Freakin Fridays!
Freakin Fridays is my own little meme. I’ll be posting about books, movies, and all things scary. Tune in every Friday. Get your scare on!
Let’s have some fun!
Today I’m reviewing Fresh Meat by Carolyn McCray
I’ll warn you right now this is not a scary story. This is a can’t catch your breath, squirm in your seat, all out horror fest with a cast of characters that Bundy or Gacy would feel right at home with!
**Warning, this book is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. The gore level is a cross between Saw and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Much of Fresh Meat is set in a dungeon filled with vicious serial killers. It isn’t a matter of when blood will spill, it is how much.
No kidding!
Poor Evie. Never in a million years could her mind have imagined what’s happening to her now.
The night started out well enough. She hung out with her co-workers at the nightclub, enjoying herself for the most part. When they all want to move on to the next club, Evie declines. She’s had enough of the smoke and noise. Despite Nancy’s urging to catch a taxi, Evie elects to walk home. It’ll clear her head and her lungs.
She should have taken the taxi. With little warning, she’s grabbed, dragged into the alley, and knocked out by a chemical filled rag pressed tightly over her mouth and nose. Her world fades to black.
She comes to in what looks like a prison. There are cells on each side of the room. In those cells are men. Dangerous men.
This book had me thinking “SAW” or “DEXTER” on steroids. Some sick twist gathers a bunch of serial killers, controls them with metal shock collars, and brings in a plaything for them to fight over. He randomly opens cell doors and watches as the poor sap tries to survive.
Just imagine being kidnapped and used as fresh meat for a bunch of rapists, murderers, and worse. Oh Yeah, there is worse. One of these guys is a cannibal.
There’s no way out, cameras are watching your every move and then the games begin.
When the cell doors open and the serial killers emerge from their cells, the only reason Evie survives is they are busy fighting each other over who gets her first. The big guy, Clyde, only wants her top half. Back Door wants her fighting and screaming, and Andrew wants to be friends before he kills her.
She’s lucky when she gets knocked into Darion’s cell. He makes no move to hurt her and the others won’t enter his cell. They’re all afraid of him. You see, he only kills men. Maybe if she’s grateful they can come to an arrangement. Her options are slim to none.
Oh, what a twisted, shocking, psychological, read this was. What made it even better was the writing. The author had me worrying about how bad it was going to get. And it got bad. I like how she had me actually liking something about a few of these guys. She must have done a lot of research into the psychology of serial killers.
You’ve heard it said so many times, “He was such a nice guy, I never would have believed he could do something like this.” I watch the show ID often, and it’s surprising how often the killer is someone no one would suspect. Someone the victim knew well.
I, for one, will be looking over my shoulder, peering into dark recesses, and never walking alone at night after reading this. It’s my wake up call.
You just never know what or who is out there, waiting to snatch you up for a little fun and games called murder.
Four Stars for freakin me out!
About the author
Carolyn has had a long and extremely interesting road to become a bestseller.
When she head to veterinary school those many years ago she had no idea decades later she would be writing controversial historical thrillers, gut wrenching mysteries and roller coaster-style action/adventure tales!
Born in San Francisco and raised in the beautiful Napa Valley, Carolyn always had an overactive imagination. As a child you could usually find her dragging the neighborhood children out to the haunted barn to make her Nancy Drew-style audio tapes. Oh and did she mention, there was an entire life-sized recreation of the nativity scene in the rafters? Yeah, that wasn’t just a little creepy.
Which of course was great practice for writing such blockbusters as Plain Jane: A Patterson-style thriller with a dash of Hannibal and 30 Pieces of Silver: An Extremely Controversial Historical Thriller.
Carolyn is honored to have a seven book contract with Amazon’s mystery and thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer along with being one of the eight books during the inaugural launch of Amazon’s new Serial program (9th Circle).
With over 250,000 books sold, Carolyn now lives on a beautiful lake in the Pacific Northwest where the fog rolls in over the water, snuffing out all signs of life around her. Yep, she still loves the creepy!
To purchase the book click on the cover
Carolyn has written many books. Go here to see more.
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