Sweet baby llamas, this book made me uncomfortable. I had to take breaks just to wince in disgust at some of the scenes….

So it goes without saying, it was a marvellous book.

The premise of the book is a medical trial, where patients suffering from chronic pain can undergo a procedure that will cure them forever. Of course, nothing’s ever that simple and it all goes a bit gross from there…

The author is a genius, using chronic pain as an evil. Describing the hopelessness these patients feel when there doesn’t seem to be a way out of their suffering, it’s extra horrible when you know that many people feel this way day in day out and don’t have the hope of a medical trial that might solve all their problems. This builds up the tension in the book wonderfully, you feel huge sympathy for all of the patients and genuinely hope that they trial will work for them – which then makes the rest of the book so much more horrendous.

There’s a great mix of characters, all suffering from chronic pain for a variety of reasons and have their own unique responses to their situations.

This is body horror and abnormal psychology at its best, it’s a fairly simple premise but beautifully written and straight up traumatising to read.

I would heartily recommend this book to all fans of gory horror and anyone who really wants to have nightmares for a week.

3.5 stars for a fast-paced, gruesome read with a great concept.

I wasn't surprised to read that the author originally wrote this as a screenplay; I could absolutely envision this book as a movie, and I would be first in line to see it!

"""For Greg Owens, this was supposed to be a chance to end years of back pain and escape his reliance on pain pills. If it all worked out, he could maybe even get back the life he left behind as the pills took control.

Instead, as the patients are cured of their physical pain, they encounter a different sort of pain building inside them..."""

The first half of the book is mostly set-up as it builds toward the inevitable carnage in the second half; we already know that this experiment is going off the rails, we just don't know how exactly, and that's where the delicious trepidation comes from. When the gory descent did begin it was almost a bit of a let down after being kept in suspense for so long - but perhaps it speaks more to my own desensitization that I didn't find anything too horrific to handle. There are definitely gruesome things happening here, so I absolutely would not recommend this for the faint-of-heart!

The writing is simple and easy to read and the narrative constantly shifts between the perspectives of a large cast of characters, which keeps the pace fast throughout. I thought the author did a great job of fleshing out the characters a serviceable amount within a short space of time, so they all felt distinctive to me. I can't say they were really deep enough to connect with, but they had enough to them that I was interested in them. I had an insight into each of their personalities and, perhaps more importantly, their unique kinds of pain.

In terms of criticisms, I would have liked the writing to be a little more descriptive and would have appreciated some answers to the questions burning in my mind about WHY these crazy things were happening. Also, the book could really do with another go-over by an editor to fix up some of the grammatical errors and missed/repeated words I spotted here and there.

In conclusion, this is a super fun story for horror fans, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced read with a wonderfully gruesome concept at its core.

WOWWWWWWWWWW!!! This book right here...lol...Blood, gore, guts...it is all here. What a look at people with chronic pain and what they will do to find relieve. I will be looking for more from this author. Good read!!!! Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Although I received the book in this manner, it did not affect my opinion of this book nor my review.

A unique and extremely creepy horror thriller. Guts and gore abound will make you cringe (but in a good way!).

Painless captured what it was like to live with chronic pain and the desperate need and want to feel "normal" again. As a person that struggles daily with chronic pain, it nailed the sear desperation and lengths that a person would go through to feel "normal" and pain-free again.

This book is not like anything I had ever read before.  Painless will make you cringe throughout the course of the book. It's twisted and gruesome. As each event happens, it is if you are right there in the room with the character. The vivid details are not for the faint of heart.

This book didn't disappoint.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book! This book! I could not put it down! Such a good read!!

Painless is about a clinical trial gone horribly wrong, let's just say I'll never be first in line for a clinical trial after reading this book!

I was hesitant to read this book at first, mainly because the cover creeped me out, and I don't usually read horror stories. I'm very glad that I read it though. It was an intense book with very gory descriptions, but that description is what made the book so good. The way the author describes the pain Greg goes through, it makes you feel it too.

It was a quick read and a page turner, I highly suggest picking this terrifyingly good book up!

I was lucky enough to receive #Painless by Marty Thornley from #NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Greg has suffered with chronic back pain ever since he fell off a ladder at work – his mental health, his marriage and his quality of life have all suffered. However, when he joins an experimental medical trial led by Dr Dante Menta he starts to have reservations about a cure being worth it's side effects…

Painless starts as a slow build, introducing quite a large mix of characters – both patients and nurses/doctors alike and their backstories. This slow start did put me off the book a little at the beginning and I found it hard to get into. The chapters jump narrative perspectives quite often which doesn’t really help for you to get to know each character particularly well. I did feel that because of the amount of characters and how similarly they are written I started losing track of who was who. This even happened later in the story where I was having to guess whose perspective parts of the chapters were written in as their name wasn’t explicitly stated.

Painless builds up to quite a gruesome and gory finish, with a lot of descriptions making me physically cringe. This part of the book is well written and faster paced. However, there were a lot of plot holes and unanswered questions which I can’t really go into much detail about because of spoilers but that ruined the believability of the book. I think the biggest one is the cure itself – it never really went into detail how it worked and I found it very difficult to believe that what it was could cause any of the side effects that are stated. It would have been more believable if it was just a ‘magic’ pill with no ingredients listed.

Overall Painless is a gory read but has a slow start, lacks character depth and has more than a few plot holes that hold it back. Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. Definitely not my usual genre fancied a change and boy did I get it. Horror in so many aspects. Good read. Edgy and gripping

Super creepy horror story! Definitely not my usual genre, but I thought I would try something different. The more I read, the more gore and blood filled the pages, but I have to say I really enjoyed it! The main character suffers chronic pain and desperately seeks relief. A very creepy and twisted road follows this poor man's search for help. Very descriptive gore, blood and guts along with many unexpected twists make this a quick but great read! I loved the premise of the story, how relief is promised to patients in pain yet when the treatment begins to go wrong, things get nasty, ugly and very bloody in great detail. This would make an awesome horror movie! Thanks SO much for the ARC! Well def read more of this genre in the future but on an empty stomach....

What is your price to be "pain free" for life? I luckily, have not had to experience excruciating pain that I would want to "die". Yet, this is how Greg felt. He has been in so much pain for years that he lost his woman and fell into a stupor. So, when he was offered the opportunity to go to a medical clinic with the promise of being pain free, he volunteers.

There are several other residents at the facility. They are all suffering from pain in different ways. The doctors and nurse seem normal. However, they are more like mad scientists. The patients feel great after their procedures; yet, it is not long after when they start showing signs of crazed beasts. They go after each other as well as self inflict pain on themselves. Yet, they don't feel pain. Examples: one guy chews his fingernail and skin off, another guy burns a hole in his hand and swirls his finger around in muscle, tendon, and blood. Than, there is a woman who stabs herself in the eye with a knife.

I read a lot of other readers who were grossed out with these descriptions. I personally could handle them as I like these types of books. The gorier the better. What I was disappointed about this book was that it read slowly before any of the events happened. Plus, I never fully connected with any of the characters. Overall, though this is still a good read and I would read more books from this author.

As a sufferer of chronic pain, this story held a special attraction for me. I understood what these patients wanted -- at the expense of just about anything -- and how their desire for relief suffocated their reservations. I also had no difficulty believing a doctor would abuse his/her power by pursuing their fanatical dreams of fame and riches. The side effects these patients suffered were, of course, at an extreme level that wouldn't be tolerated (or held secret) by governmental agencies for long, but it didn't detract from the sizzling tension of the book. A terrific late-night read!

Painless by Marty Thornley:
The premise of this book really intrigued me. Greg signs up for an experimental procedure designed to cure him of the chronic, debilitating back pain he suffers from. He is one of the last to enter the study, which includes people from all walks of life, who want to ditch the pills and finally be pain free. Something goes drastically wrong however after the procedure and the patients start to experience self-destructive thoughts and actions. As the side-effects increase the patients grow increasingly violent in their search for answers.
This book is touted as a psychological-horror. I have read many many horrors over the years but you really need a strong stomach for this one - it is truly gory. I also scanned over the parts which involved the animals, it was too sickening for me. None of the characters resonated with me, I can't say I actually cared about a single one.This novel had the potential to be good but the gore overtook the story.
Thank you to #NetGalley for #Painless.

As someone who suffers from chronic pain and had a Chiari surgery, leaving me with about a 10 inch scar down the midline of my skull and neck right where the surgeries in the book are performed, let’s just say this book touched VERY close to home. Also, I’m very much aware of the effects of manipulating or causing damage to the dorsal horn and the nerves that would be effected by this surgery. Dysautonomia is something I suffer due to autonomic nerve damage because of my Chiari Malformation. That all being said, I understand the desperation each of the patients willing to go through this clinical trial were feeling. When in constant pain or fighting off attacks from your own body, you will absolutely do anything you can to escape those things. As the author brought up, physical pain often results in emotional manifestations for chronic, long-term sufferers. The anxiety, depression, helplessness and hopelessness compact the daily effects of the pain on your life.

Where the book failed for me was that none of the medical or surgical topics were really touched on in great detail. For example, Deanna’s constant itching/scratching was not psychosomatic, the nerves contained within the spinal cord, especially in the dorsal horn, control itch, heat, cold and even autonomic nervous system functions like heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, etc. For such a detailed book, you would think it could be made better with explaining WHY some of the effects of the surgery were likely occurring. We actually get almost no explanation as to why or what exactly happens to the surgical patients or much of what the surgery entails and why that approach of surgery is taken in order to cure, not just treat the symptoms. So, there’s detail in the book, but not focused where I feel it could have really affected the readers.

The ending is clearly a let down and leaves far too much to be untold, undiscovered and resolved, so I’m guessing it is formatted for another book. In the case there is another book, there should be more focus on the sources of the outcome of the surgery. In this book they had the surgery and then all got weird, but WHY? How were the doctors still ok after each having had the surgery? What were the injections Dr. Georgia and Dr. Menta have and what role did they play in their long-term outcome and staying “normal” post-surgery? There’s just too much missing in this book and I gave it 3 stars only because it does talk about the pharmaceutical company’s mistreatment of pain sufferers and helps to shine some light on true effects and emotions of a chronic sufferer. I don’t think I’d necessarily recommend this book, but I’d be willing to read a sequel in order to get some answers!

Thanks NetGalley for my copy of this book and all opinions are completely honest, unbiased and my own.

From the first page, I was captivated by Greg. Having fallen off a ladder while on the job, simple daily tasks are now maddening and all consuming. He embodies the spoon metaphor frequently used by those with chronic pain. You start the day with a limited amount of spoons and every activity performed throughout the day takes one of those spoons. When you are out of spoons, you’re done. That’s where Greg is. He’s done. Rock bottom. When the opportunity arises to live “normally”, Greg seizes the chance and sets off to join others in a clinical trial that promises to cure them of their pain.

I typically don't like books that have multiple POVs. I find all that jumping around to be distracting. In the case of Painless, it wasn't so much that there were multiple narrators, but rather an opportunity for the reader to get inside each person’s head. Instead of having the story told to you, you actually got to experience it with each character. This actually allowed me to feel invested in each character and more sympathetic to their plight.

As each of the patients in turn undergo the procedure, we realize that this cure might just be a curse. Each of the patients start experiencing horrifying side effects, while the walls start running with blood. Buckets and buckets of blood.

Painless is not for the faint-hearted. Gruesome and bloody, Painless gleefully imparts all the gory details. I found myself cringing, laughing, and then reading passages out loud to share. What unfurls next is burned into my brain so explicitly that days later, I'm still mulling it over and chuckling.

While I will say some parts were slightly predictable, the cringe factor more than made up for it. If this were a movie, I'd be there with my bucket of popcorn. Painless would make a wonderfully blood-spattered script for the big screen for us horror geeks.

The first half of this book mainly focuses on Greg and how his desperation to be rid of chronic pain has led him to become a patient of Dr. D Menta, your basic mad scientist type who sets up a "hospital" in the middle of nowhere, the better to conduct his experiments. The second half is a gruesome gore fest as Greg sees the violent after effects of the patients before him who have already undergone Dr. D Menta's procedure to rid them of chronic pain. It will make you squirm and cringe in all the right ways. Not for the weak of stomach.