This is the first in the terrifying trilogy of novellas including KILLERS and BIRDS OF PREY by Crouch and Kilborn.
The original version of SERIAL, still available as a free ebook, was a 7500 word horror short story done as an experiment.
Remember the twin golden rules of hitchhiking?
#1: Don’t go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy.
#2: Don’t pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be certifiably crazy.
So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Crazy #2?
When Blake Crouch (DESERT PLACES, ABANDON) and Jack Kilborn (AFRAID, SHAKEN), face-off, the result is SERIAL, a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong. Like a deeply twisted version of an “After School Special,” SERIAL is the single most persuasive public service announcement on the hazards of free car rides.
Beyond a thrilling piece of horrifying suspense, SERIAL is also a groundbreaking experiment in literary collaboration. Kilborn wrote the first part. Crouch wrote the second. And they wrote the third together over email in 100-word exchanges, not aware of each other’s opening section. All bets were off, and may the best psychopath win.
F. Paul Wilson says, “SERIAL reads just like a Crouch or Kilborn novel: Full speed ahead, no flinching, no blinking, no brakes.”
In a year, SERIAL has been downloaded over 500,000 times, and has received over a hundred negative reviews, with many people claiming it is the most depraved, awful thing they've ever read.
SERIAL UNCUT is newly expanded, now more than 36,000 words. Along with the reinsertion of additional material cut from the original version, it also has a vastly expanded beginning and ending, including an extended section that originally appeared in the novellas TRUCK STOP by J.A. Konrath and BAD GIRL by Blake Crouch. This edition has been specially formatted for Kindle, with an interactive table of contents. It also features a preview of the sequel, KILLERS.
If you can handle horrific thrills, proceed at your own risk.
But if you suffer from anxiety attacks, nervous disorders, insomnia, nightmares or night terrors, heart palpitations, stomach problems, or are of an overly sensitive nature, you should read something else instead.
The authors are in no way responsible for any lost sleep, missed work, failed relationships, or difficulty in coping with life after you have read SERIAL UNCUT. They will not pay for any therapy you may require as a result of reading SERIAL UNCUT. They will not cradle you in their arms, rock you back and forth, and speak in soothing tones while you unsuccessfully try to forget SERIAL UNCUT.
You have been warned...
NOTE: The three novellas in this series are: Serial Uncut, Killers, and Birds of Prey.
These novellas are also available in a variety of compilations.
Killers Uncut = Killers + Birds of Prey.
Serial Killers Uncut = Serial Uncut + Killers + Break You + Birds of Prey.
I loved it!!! Extremely gory fast paced and well just plain siCK at times ....what does that say about me!!!!! I hate myself for liking it but i did lol
This is a story about hitchhikers who are serial killers and what happens to them. Want to read more? Read and find out for yourself.
This was my first time reading a book by authors Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch (who does the Wayward Pines book trilogy). I thought this was a pretty good read that I'd consider as a stand-alone novel even though they mentioned reading other novellas of the authors work. If you like stories about Serial Killers, definitely check it out. You can get this at your local library and wherever books are sold.
I tried, but could not get in to it. It was pretty gory, but I couldn't see any redeeming characteristics in the first bit I read. Maybe it gets better, but I'll probably never know.
What would have happened if Ted Bundy would have picked up Jeffery Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy? Hmmmm? This is why I have NEVER EVER hitch hiked OR hitched!! Nope! Never! This is the most fun you will have getting grossed out to the MAXX!!!
Whoa! Another stomach churner from Crouch, Kilborn and Konrath!!! But it is so much sick as fuck fun, you will be embarrassed to admit that you LOVED every sick, mutilating, and cannibalizing page that you flipped!!
So, with this being the first book in the 'Serial Killers' books, I cannot imagine the others being this good....you know what I mean? This starts off as what you think is going to be like a SICK AND MESSED UP short story tome, however it is not, so stay with it...... The book is told from the points of view from the Serial Killers, and 2 others, i dont want to tell you who or what role they play in the book. Then! All this Sick, Sick, SICK story telling and absolutely disgust comes full circle and all ties in together in the best of ways! I do want to tell you about one scene that i just cannot stop thinking about.....so the 'killer' has just picked up a young man, and he pulls off into a cornfield, and the authors go into the most GRUESOME descriptions of what 'you could do with a little tiny 2 inch Swiss Army knife if you have to defend yourself,.....too bad this guy did not do it. 'the tiny little scissors were so perfectly sharp as hell and worked wonders quickly slicing off the mans eyelids, and the nail file was just long enough to dig into and breaking and rupturing the eardrums, while that great little corkscrew....well, that perfectly punctured and removed his adams apple, and why it is called an apple? makes no sense, because when it is eaten it tastes more like a gritty and bitter peach's pit, and the sharp as fuck knife blade......excellent at cutting off the nose down to the cartiledge!' Yikes, this book goes on and on, and the story is so well written that you just do not want it to end........ There were so many scenes in here with different killers, especially the young female killer who attends a horror author's convention BOUND DETERMINED to get ALL her books autographed by her Favorite author of all time!! This is one you will never forget.....
And what happens when two of these killers end up picking each other up at the same time in the same car? You will not believe the outcome!!! This book was a kick assed blast of a read, and i would recommend it to anyone who loves EXTREME BODY HORROR AND GORE!!!!!
Get ready for a ride that you will not be coming home from!
Remember the twin golden rules of hitchhiking? # 1: Don't go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be a serial killer. # 2: Don't pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be a serial killer.
So what happens when a serial killer picks up another serial killer who's hitchhiking? Hopefully, one less serial killer in the world & good news for the rest of us, rather than them bonding & becoming a team, right?
I don't think I've read either of these authors until Draculas. I liked the humor in Draculas & there is also that humor in this book. OTOH, this is really pretty gory. I would prefer there was less gore, but I suppose it does add to the plot. (I almost passed out when I got my ears pierced. After reading this, I'm very protective of my little toes.)
The two things that caused me to want to read this book are the humor from Draculas and the unique concept of two serial killers (unbeknownst to each other) preying on the other. (This should happen for reals!) Well, and it was $3.
Additionally interesting is the way this book was written between the two authors. (Similar to the collaboration on Draculas.)
I loved this book, unlike any other serial killer story out of here! I don’t want to spoil anything but if you ever wonder what would happen if dahmer was out looking for his next kill and happened to run into Ted Bundy?Well then this is the book for you!!!
#1: Don’t go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy. #2: Don’t pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be certifiably crazy.
So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Crazy #2?
Holy. Shit. I flew through this and loved every fast-paced, horrible, gory page of it. I loved how easily the characters stories intertwined and the last chapter of Lucy and Donaldson's encounter had me wishing it wasn't over just yet.
Have you ever overheard a couple of teenagers desperately trying to convince each other how "shocking" and "edgy" they can be? That's this book. It reads more like an exercise in attention-seeking on the part of the authors than an actual narrative.
One thing that leads me to this impression is that there's a lot more talk about serial killing than actual serial killing. Whereas most books of this ilk rush through the plot to get to the murder scenes, this book rushes through the plot and the murders to get to the scenes featuring serial killers describing their various fetishes and signatures to one another. The actual murders depicted in the book are often quick, glossed over, or described in an impressionistic manner. It's as if the authors are fine gleefully describing atrocities in general terms, but turn squeamish when it comes to describing the human toll such acts entail.
Beyond all that, the plot is a patchwork of short stories jammed together and infused with the authors' various intellectual properties for marketing purposes.
I'll give Konrath and Crouch the benefit of the doubt and check out some of their stand-alone solo works, which all sound pretty good, but I think I'll avoid their team ups from now on.
I like the idea of a hitchhiker serial killer getting picked up by a serial killer, the idea of crazy meeting crazy is interesting.
I also like the competing author idea, but all and all this seemed to be gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous. I guess it comes with the subject.
Temía que Blake Crouch estropease la novela, pero por fortuna no ha sido así. Le quito una estrella porque la voz de J. Daniels en el audiolibro no pega en absoluto con el resto, parecen trozos de otra novela, y se hace muy molesto. Nota: esta "extended edition" incluye las novelas cortas Truck Stop y Serial, y contiene más historias que a veces se entrecruzan. Me gusta mucho ver a personajes que ya conozco en otras historias, especialmente si interactúan entre sí.
Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, and J. A. Konrath, Serial Uncut (Amazon Digital Services, 2010)
I was a big fan of Blake Crouch's first novel, but then I stopped reading him for some reason I don't quite recall. I've never experienced Kilborn/Konrath (everyone knows they're the same person, yes?), so I figured I'd bone up on what Blake's been up to and get a taste of another mystery writer at the same time with this inexpensive little ebook that's had a few of my friends raving for months now. Not in the same way the publishers did (one doesn't talk about something being the most gruesome thing ever when one is a connoisseur of extreme horror, because there's always a more gruesome thing just around the corner). It turned out to be shallow, but kinda fun: the guys take various serial killers (and Jack Daniels, Kilborn's PI heroine) from their more established novels and stick them all in the same scenario with some innocent bystanders and see how things play out.
Given a bit more work, this could have been a really absorbing study of the mentality. They have the framework for such a book in place, with tentative untrusting friendships, mentorships, and the like blossoming between the various serial killers, but every time we might find ourselves in a serious psychological treatment, the authors pull back and remember that they're writing a straight genre thriller. Which means fast-paced, easy to read, and with all the depth of the average Pennsylvania pothole. But it's fun, it's pretty solid, and you can blow through it in a couple of hours. Empty calories, but like a lot of empty calories, they taste pretty darn good. ***
An intense and quick read, Serial Uncut is loads of fun, although quite violent. Then again, an novel about serial killers would be a bit odd if it were not violent. I mean, the subject matter pretty much demands that.
This much said, the fun of the novel is the solid character work throughout. As a fan of Blake Crouch, I'll also add that this collaboration with Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath was sufficient to make me curious enough to check out the rest of the Kilborne/Konrath library of titles. Even his "Jack Daniels" novels, since she makes a cameo here.
After reading over ten books by J.A. Konrath/ Jack Kilborn and a couple by Blake Crouch, I thought I had read every conceivable way a human being could be tortured and killed in brutal, screaming agony. I was wrong. Salt in the wounds I've heard of, but lemon juice? Seriously gross.
This was great! So disgusting and funny and awesome! I know literally no one I could recommend this to, and that's a bummer, since it's a very entertaining little read. Also: the discussion between the authors at the end is a lovely cap!
This one I actually had to force myself to finish. The neverending torture-scenes told by people with no human emotions just grinded my will to live down.
I like Killers (the sequel) much better, but this is a whole lot of batshit blood and guts, which is fun. Just don't expect Hannibal Lecter. This collection is no where near that deep.
When I saw the incomparable Blake Crouch had another book written in collaboration with Jack Kilborn I knew I had to read it. This is really a novella with several stories but the same characters, serial killers, and the stories and people intersect leading to some of the most gruesome and gory shit I have ever read. I loved it! Not sure what that says about me. The writing was, of course, great and the stories linked up beautifully. Very entertaining in a sick way. Hahaha. I listened to the audio and it was well done including some of the over the top voices done by the male narrator. It made it even more entertaining. Quick read or listen.
I didn’t even finish it. There was NO story, too many characters that were interconnected somehow but you can’t remember how, and just ridiculous.
Mini chapters of people doing horrible )(HORRIBLE) things to people, which I can stomach if there’s a good story, and then they cross paths with another psychopath and they do horrible things to people together. And it just happens over and over again.
Seemed pointless - like the authors were just trying to shock people. I should have stopped at the warning, which made me roll my eyes and cringe with embarrassment for the authors.
This is a horror story, or collection of shorts, woven together by the two authors. Yes, there are only 2 authors, Kilborn and Konrath are both the same person. The interview at the end gives a great behind-the-scenes look at the collaboration effort between Crouch and JK.
If you are looking for something a little less intense I would suggest J.A.Konrath’s Jack Daniels series.
Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath(Jack Kilborn) are two of the most disturbing authors writing today. If you can read a book with the character Luther Kite in it and not check under the bed before you go to sleep you're braver than I am.
Okay, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this one, but I knew that characters I'd read about in other books appear in this one, so I picked it up. There was a lot of humor in this book, which I didn't see coming. The way the story culminates in the final chapter is priceless.
In comparison to Sonnet's 'No One Rides for Free' which pushes the boundaries too far, Serial hits the mark. It is violent and disturbing but also a fun, wild ride. I can't get hold of the original short story, but the uncut gives the background that fleshes out the characters.
I enjoyed this for what it is. The story didn’t capture me and the characters were too similar. Interesting concepts. I more-so enjoyed how the authors exposed the twisted minds of their characters.