From the Bookshelf of Splatterpunk…

Incubi

Edward Lee

Start date: December 20, 2024

Finish date: December 27, 2024

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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Jan 19, 2025 Gillian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: buddy-reads

“All of life is experience. Isn’t that what gives artists—writers, painters, or whatever—their desire to create? It doesn’t matter if the experience is good or bad, wise or stupid—that’s irrelevant. Without experience, and the curiosity behind it, we’d have nothing to give our art meaning.”

On the night Veronica is newly separated from her boyfriend, Detective Jack Cordesman, she is offered $25,000 for one of her paintings by the rich and alluring Khoronos at her art show. Unable to resist his in “All of life is experience. Isn’t that what gives artists—writers, painters, or whatever—their desire to create? It doesn’t matter if the experience is good or bad, wise or stupid—that’s irrelevant. Without experience, and the curiosity behind it, we’d have nothing to give our art meaning.”

On the night Veronica is newly separated from her boyfriend, Detective Jack Cordesman, she is offered $25,000 for one of her paintings by the rich and alluring Khoronos at her art show. Unable to resist his invitations, Veronica agrees to meet him at his estate, together with two other women artists for a “retreat” where they will spend time creating new works. Meanwhile, Veronica’s ex, Jack, is investigating a series of occult-inspired serial murders which are, unbeknownst to him, connected to the woman he still loves.

Heavy on the police procedural, the reader is keen to the killer’s identity long before our main characters. In fact, I figured out the killer after the first slaying; but, this did not discourage me from finishing the story. Lee is excellent at creating tension and messy relationships that drive the plot forward at a steady and increasing pace.

While the main characters are severely flawed, especially Jack, there is no denying that the reader will be his advocate due to Lee’s ability to write him with karisma and strong will. His character growth throughout the story is exceptional even if it does take nearly the entire book for him to realize his faults. It is his love for Veronica that is the catalyst for change and growth.

My only real qualm with Incubi was its repetitiveness in the last one-quarter of the book. Some of the scenes felt regurgitated in new locations. While they didn’t necessarily feel like “filler pages”, they felt overdone.

Lee never leaves the sex and gore to the imagination–always adding it in at appropriate places and describing it with evocative and strikingly vivid phrasing. (As a side note, I am happy to report there were no scenes of sex between teen girls and adult men in this one. A plus, for sure.)

Incubi just solidifies Lee’s ability to write a compelling narrative with strong dialogue and an appealing plot.
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Jan 02, 2025 Pisces51 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2024, 2024

INCUBI [1991] By Edward Lee
My Review 5.0 Stars

“Good and evil weren’t opposites—they were the same, they were twins. Horror was as much a monarch as God.”

I started this novel on Christmas Day and finished it after the New Year rolled in. It was an outstanding read from some say the “Master of Horror”. It could be said that I can remember reading mythology when I was in grade school. I believe it was a subliminal prompt while I was thinking about which Edward Lee books I wanted to read in the near ...more

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