We Sold Our Souls - Grady Hendrix

Horror

Rating: 8/10

A dream come true for any horror and heavy metal fan.  Although maybe nightmare is more accurate…but one you will be happy to stay asleep for.

In the 1990’s Kris was lead guitarist of Durt Wurk, a heavy metal band on the brink of breakout successful until their lead singer embarked on a solo career, rocketing to stardom, leaving his bandmates to rot in obscurity. Turns out that’s not all he did…

Many years later, Kris, on the way home from her dead-end job, with the music over and the money gone, sees his face plastered on a billboard advertising his farewell tour.  Suddenly unsettling memories start to resurface, and something isn’t quite right about the night they broke up.

With nothing left to lose she is going to risk everything to get what she deserves, what was stolen from her so long ago.  Even if it costs her everything, even if that cost is her life.

And she is finally going to play again.  Play for the bands who never met their rainmaker, the musicians who drank too much and made all the wrong decisions, the singers who sang the right songs at the wrong moments.  She will play for the fallen, the forgotten and the footnotes.

I have discussed this authors’ writing chops more than once, and seriously, he is a friggin’ genius.  Displaying an unassailable adoration for the genre, wicked smart and bang on satire, the guts to embrace the tropes while intent on subverting them in every way.

He has written about a retail store gone to hell, the souls of a heavy metal band in peril, a bloody book club with a bite, members of a therapy group battling a never-ending stream of people who want them dead, and the demonic temperament of teenagers.  What’s next?  I cannot wait to find out…

P.S. Dolly Parton songs got a shout out in a really fun way in this book.  Totally unexpected in a book starring metalheads, but what an absolute delight!

Book Pairing(s): My Best Friends Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavisky, Patricia Wants To Cuddle by Samantha Allen