Wetbones

By: John Shirley

Narrated by: Edison McDaniels

A flesh-and-soul-devouring addiction runs rampant through the dark playground of the Hollywood elite in this tale of horror from a Bram Stoker Award winner.

Welcome to Los Angeles, where every addiction is encouraged....

Struggling Hollywood screenwriter Tom Prentice can hardly believe that the emaciated and mutilated corpse lying on the morgue slab was once his ex-wife. Then his roommate’s missing brother turns up in a local hospital having sliced open his own chest and legs for some sick, inexplicable reason. In Oakland, the Reverend Garner, a recovering addict, leaves his ministry in search of his teenage daughter, who was last seen in the company of her ghoulish kidnapper. And the Los Angeles police are meanwhile baffled in their hunt for the elusive “Wetbones” serial killer who leaves nothing of his victims behind except a damp, grisly pile of bones.

Though Tom, the reverend, and the LAPD are on separate quests for answers, they are all being led into the darkest shadows of Hollywood, where the debauchery never ceases and pleasure is a drug that devours human flesh, blood, and sanity. But the true source of the all-consuming addiction is the most horrifying revelation of all, for it is not of this rational Earth.

From International Horror Guild Award-winning author John Shirley comes a true masterwork of modern terror. It’s decidedly not for the faint of heart.

©1991 John Shirley (P)2019 Mark Alan Miller

An unusual horror

Wetbones .. This is an unusual horror. Gripping and well paced . It is outside my usual genre but thought I'd give it a try.
The story is strong and interesting with unique twists and turns that you don't see coming.
Some very strong and well developed characters.
Edison McDaniels narration style is well suited for this audiobook and definitely compliments.
An excellent read .
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review.

An Outstanding Story From A Great Author

I read this book long ago and really enjoyed it when it first came out, so I knew what to expect with the story. That said, I wanted to give it another go, but this time as an audiobook. I'm definitely a fan of Shirley's storytelling and descriptive prose. He can tell a story like no other. As I listened to this story, I was reminded why I had read the book so quickly way back when. Definitely an amazing story with good character development and plot progression.

I also really enjoyed McDaniels's narration of this story. He did an outstanding job with voice, pacing, character dialogue, etc. I will definitely look for other stories he's narrated.

There's nothing about this audiobook I didn't like, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Not a nice novel

I disliked this story. Unless torture porn is something you like I recommend you skip it. The book is full of torture and mutilations and not my cup of tea.

John Shirley never disappoints

Loved the book, disturbing as it is. The narration is alright, but the performer's tendency to use a weird lisp to represent different voices and accents is grating to say the least. It's a shame really, he reads well apart from that.

Awesome Old School Splatterpunk

John Shirley and the rest of the splatterpunk movement have a writing style that needs to be experienced. While extreme horror and gore still exists today there's this punk attitude you find in their works that if you enjoy you suddenly have a handful more books to devour. This story is pretty brutal especially for the time, in a nice place to live there's someone leaving husks of people behind and dead. Then there's a reverend and a police officer who get roped into the web of the killer. What ensues is a stylish dive into the underbelly of the city and a bunch of not great and disgusting situations described in a fantastic and unique style. The narration does a great job of bringing it to life as not everyone could attune themselves so well to such a work.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.