World of Hurt [Hardcover]

Brian Hodge's newest work should come with a warning label: WILL MESS WITH YOUR PRECONCIEVED NOTIONS OF FAITH AND GOD.
WORLD OF HURT is the story of Andrei, a young man who comes back from death's door with some very disturbing memories of what lies beyond the threshold of flesh. It's a story of redemption, betrayal, and sacrifice, of blood and flesh, and spirit and soul. The tale alone is enough to keep his readers up at night, but Hodge also opens a dialogue with his readers, in essence asking, `What do you really believe happens after we die?' and more importantly, `Why?' His revelation of why God can seem so cruel will leave many conservative religious folks reeling in horror, as he contends that the white light at the end of the tunnel is a lie, and only horrors and darkness await us, and that there is no God, but a being called Ialdabaoth waiting to suck us back into It's terrible, cold essence of despair.
In WORLD OF HURT, Hodge creates a mythos every bit as dismal and bleak as Lovecraft's Elder Gods, and in fact, Ialdabaoth comes off as a distant cousin to these alien dissenters of mankind. But it's the peripheral characters with which he's concerned, the saviors and killers, of this mythos, not the Gods beyond. It's their emotions and struggles that keep the pages moving along. There is no cold Lovecraftian phrasing here, but pages suffused with warmth and genuine awe for the human spirit, as Hodge handles his characters with a respect and emotion that we've come to expect from one of our great under appreciated masters of the craft. He even finds a way to make the antagonist seem pitiful, despite the bloody cruelty of his work.
WORLD OF HURT thrusts you, sometimes unwillingly, into the mind of a remorseless killer, a timeless assassin of killers, and a troubled and confused young man who cannot find rest from his memories of what awaits beyond the shadowy veil. The pace is quick, the writing crisp and smart, the underlying themes and philosophy thought provoking. In short, this is the kind of smart horror that's missing from the chain store shelves these days. Thank God, for Earthling Publications for brining Hodge's excellent voice back to the reading public. It's intelligent, emotive work that only gets better as time goes on. (For those of you who doubt, also pick up WILD HORSES, one hell of a great read from the first page.)
This is a loosely connected work to a trio of shorts published over the years, "The Alchemy of the Throat", which originally appeared in LOVE IN VEIN (edited by Poppy Z. Brite), "The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins", which appeared in the sequel anthology, LOVE IN VEIN II: TWICE BITTEN (also edited by Poppy Z. Brite), and "When the Bough Doesn't Break", which appeared in the DAMNED anthology (edited by Dave Barnett). But WORLD OF HURT definitely redefines the territory he explored in these previous works. And as he mentions in his Afterword, it's territory he will undoubtedly dip into again. It should be a rich mine of wonders for a man who can weave dark conspiracies from the world's bloody history.

--Nickolas Cook

Wow, don't know what else to say about this book other than wow. I don't want to give away spoilers, but I want to know more about the "Misbegotten" and the story of our little lady friend! An amazing read, incredibly captivating, moving, deep, creative, original...and sad.
Highly recommended, and if my prose can equal half of what Mr. Hodge has done with 160 or so pages, I'll be a happy man. Here's hoping that he comes back to this world with another great story sometime soon!

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars