You'll Think Twice bout Getting a New Tat!

INK by Damien Walters Grintalis (2012 Samhain Publishing / 300 pp / tp & eBook)
After his wife leaves him, Jason is persuaded to celebrate his new-found freedom by getting a tattoo. He eventually agrees, and shows up at a mysterious tattoo parlor run by a man Jason had met at a local bar. 'Sailor' (whose business card reads "John S. Iblis, Tattoo Artist") gives Jason an amazingly realistic tattoo of a griffin, and for a fantastic price. His friends and co-workers are envious of the artwork and glad that his sour marriage has finally ended.
Jason soon hooks up with Mitch, a cute blonde woman who also has a griffin tat (although not as detailed as his) and his life seems to be on an upswing. But Jason wakes one morning and finds parts of a dead cat on his porch. He thinks it's the work of the weird kid across the street. More cat parts show up and eventually a neighbor's dog. Jason's also experiencing odd things with his new tattoo: it begins to cause intense pain, and sometimes late at night he wakes to find the tat missing. When he wakes another morning to find his ex-wife's severed hand on his front doormat, Jason realizes his tattoo may have been a bit more than he bargained for.
INK is another entry in the old "sold-his-soul-to-the-Devil" subgenre, but Grintalis' sharp prose and couple of nifty twists gives things a fresh spin. Jason's final confrontation with both Sailor and his living tattoo bring the tale into dark fantasy territory, but at its heart, INK is a solid horror novel and a fine debut from a promising new author.