Scarla (2011)
I love Comet Press. Seriously, they’re my new favorite small press publisher. With a handful of amazing short story collections in their library they have finally decided to branch out into releasing novels, or in this case, novellas. Scarla, by BC Furtney, tells the tale about a young woman who just happens to be a former kickboxing champion and a current monster killer. See, it’s her job to walk the streets at night to lure men into having sex with her because there’s a new baddie on the street, sort of like a werewolf but the change only occurs at sexual arousal. So she turns em on, changes em and kills em.
The book is a novella so it does lack depth but it makes up for it in gleeful gore. This book is soaked in blood and sweat, hell even the cover feels grimy. The novel moves at a quick burst and is filled with gratuitous descriptions of disembowelment’s, decapitations and such. So basically this is just a long version of a Comet Press short story. It was a fun read and but nothing earth shatteringly original and maybe a tad over dramatic but it’s fast paced and graphic which is fine by me. Another solid read from a company that has yet to disappoint me.
Overall: 7/10