Lovesick is one of the best extreme horror novels I have ever read. If you consider yourself a fan of this genre, you owe it to yourself to experience this. Buy it. Consume it. Share it. Spread the love.
There. I just wanted that up at the top in case you didn't want to read the rest of what I'm sure will be a bloated, too-long love letter to this wonderful, disgusting piece of work. I should note that a few days ago (from the writing of this), I finished forcing myself through Jon Athan's 'The Good, the Bad, and the Sadistic', and I seriously disliked it. I left it a two-star review where I vented on everything I hated about it, but noted that Athan was good enough as an author that I wanted to read more of his work. I am so, SO very glad that I did. I finished this, the very next book I chose to read, in two sittings. Please forgive me, but I would like to occasionally reference 'Sadistic' in this review, as a contrast, and even though I personally did not enjoy it, I urge you to check that book out as well. It might be more up your alley than it was mine.
While reading 'Sadistic,' I saw how good Athan is at introducing characters quickly, giving them distinct personalities and making them memorable, even if they're only around for five or six pages. This particular talent was, I felt, squandered in that book because everyone did indeed only last five or six pages, and I could always see the end coming. Here, they get to breathe. Jon Athan's dialogue is natural, it's fun and there's a flow to it, and everyone speaks with a voice that is uniquely theirs. And without a giant death cloud hovering over everyone, I got to enjoy them for their parts and wondering how exactly they'd fit into the design of the story. The same goes for the settings, which are excellently described. Whether its a run-down tenement, the backyard of a suburban home or underneath a seedy bridge, Jon almost always hits that sweet spot of putting you _there_ without slowing the story to a crawl, spending four paragraphs describing the types of flowers growing on a trellis (I'm looking at you, Dean).
The pacing! It's so good! Jon Athan's limit seems to be around 200 pages per book. That's where he likes to keep it, but where in 'Sadistic' it felt too long because of the repetitive nature and too short because certain things should've had more setup, Lovesick has this single-minded purpose to it, a laser-pointed focus that keeps it on its rails, avoiding the common pitfall of the genre. Each scene has its place (well, almost, but I'll get to that), and the story moves with such force that it feels like a film, professionally edited, all the fat trimmed to produce this lean, vicious piece of meat. As we follow Mark in the setup and execution of his plan, every plot point folds naturally into the next, and it's such a joy to read.
What about the violence and the gore and the sex? Look, this is the bread and butter of the genre. If this were a romance book, we'd be discussing the strength of the characters charisma and their passion. Action has its explosions and fight sequences, epic fantasy has the hero's journey. We come to extreme horror for the squirm factor, and to see the envelope pushed so far beyond reason that good taste is a distant memory of foreign words. Lovesick not only accomplishes this, but it does it in such a way that each gnarly description of bodily fluids, bloodletting and torture doesn't just feel like its there for the sake of the genre, but that it's integral to the story. Lovesick wouldn't be able to exist without the disgusting, abominable things that are described within, and by the end I was genuinely in awe of the terrible things I had witnessed. Body horror has rarely felt this good. You will not leave disappointed.
So is it perfect? A masterpiece of the genre? No. I'm not saying that. I AM saying that after reading this, I'm certain that Jon Athan has one building somewhere within him, but this isn't that book. It's truly, exceptionally great, but I do have a few complaints. Mark, the main character, has this revenge plan; it's the entire point of the book and it's exquisitely awful, I love it more than I can put into words. But there was more to it than I had even expected, and frustratingly, I had the true endgame for Mark's plan spoiled for me by Mark himself towards the end, in his dialogue with Rebecca. I wish that instead of telling her (and us), he had kept this last piece of the plan a secret, and we got to watch in horror as it played out. That was a slight mar. Also, I mentioned earlier that almost every scene was necessary. Almost. There is a sidestep the story takes involving a homeless man's explosive dump in a public toilet, and what happens with that dump. It's funny and repulsive and, let's be honest, entirely unnecessary. It didn't aid the plan in any real way. I sometimes call extreme horror the 'Look At The Blood And Poop!' genre because it can often feel like you're just sitting at a table in a dark room while the author shows you the worst and grossest things they can think up, regardless of whether or not it helps tell a story. The homeless dookie bag scene did not help Lovesick tell its story. Finally, in 'Sadistic', the character Clayton had these pointless, meandering diatribes on humanity that grated on me. Mark does this as well, and it's still annoying in its self-indulgent nihilism, but at least here there's less of it, and it does aid the ending. These are, however, minor gripes.
For me, this book can fit on the same shelf as Ed Lee's 'The Pig and The House', Jack Ketchum's 'Red' and Richard Laymon's 'Night in the Lonesome October'. These are some of the books that exemplify why I love this genre dearly. Lovesick is so much more than a pastiche of horrible things. It's a character study, a thriller, a comic tragedy, an anti-romance and a wonderfully terrifying horror novel. I've already picked up 'Camp Blaze', 'Cannible Jungle' and 'Madness at Madison Mall', three more of Athan's novels. I don't care if they all suck, and if the next ten of his books I read suck. Because he gave me Lovesick.
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Reviews with images
Weird, disturbing and entertaining
I like messed up books, it's just the only thing that can really keep my interest. This book however is freaking MESSED UP!!!Mark who needs to get over himself and quit being a crybaby, finds out his girlfriend of 3 yrs is cheating on him. Instead of sucking it up like the rest of us do, Mark decides to make the next few months of her life a living heck. I mean BRUTALThis book is so gross that I swear it'll make you smell smells that aren't there. You will say EW and WTF over a hundred times and cringe probably even more than that. Mark is a cringey, sick weirdo but I promise you will not be bored reading this. Lol enjoy 😷The picture above is only a tiny brutality compared to the others, I didn't want to give any good stuff away.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2024
I like messed up books, it's just the only thing that can really keep my interest. This book however is freaking MESSED UP!!!
Mark who needs to get over himself and quit being a crybaby, finds out his girlfriend of 3 yrs is cheating on him. Instead of sucking it up like the rest of us do, Mark decides to make the next few months of her life a living heck. I mean BRUTAL
This book is so gross that I swear it'll make you smell smells that aren't there. You will say EW and WTF over a hundred times and cringe probably even more than that. Mark is a cringey, sick weirdo but I promise you will not be bored reading this. Lol enjoy 😷
The picture above is only a tiny brutality compared to the others, I didn't want to give any good stuff away.
Mark who needs to get over himself and quit being a crybaby, finds out his girlfriend of 3 yrs is cheating on him. Instead of sucking it up like the rest of us do, Mark decides to make the next few months of her life a living heck. I mean BRUTAL
This book is so gross that I swear it'll make you smell smells that aren't there. You will say EW and WTF over a hundred times and cringe probably even more than that. Mark is a cringey, sick weirdo but I promise you will not be bored reading this. Lol enjoy 😷
The picture above is only a tiny brutality compared to the others, I didn't want to give any good stuff away.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
A very entertaining and disturbing novel
Reviewed in France on December 28, 2023
Niffer
Another brilliant book by Jon Athan
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2023
