Son of a Bitch

by Wrath James White, Andre Duza

Demitrius is a son of a bitch. He breeds vicious dogs for drug-dealers and dog-fighters. But one dog came out very wrong. It is less an animal and more a beast from the depths of hell. This creature perfectly suits Warlock, a local hitman, for a unique purpose. He wants a dog for a special murder but it goes terribly wrong. The hitman's conscience ends up trapped in the demon dog's body and the two begin to merge into one will hunt the town and exact vengeance upon all those that cursed it to this fate worse than death. Andre Duza and Wrath James White present an urban horror novel of revenge, sex, and the beast that is within us all.

Genres: Horror, Bizarro Fiction, Splatterpunk, Fiction, Ebooks

87 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2012

About the author

Wrath James White is a badass motherfucker who writes baddasss books for other badass motherfuckers. He is a J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award nominee with over two dozen books in print.

Wrath is the author of RABBIT HUNT, THE BUG COLLECTOR, and such extreme horror classics as THE RESURRECTIONIST (now a major motion picture titled "Come Back To Me") SUCCULENT PREY, it's sequel PREY DRIVE, 400 DAYS OF OPPRESSION, and many others.

To follow his Substack, purchase books, get the latest updates about upcoming releases, signed books, merchandise, and more, go to:

https://linktr.ee/wrathjameswhite

Reviews

[Eric Guignard · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEWED: Son of a Bitch
WRITTEN BY: Wrath James White and Andre Duza
PUBLISHED: July, 2012

Intense, foul-mouthed, hard-punching, and wild, this story really is about the son of a bitch. The descriptively-named character is born half demon/ half canine, splitting his dog mother open at birth. Fused with Cuban black magic and the spirit of a local hitman, Warlock, the dog/ monster, goes on a murderous rampage, followed by the hood, Demitrius, who breeds dogs and is witness to the dog joining with Warlock’s soul.

Consider the dog/monster has similarities to a werewolf, albeit one that evolves and is seeking revenge. This is a quick read, at times funny and at times seething with violence. I never felt connected with any of the characters, but the plot kept me hooked all the way through. Lots of action and gore, and the ending was perfect. Good to read when you need to blow off some steam or suspect your family pooch might be hiding something malicious.

Four out of Five stars

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of Son Of A Bitch from Deadite Press and was instantly intrigued because when it comes to splatterpunk Wrath James White is a legend and then you have Andre Duza who is a bizarro author. I had high hopes for this one just from the blurb alone. Anyone who reads either of these genres needs to buy this book.

The book itself is a mere 86 pages long but it wastes no time throwing you into the action. As you would expect the story is a well done bizarro/splatterpunk novella that should come with some kind of warning. For those that have weak stomachs or have an issue with books filled with gore and violence this isn't the book for you.

Wrath and Duza know what their readers want and they deliver. You have a well written story about a hitman's soul stuck inside the body of A demon dog. That is where the story really picks up and while you have Wrath's gore and blood pouring from the pages it also has a great deal of humor. In order to appreciate it you have to have a sick sense of humor but there is still parts of Son Of A Bitch you can't help but laugh at.

If you're a fan of bizarro and splatterpunk this is something you should pick up. For those that aren't and are a bit curious then by all means check it out but don't give it a one star review because you have a weak stomach or were offended.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

I'm quite a fan of Wrath James White, even when he slightly misses the mark I usually still enjoy his work. I still enjoyed parts of this book but for me it was very clear that two authors wrote it. The story therefore felt really clunky with the different writing styles, they simply didn't gel.

Another issue was the humour used in the book, it just didn't work, at all! One particular reason I enjoy reading WJW is that he uses his work as a social commentary on the world around him, this was very much missing from this book and it was all the poorer for it.

Disappointing read but I remain a fan of WJWs work, I'll be sticking to his solo efforts for a while.

[Corrina Morse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a crazy, fantastic read!
Demons, possession, gangsters, an all powerful Cuban granny, satanic rituals, murder, mayhem and a shit ton of blood and gore!
I was hooked from the get go, and the insanity didnt let up one bit!!
Loved it!!

[Jay V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It had a way out concept but kept you wanting more. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys horror, gory and far out concepts.

[James Meeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited forever for this one! And really the wait was well worth it. Sideshow puts outs quality product after quality product and their limited edition are a thing to behold. So onto the show...

And damn what a fine show it is! Picture your favorite creature feature dripped as black ink on white paper that ends up leaving a joyride of fiction. Some demented Euro sleaze tinged with American Grindhouse ethos and what you got is Son of a Bitch!

After having read it, like Wrath's other collaborations, I find it hard to tell that two authors wrote this book. Sure it's filled to the brim with Wrath's usual visceral writing and Duza's bizarre ideas and prose. But again these two mesh so well together and I hope they'll get together and do another one simply because Wrath's last few books have been extremely depressing and this sucka' was nothing but fun. Don't get me wrong, I buy Wrath's books just for that. I want to be shocked, I want to feel crappy, but sometimes damnit! I wanna laugh.

And I'll tell you the ending of this one had me laughing 'till the tears flowed!

The blurb for the book tells you enough, Demetrius breeds dogs, he sells them and occasionally loans them out to a hitman named Warlock. After getting back his dog Sheba from a group of Cubans who practice Black Magic his poor dog gives birth to "some" creature...well, shit hits the fan and Warlock's soul/mind gets trapped in the creature. Now it's up to Demetrius to get a new body and get Warlock out!

Like I mentioned above this one plays out, at least for me, like a good ol' fashioned 80's horror film. You get creatures, gore, uber-violence, humor, titties!!, dumb cops, metamorphosis, black magic, drugs...holy shit! Doesn't this sound like the best thing ever!

And it is!!

A great roller coaster of a ride novella, fast, brutal, funny and worth every penny for an awesomely put together limited edition, full of all the above plus some great black and white art by Tom Morran. I can only imagine how sweet the deluxe edition will look.

If you've never read either writer this is a perfect place to jump in. But be warned you'll be hooked and you might as well hand over next weeks paycheck to get their back catalogues.

So if you haven't smacked down the bucks for this book, you'd better hurry the hell up as the print run is limited to a 100 copies and the deluxe gets only 40.

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dog breeder finds himself in an odd position when the local voodoo people have sex with one of his pooches, and it gives birth to a monster. And that's how his nightmare begins. To say nothing of the hitman who suddenly becomes one with the monster and starts morphing into something even deadlier. This is a short book, but it packs a wallop. Not surprising, considering White and Duza are quite literally fighters. Putting the two of them together was an idea made in hell, and it pays off big time. Those with weak stomachs need not apply.

[Todd Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Son of a Bitch ranks among the best novellas I've ever read. It's the best since Jack Ketchum's The Crossings! It's in the class of John Skipp's Conscience and Stephen King's Life of Chuck.
Brutal, perverse, lightning paced prose with a story that moves like a rapid fire machine gun. That's what you want in a novella! Something short where every word propels a story you can't wait to read.

[Phil Zimmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a silly tale of a dog that gives birth to a dog/human/demon hybrid.

WJW is clearly having fun here. Not a lot of staying power though.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The concept was so cool and gory.

[Sheldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aw, who's a cute wittle puppy? Who's a coot wittew puppy? Who's a...AH! AH! AH!

Son of a Bitch is a collaborative work by Andre Duza and Wrath James White and recently published by Deadite Press, the horror imprint of Eraserhead Press. The story is simple: A creature who is part demon and part dog is born and wreaks havoc, particularly after it is possessed by the soul of a hitman. The book is bloody and gory, nearly to excess, but it is a horror novel, so as long as don't mind huge amounts of blood, guts, and violence in the book's short run, you'll know what you're getting.

The characters are well-developed, or at least as well developed as you can expect with such a short novel, so they're developed about as much as they need to be. We learn what we need to know during the course of the book, including the basic personalities, the motivations, etc. The characters are simple in this regard, but not unbelievable, especially given the short time we're given to know them, kind of like meeting someone at a party and you get to know them but not in any deep sense. The story is sound, even if it follows a very typical structure, with plot points placed at almost exactly the right spots. It works, even if it would have been nice to have a little more innovation.

The overall feel of the book is hard to describe, which is part of the problem. While officially a horror novel, something I don't dispute, it has more of an “Evil Dead” feel where it's tempered by a dark humor. Therein lies the central problem with this novel. It takes a little too much of an “Evil Dead” approach, and not always successfully. This requires some explanation.

When mixing humor into any genre other than a comic novel, but especially in a horror novel, the jokes can get taken in one of three ways. The first is that the audience gets the joke and laughs with you at the right time. This happens a few times in this novel, so kudos to the authors there.

The second is when the joke goes over the audience's head. They simply don't get it and only a few audience member will get the joke. Not an ideal situation, but not exactly the end of the world. The story simply moves on without acknowledgment of the attempted humor.

The third way a joke can be taken is one that should be avoided at all costs. This is when the audience gets the joke, or the attempt at a joke, but doesn't find it funny. In stand-up comedy, this would be the typical “groaner” or even a “boo.” This only works if completely intentional and followed by a joke that acknowledges how bad the last one was.

Unfortunately, in literature, you don't usually get such a followup as it's generally ineffective. And sadly, there's a few times this happens in Son of a Bitch. In a few places, the reader realizes that the situation is absurd or there's an attempt at a joke, but it falls flat, mostly with the juxtaposition of the serious and violent situation the characters find themselves in. While I can respect the heavy risk the authors took with this approach, I also can't ignore when they missed the mark.

The reader should also be warned that the book has a heavily “urban” feel to it (you probably know what I mean, but if you don't, I'm referring to racial stereotypes). If you're uncomfortable with racial epithets or references, this book is probably not going to sit well with you, even if you've got a generalized sense of humor, and I point this out because of certain sensitivities that I've witnessed in society. I, for one, didn't mind and felt that it added character to the novel while at the same time acknowledging those stereotypes and ridiculing them in the process. The dialogue itself is a bit striking, but you get used to it. Like “Pulp Fiction,” it's mostly reminding us that this book is not about nice people. Pretty much every character is not someone you would want to have anything to do with in real life, from Demetrius, the dog breeder who breeds dogs mostly for fighting, or the hitman Warlock. Whether this book actually makes you like the bad guys is questionable as they really aren't likable and Demetrius is only barely redeemable. But in this context, they have a strange way of working. Up to a point.

Son of a Bitch is not going to be for everyone, but what it does, it generally does well. At the same time, it misses the mark a few times with the humor enough to border on an identity crisis, whether it should be funny or a horror novel, or if the jokes are simply in poor taste. The characters are developed mostly for the purposes of the story, but anything outside the context of the story tends to be lost and remain mostly unacknowledged.

Son of a Bitch by Andre Duza and Wrath James White earns 3 cuddly attack puppies out of 5.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Demitrius breeds dogs – dangerous dogs for dangerous people. These are not yappy little dogs or show dogs. What the people use the dogs for after they are sold is of no interest to him. His problems start when he gets a pang of conscience after hearing that a dog he sold to a Cuban family, Sheba, is being used in some kind of demonic ritual. He arrives at the scene just as the priest has finished having his way with the dog in front of his fellow acolytes. He brings the dog back after rescuing her at gunpoint. Then things get bad.

The book begins with Sheba being torn open from the inside by the dog/human/baboon looking demon hybrid that has gestated following the rape of the dog. It is a brutal and graphic opening and very much sets the tone for the rest of the story.

Demitrius is unsure what to do with the vicious and blood thirsty dog. Then we meet Warlock, a gang land assassin who regularly uses his dogs for jobs. He agrees to rent the dog to Warlock. After a string of gangland hits, Warlock ends up on the wrong side of the dog demon who eats his heart and Warlock finds himself possessing the body of the dog hybrid.

The rest of the bloody ride of a story is Demetrius and Warlock in his new form trying to find a new body, so that the Cuban grandmother who wields the black magic power can transfer him into it before it’s too late. As time goes by, the demon consciousness takes greater control, which could leave Warlock trapped inside forever.

The plot is pretty straightforward after this point with Warlock on the run from the police and trying to meet up with the others for the ritual. There is a lot of gore and swearing on the way. This all builds to a climactic stand off at a battered women’s home.

Overall it’s a quick read you can probably get through in a sitting or so, at about 100 pages. It’s an interesting premise, a bizarre concept, and a good ride, but don’t expect too much depth. The focus is more on the action and kills rather than any particular scares. All the characters are pretty loathsome and nasty pieces of work so you don’t feel for any of them and their fates, apart from Demitrius a little. The way the story concludes made me smile, and it was a great ending. It’s a fun story but you won’t be thinking about it after you’ve finished. A final note – one thing I’ve noticed about pretty much all Deadite Press books is that they have stellar book covers.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book is definitely eye catching and outrageous and the story inside lives up to these expectations.

Son of a Bitch is the story of Demetrius, a dog breeder, who routinely breeds dogs for drug dealers and dog fighters. This time however Demetrius sold one of his dogs to the wrong family. Through some black magic and bad luck a monster is born; half demon, half dog all vicious killing machine. After several mishaps the soul of a cold blooded hit-man is transferred into the monster and trapped inside. Violence, chaos, and a killing spree are born from this union and Demetrius must race to fix is mistakes before it is too late.

This book was a fast read and once I started I could not put it down. The writing team of White and Duza definitely hits one out of the park with this novel. Fast paced prose, great description, and an outrageous story line make this a book horror fans will not want to miss. Enjoy this new tale from some of the best in the hardcore horror business.

I received a copy of this book for free in e-book format in return for an honest review.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book from deadite press in exchange for a review. I was excited to see it in my mail box since I am a big fan of wrath James white and had been watching for a good price on it for a little while now. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the story much, I have never read anything from the co author but his writing stood out plain as day and there was no wondering who wrote what parts, the biggest flaw in my eyes was the completely off humor. I could tell when I was supposed to laugh or at least chuckle, but I didn't. Mostly the book was dumb, and nothing in it really made any sense to me. It is the kind of book that you have to just shut your brain off and roll with it to enjoy. Furthermore it never touched on any important issues the way I expect from wrath.

[Douglas Castagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting foray into the world of Bizarro Fiction for the amazing Wrath James White. If you have not read anything by him before, be warned, his work is elegant in an extremely graphic way. Andre Duza seems to keep up with the gore, and gross out levels that build to new heights. The book itself has a disclaimer of NC17. while I don't agree with that, I do agree you need a stomach of steel to read this one.

[Ben Arzate · Rating 4 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW HERE

If you want an entertaining book that reads like an urban Dead Alive-esque horror comedy, you should definitely pick up Son of a Bitch.

[Glinda Harrison]

I am not sure I actually want to read this (the dog fighting part), but the cover is amazing!

[Joseph Patchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review is born at lurid-lit.com.