation of zombie children who show notable human-like qualities. One of these children, ten-year-old Melanie, shows remarkable intelligence and perhaps even a capacity for human emotions. As the star student in her class of zombie children, Melanie forms a special bond with her teacher, Miss Justineau, who becomes something of a surrogate mother for her.

The Girl with All the Gifts explores the meaning of humanity in a world where humans are at the brink of extinction. While most fungal-infected hungries no longer have functional human brains, this second generation represented by Melanie and her classmates displays human intelligence, creativity, emotions, and possibly even self-determination. Do these traits qualify the children as human? Or are they, perhaps, the next leap forward in the evolution of our species?

The thematic depth of The Girl with All the Gifts pairs perfectly with M.R. Carey’s emotionally complex character work. The relationship between Melanie and Miss Justineau is particularly well done, leading up to M.R. Carey’s emotional gut-punch of an ending.

M.R. Carey’s novel was also adapted into a 2016 film of the same name directed by Colm McCarthy and starring Gemma Arteron, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, and Sennia Nanua. The film is a faithful adaptation of the novel, which is not surprising since M.R. Carey also wrote the movie’s screenplay. The actors’ performances are outstanding across the board, and the zombie-strewn post-apocalyptic setting is especially well done given the modest budget for the film.

Altogether, The Girl with All the Gifts remains an inordinately well-written and thought-provoking read more than a decade after its original publication. In my mind, M.R. Carey’s book strikes a perfect balance between science fiction and horror and represents the pinnacle of grimdark zombie fiction. Fans of the book are also encouraged to watch the excellent 2016 movie adaptation.

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REVIEW: The Last of Us S2

After a stunning first season, how could The Last of Us S2 improve upon what has gone before, after the brutal ending it follows, and would it be able to adapt a game that is one of the most critically acclaimed of all time? The Last of Us S2 builds upon perfection and adds further depth to the post-apocalyptic world inhabited by Joel and Ellie as the pair start the season with some tension.

This is a series that deserves to be watched and enjoyed (if that is really the right word here) without any spoilers. The world of The Last of Us S2 is brutal and unforgiving and the showrunners want you to know that from the start. There’s no easing the audience in. It hits you like a golf club to the head (multiple times) and only relents to allow you a moment to breathe and appreciate the beauty in darkness before smashing you in the face again. There’s genuine peril for our protagonists as members of the WLF (Washington Liberation Front) look for revenge for Joel’s attack at the end of the last season and the infected begin to show signs of evolution that can only lead to trouble for the settlement that Joel and Ellie now call home. It’s an action-packed season with new interesting characters added to the stunning world. New factions are introduced, each with their own ideals and goals causing them to be at odds with one another as they attempt to carve out a piece of life in the hell that they now live in. Some have looked to faith and a time before technology (Seraphites) whilst others rely on the law and order of the military (WLF). Ellie is of course caught between them all and new addition Dina played brilliantly by Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus, Superman) is a standout performer as she joins Ellie on her mission across Seattle. It was also great to see the menacing Jeffrey Wright acting as the same character he voiced in the game, Isaac. I’ve loved to see the little links between game and TV characters across the two seasons and it is something that will be enjoyed by the game’s original audience.

The heavy work of the show is carried by Bella Ramsay as Ellie. Some people have moaned about her casting but her acting is incredible across the season and really carries the season forward as she manages the emotional depth of the show. The Last of Us S2 works so well because of her. The mix of rage, love, grief, loss, joy is all there with each little movement and she truly understands the character of Ellie. New to the season and playing the divisive Abby is Kaitlyn Dever. Again, her acting is mesmerising and she is someone the audience will love to both hate and pity in the story and the series only works with these two phenomenal actresses bringing their A-game. For those of us who want action along with an emotional core, there is a battle scene early on that reminded me of some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones and looking back, it is probably one of the best episodes put on a TV screen. HBO really knows how to do this stuff.

Intense, beautiful, and as gut-wrenching as the first season. The Last of Us S2 adapts one of the best games ever made and doesn’t falter. Great performances by its stars, stellar writing, and some amazing action scenes mean that you will not be disappointed by this great series.

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REVIEW: Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley

Let’s talk about movies for a second. I’m a slasher hound, and so it’s no surprise to learn that one of my favourite horror films is Scream, the game-changing slasher whodunnit, much copied, never bested. Slasher fans know that it’s not so much legendary director Wes Craven but the scriptwriter Kevin Williamson who we have to thank. Scream has been much aped since for its wink wink meta which changed the horror landscape, but Williamson knew that a great slasher mystery thrives on three things: characters you care for, kills you remember and a mystery plot with more red herrings than a bloody fishing lake. You know who else likes Scream? Brian McAuley, because Breathe In, Bleed Out, his fourth slasher, out from Poisoned Pen Press September 2, is a love letter to all the elements above that make the perfect stabby whodunnit while driving the genre forward in new ways. The master of slasher is back, and my god is he here to slay.

The setting for Breathe In, Bleed Out is a remote spiritual healing retreat in Joshua Tree, the wilderness of Southern California being, it turns out, a perfect location, up there with the more traditional cabin in the woods or campsites in terms of isolation and sense of unease. Attending this retreat, which is headed by the marvellously named potential bullshitter Guru Pax, is a group of young friends, the ostensible aim being to help our protagonist Hannah heal her trauma—her trauma being losing her fiancé on a mountain hike a year before. Seems a good plan—get in touch with your inner self—but when a killer starts taking that a little too literally, this place of healing becomes a fight for survival in the best slasher traditions, with everyone from retreat staff to friends to out-of-towners a suspect.

The first thing to note is that McAuley, for all the fun he’s having with the setting and taking the mighty piss out of the cynical mash-up of cultures (sound baths! Yoga! desert hallucinogens!) that can compose these spiritual retreats, cares for his characters—and wants you too, as well. Hannah’s tragedy and trauma is established immediately in the book’s opening chapter through a genuinely poignant (and classically tricksy) opening that roots you to her cause. Then McAuley pulls a neat trick. Her friends seem frankly awful; subtler Gen Z takes on the old slasher stereotypes—there’s the cynical boorish finance guy in place of the jock; the yoga-loving, condescending “just want to help everyone” type in place of the dumb blonde, etc. But McAuley uses the concept of a spiritual retreat—where people come to terms with their own dickishness—in a genius way to put you in their heads as they decide to be better and then, well, kill them. It’s a brutal way to make you feel for initially unlikable twenty-somethings, and a narrative masterstroke, as well as a witty commentary on the falsity of convenient self-realization.

But this is slasher, and we’re also here for the kills and the thrills. And boy, is there a better death-scribe than McAuley in horror at the moment? The kills in Breathe Out, Bleed In are art. In his afterword, he notes how he wanted to emulate Final Destination-style deaths (the Final Destination films being slashers of course, with death as Ghostface) and I think it’s safe to say he achieved this; these deaths are carefully constructed assault courses of fatality, step-by-step grim montages which are creative, deeply awful, and also entirely fitting for the characters getting killed. A kill involving a healing crystal is worth your money alone.

And then there’s the final Scream ingredient to make the perfect slasher whodunnit: the mystery itself. Almost everyone is a suspect, with plausible motives; there’s more misleading clues here then the devil’s escape room, and the reveal feels satisfying in that “should have known but also wtf” feel that defined those final twisty Scream moments. And like the best of the genre, the reveal isn’t just for kicks—it’s all part of the Final Girl’s catharsis; it’s thematically relevant, baby.

Overall, Breathe In, Bleed Out is another hit from an author who knows how to keep us horror freaks guessing, wincing, and feeling all at once. Take a deep breath then take a deep bow, because Brian McAuley wears the slasher crown.

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