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Killer Hockey Mascot
Gutsy is the new mascot of the Baltimore Brawlers, and he's a viral sensation. Big, red, and full of mischief, he's taken the world by storm. Tom Reynolds needs to pay his bills, and the job of playing Gutsy has fallen into his lap. He's deep in debt, and if playing a hockey mascot is what it takes, he'll do it. No one mentioned how playing Gutsy would change him. Or the strange feelings that persist even after he takes off the costume for the night. Or the sudden spate of brutal murders near the arena. But no job is perfect, right? And then the nightmares start. Nightmares where he's stalking people, seeing with a cursed red gaze, and filled with a terrible urge to feed an insatiable hunger. Tom quickly realizes these aren't just nightmares. He's made a connection with Gutsy, and he's watching Gutsy's late night slaughters in his sleep. Gutsy isn't just a costume. Gutsy is alive, and he must kill. Now, Tom must solve the mystery of Gutsy's origin and stop him, before the death toll rises and Gutsy grows into something unstoppable.
- GenresHorror
234 pages, Paperback
Published July 25, 2022
About the author
Robbie Dorman
19 books106 followersRobbie Dorman believes in horror. Words of Christ in Red is his seventeenth and newest novel. When he's not writing, he's making cocktails, walking his dog, or playing video games. He lives in Florida with his partner Kim, their three cats, and the best dog in the world.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 15, 2023
I’m brand new to Robbie Dorman. And there is no better feeling when you read a new author and it’s such an great experience. This was a very original horror concept, and wasn’t just kept as a typical creature feature. It created its own world and lore, with riveting leads in Tom and Shannon, and kept a great pace from start to finish. Gutsy is absolutely terrifying and I kept picturing one of the Poppy’s Playhouse creatures as I read. Dorman also has a very simple, easy to follow, and yet still crisp writing style, hitting all the right notes. Whether it was Gutsy’s victims getting slaughtered or Tom and Shannon’s emotional turmoil battling this entity, I loved it all. And somehow, as there are many wild plot points, the internal logic was sound as could be, too. I am very excited to see more from this author and encourage all horror fans to give this a look.
March 4, 2026
Sometimes when you read heavy stuff you just have to go for the playful title that grabs your attention. KILLER HOCKEY MASCOT is that book for me. With a simple plot that moves efficiently from page to page, the story follows Tom, a young guy hard-up for cash who fakes his way into a job as the guy in the suit for a hockey team, the Brawlers. Tom is just a guy outside of the arena, but in the suit he is Gutsy.
Gutsy is an angry-faced dead-eyed character who thrusts his hips at gametime, and extracts entrails at night. This story is the epitome of 80's horror in tone but doesn't lack in the playfully violent action. Robbie pens an excellent story worthy of reading the next time you want a short and punchy slasher novel. I'll be hoping quietly for Robbie Dorman to explore a sequel because Gutsy has room for further exploration.
Gutsy is an angry-faced dead-eyed character who thrusts his hips at gametime, and extracts entrails at night. This story is the epitome of 80's horror in tone but doesn't lack in the playfully violent action. Robbie pens an excellent story worthy of reading the next time you want a short and punchy slasher novel. I'll be hoping quietly for Robbie Dorman to explore a sequel because Gutsy has room for further exploration.
December 27, 2024
What are you?
Holy cow! That was a LOT better than I expected! Now don't misunderstand me, that is in no way any kind of comment towards or a pre-estimation of Robbie Dorman's talents and abilities as a writer. In fact, he has definitely placed himself squarely on my "We Need to Try S'more of That, Ya'll" list! But honestly? When you pick up a book titled "Killer Hockey Mascot" with a giant muppet-looking, well, muppet on the cover, it doesn't exactly scream "great horror!" at you. Or at least that was my opinion before reading this book! I can only assure you that I'll never be able to watch Sesame Street the same way again…
The Red existed. It wanted death.
What we get then rather than sunny days or life lessons about co-operation is a fun read that didn't waste any time getting into the gory bits nor the outright spookiness of all that transpires. Dorman makes sure to hook us into this ride as quickly as possible under, again, the most unexpected of circumstances! And yes, like our main - or co-main - protagonist Tom, I'm someone that understands little about hockey, a sport I've never really latched onto in terms of fandom. Besides, my "local" team would be the Hurricanes, a nickname that I wouldn't think lends itself to artistic inspiration for mascotdom. Hang on, better google that: oops, they do have a mascot. Stormy the Ice Hog (hey, don't knock it unless you've had the local BBQ). Interesting as well to see a picture included in its bio flying a flag with the words "Cause Chaos" on it. I'm going to assume that has somewhat of a different meaning than when Gutsy said it.
There was a well within him, so deep it could never be filled, but it needed blood.
But all kidding aside, Dorman keeps things skating along (hee hee, sorry) at a breakneck pace, making the roughly two hundred pages of actual story feel a lot longer in terms of meeting the necessary entertainment value of a short-ish book. I think it's really helped out by the fact that all of this - meaning the life of working as a mascot for the NHL and all the bits that go with that - seems entirely plausible. Plus, the HUMANS involved come across as very real people - for better or worse - so it wasn't beyond my even holiday-addled mind to put myself in their place for the events we witness. Now in terms of the more … exotic aspects of the story, well, again I don't have the foggiest about what sort of actual demonic activities take place at a hockey game.
You have no words for my origin. Only one comes close. That word is Hell.
And speaking of the weirdness Dorman calls upon once things get well past the tipping point, that stretch of details is equally entertaining and as plausible as it needed to be. Once we start communicating with The Mascot (ooh, that looks spooky, doesn't it?), it really puts things into perspective about not only what is happening in the Baltimore area but what could eventually sweep across the globe. Yeah, it would even be a lot more harmful than say an übercontagious virus with a number in its name, which wouldn't stop until we had all succumbed to its nastiness! And trust me: the vaccine against something like Gutsy and his (her?) ilk would be pretty nasty on its own!
I have harvested a dozen worlds, and I will harvest dozens more.
So, again, don't let the cover fool you at all... unless you are also like those kids that think 7-foot tall fuzzy mascots are the Devil! But for sure, this is a well-written horror book that despite a few more punctuation mistakes than I usually like to see was equally well-executed. It's very entertaining and both the aforementioned Tom as well as his mascot-mate Shannon wind up being pretty kick-ass when it comes to saving the day. Or do they? Yeah, that'll get me out of any accusations for sharing too many spoilers! Anyway, play ball! Or whatever they scream to start hockey! They do serve beer though, right? If yes, then we're good to go!
Holy cow! That was a LOT better than I expected! Now don't misunderstand me, that is in no way any kind of comment towards or a pre-estimation of Robbie Dorman's talents and abilities as a writer. In fact, he has definitely placed himself squarely on my "We Need to Try S'more of That, Ya'll" list! But honestly? When you pick up a book titled "Killer Hockey Mascot" with a giant muppet-looking, well, muppet on the cover, it doesn't exactly scream "great horror!" at you. Or at least that was my opinion before reading this book! I can only assure you that I'll never be able to watch Sesame Street the same way again…
The Red existed. It wanted death.
What we get then rather than sunny days or life lessons about co-operation is a fun read that didn't waste any time getting into the gory bits nor the outright spookiness of all that transpires. Dorman makes sure to hook us into this ride as quickly as possible under, again, the most unexpected of circumstances! And yes, like our main - or co-main - protagonist Tom, I'm someone that understands little about hockey, a sport I've never really latched onto in terms of fandom. Besides, my "local" team would be the Hurricanes, a nickname that I wouldn't think lends itself to artistic inspiration for mascotdom. Hang on, better google that: oops, they do have a mascot. Stormy the Ice Hog (hey, don't knock it unless you've had the local BBQ). Interesting as well to see a picture included in its bio flying a flag with the words "Cause Chaos" on it. I'm going to assume that has somewhat of a different meaning than when Gutsy said it.
There was a well within him, so deep it could never be filled, but it needed blood.
But all kidding aside, Dorman keeps things skating along (hee hee, sorry) at a breakneck pace, making the roughly two hundred pages of actual story feel a lot longer in terms of meeting the necessary entertainment value of a short-ish book. I think it's really helped out by the fact that all of this - meaning the life of working as a mascot for the NHL and all the bits that go with that - seems entirely plausible. Plus, the HUMANS involved come across as very real people - for better or worse - so it wasn't beyond my even holiday-addled mind to put myself in their place for the events we witness. Now in terms of the more … exotic aspects of the story, well, again I don't have the foggiest about what sort of actual demonic activities take place at a hockey game.
You have no words for my origin. Only one comes close. That word is Hell.
And speaking of the weirdness Dorman calls upon once things get well past the tipping point, that stretch of details is equally entertaining and as plausible as it needed to be. Once we start communicating with The Mascot (ooh, that looks spooky, doesn't it?), it really puts things into perspective about not only what is happening in the Baltimore area but what could eventually sweep across the globe. Yeah, it would even be a lot more harmful than say an übercontagious virus with a number in its name, which wouldn't stop until we had all succumbed to its nastiness! And trust me: the vaccine against something like Gutsy and his (her?) ilk would be pretty nasty on its own!
I have harvested a dozen worlds, and I will harvest dozens more.
So, again, don't let the cover fool you at all... unless you are also like those kids that think 7-foot tall fuzzy mascots are the Devil! But for sure, this is a well-written horror book that despite a few more punctuation mistakes than I usually like to see was equally well-executed. It's very entertaining and both the aforementioned Tom as well as his mascot-mate Shannon wind up being pretty kick-ass when it comes to saving the day. Or do they? Yeah, that'll get me out of any accusations for sharing too many spoilers! Anyway, play ball! Or whatever they scream to start hockey! They do serve beer though, right? If yes, then we're good to go!
December 17, 2023
I've read a few of Robbie Dorman's books by now, and this is definitely one of my favorites.
I love the idea behind the book. It's original and yet still feels like a classic in its own way.
It's fun because...well... It's a killer hockey mascot (need I say more?). And I love titles and books like this that are blunt in telling you what you're getting without giving it all away.
Dorman's books are always easy reads due to his smooth writing style and just enough description. This one has plenty of gore, but not to the point where it seems entirely pointless or you become numb to it all.
Overall, definitely worth the read.
I love the idea behind the book. It's original and yet still feels like a classic in its own way.
It's fun because...well... It's a killer hockey mascot (need I say more?). And I love titles and books like this that are blunt in telling you what you're getting without giving it all away.
Dorman's books are always easy reads due to his smooth writing style and just enough description. This one has plenty of gore, but not to the point where it seems entirely pointless or you become numb to it all.
Overall, definitely worth the read.
January 5, 2025
3.5/5
I don’t often dive into horror that leans intentionally silly, but when my husband sent me this hockey-inspired gritty horror on Kindle Unlimited, I couldn’t resist. It’s a fast, weird read with a lot of charm. The characters weren’t anything groundbreaking, but for a story about a killer hockey mascot, it worked! If you’re in the mood for something unique, quick, and out there, this might be worth checking out.
I don’t often dive into horror that leans intentionally silly, but when my husband sent me this hockey-inspired gritty horror on Kindle Unlimited, I couldn’t resist. It’s a fast, weird read with a lot of charm. The characters weren’t anything groundbreaking, but for a story about a killer hockey mascot, it worked! If you’re in the mood for something unique, quick, and out there, this might be worth checking out.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews