This intensely disturbing novella has three narrators each of whom are probably unreliable, but this does nothing to hamper Cushing's vivid storytelling. From the first page we are taken on a journey that considers such themes as suicide, lust and evolution from a dark, sacrilegious perspective. The style builds from a dull hum of curiosity to a scream that evokes Barker's Cenobites and Dante's Inferno in equal measure as each chapter is masterfully handled to build tension. I will summarise the plot while trying not to include spoilers, but you may prefer to skip this paragraph and head for the Kindle one-click button instead. Two women, wishing to escape their lives, agree on social media to meet, fuck and commit suicide in a distant hotel in the mountains. Neither reach the agreed location. One is running from a marriage that stifles her sexuality and the other from a demonic lover who calls himself God, tortures her each weekend, and has fathered her deformed baby. One wants to escape their guilt and the other their torturer. As they journey towards each other they lose almost everything which defines them as human. In a quote lifted from the book, “The arc of the universe is long, but bends towards degeneracy.” The Sadist's Bible rewrites Scripture in the voice of a perverse God who adores his most broken and degraded creations and wishes only to watch them degenerate further through evolution and torture. De Sade is God and we his victims. You need an open mind to enjoy this story, but you will be rewarded in your nightmares.
4/5 stars. “Nicole Cushing is an author of dark fiction. Her debut novel Mr. Suicide was released by Word Horde in July, 2015, and her first full-length short story collection, The Mirrors, was officially released by Cycatrix Press in October, 2015. She is the author of the novellas Children of No One (nominated for the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award) and I Am the New God. Her essay on the racism of H.P. Lovecraft has been quoted by The Guardian. ”
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