If there is something on the planet more twisted than Clive Barkers limitless and enviable imagination then please send a link. Otherwise, gather around for campfire tales, bloodthirsty and gruesome, yet hilarious and observant, that fill the horror spectrum in every monstrous way can possibly be conceived.
The book is a series of short stories and the first story is an introduction as to why the collection is titled book of blood. Long story short: They are carved by ghosts onto the unwilling skin of a charlatan posing as a medium. As punishment for their deception, they are now the keeper of the stories of the damned. The stories each feature a different “monster” and the moral of each tale is different- whether there is one or not- and there are six stories in the collection in total.
The stories are enjoyable and quick to read. Barkers writing style is as flamboyant as his ideas, but that serves to make them better rather than to diminish them. From the hilarious chaos of The Yattering and Jack, the story of a man who is being tormented by a servant to the devil, to the strange monstrous creatures in “in the hills, the cities” Barker delivers what he promises. Over the top, disgusting stories about ordinary people who are thrown into ridiculous, supernatural situations.
Not particularly scary but full of fun and imagination, they’re definitely fun to read because Barker himself makes them fun.
