Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It has been published in June 2020.

"Bad Parts" by Brandon McNulty is a highly imaginative supernatural thriller that gives a whole new meaning to the "supernatural" bit.
The novel revisits the classic "pact with the devil" plot and gives it a whole new twist.
I particularly enjoyed the sheer creativity of the author, who made up a whole new kind of demon, with its own unique folklore and an original set of rules for its particular brand of magic. It felt like a whole new universe was created among these pages, and at the same time the world in which this book is set felt so familiar because of the amazing relatability of the characters.
The story is action-packed and full of twists, most of which totally blindsided me as a reader.
The angry, imperfect characters are highly relatable--from the protagonist to the really minor ones. I especially appreciated how nobody in this novel indulges in self-pitying or whining of any kind, despite the awful things that happen to basically every single character in the course of the book.
I also really liked how this novel takes a stand against ableism and racism. I've read a few critical reviews on GoodReads, accusing "Bad Parts" itself of ableism and racism, because both issues are major plot points in the story, but I find these allegations ridiculous. Ableism and racism are handled in "Bad Parts" as very serious problems and end up being condemned, defeated and punished in the ending. How is that ableist or racist?
Overall, this book was a very enjoyable reading, and I'm totally hooked to the whole series now.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. The plot was well thought out and the character development was riveting. I think I would read more from this author.

Thanks to netgalley and publisher for giving us a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you like horror, supernatural thrillers or dark fantasy, you will love this book! Reminiscent of a Stephen King novel, the story draws you in. When Ash, a rock guitarist suffers a career ending injury, she turns to her hometown's darkest secret, the only thing that can heal it. I listened to this title on audio and it held by attention from beginning to end. I thought the narrator was fantastic! I don’t think I’ve listened to anything else she’s narrated yet, but she has a great voice and was really able to sound creepy when it was needed. I highly recommend this audio, it's a great listen!! Thanks, NetGalley!

Where to start?
The main idea of this book is great - a horror thriller about a monster that exchanges your bad parts for good one, with one simple twist: you can no longer live the town. Loved this! However...

... the characters. I couldn't connect or care about any of them - not even the kid. I also felt like they weren't fully-fledged and some characters were there just to... die? further the story and so on.

... the pacing! Oh, it drags along for 75% of it or so, and then it goes at the speed of light for the final 25%. I get it that the ending in thrillers is always more fast-paced than the rest of the book, but that 75% of the book was hard to get through when there wasn't much happening and I didn't care for the characters.

... the tone of the book. There were discrepancies in the tone, the writing too and I am not exactly sure why or if they were intentional. It definitely didn't help the story.

What would you do if you thought your dream was dead? What would you pay to have your dream back? Thats what Ash and her family have to decide. In a town where a being, demon or something lives in the creek that will replace broken or bad body parts life is pretty good, or is it? There is a catch, if you have one of these body parts you need to stay within 10 miles of the town or your body part disappears. Since Ash is a musician and her life depends on her traveling she tries to make a deal with the demon. If she can collect a bunch of broken parts the demon will give her her hand and allow her and all the others to leave the town. Sounds good right? Well convincing the towns people isn't so easy.

I'm really torn about this book, the concept is different, the narration was excellent but the lengths people will go to save themselves is something interesting. I think I liked it? I know I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I think horror fans and people who like books with no easy fix will like it.

This is my second Netgalley audiobook and the listening experience was just as frustrating as the first time. I tend to listen to my audiobooks between 2.5x and 3x speed on the Libby app, and speeding it up any more than 2x on the Netgalley app makes the audio skip a lot. Any speed change whatsoever makes the narrator sound tinny and robotic. It didn't help that I didn't like the narrator very much; I didn't feel she conveyed the emotions of the characters well.

This was bad. First of all, I don't know what the hell was going on with the ghost/demon, but the implication that this was some sort of vengeful Native American felt, at the very least, like misrepresentation, and it didn't sit right with me. There were a couple of really weird choices when it came to race, mostly with Ash's father, and I really don't think it was necessary for the author to include the n word.

I hated all the characters. They were thoroughly unlikeable, and kept making worse and worse choices instead of like, having a limp and going to therapy? The whole thing felt very ableist. They would literally kill in order not to have a permanent injury or deformity. The author really tries to hammer home the familial ties and I just couldn't care. Not even about the little kid who is blind, because he is so damn stupid he can't shut up for three seconds while Ash is being hunted.

The writing style and the vocabulary were so awkward. It felt like the author was trying to make Ash sound really cool. It was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the narrator didn't help this issue. We're also meant to believe that Cheeto is actually smart because his father is an accountant? He is however written like a stereotypical stoner, so I don't know what to tell you.

The ending was really unsatisfying. These people fucked everything up and everybody is dead and they're all seriously injured. And there's literally no point to any of it. They're not better people by the end of it. There's no moral of the story. This was a waste of my time.

The premise of this book is incredibly interesting. It's a little bit horror, a little bit thriller, a little bit supernatural. And it held my attention from beginning to end. But that ending!! I listened to this on audio and I was just sitting there with my mouth hanging open. It ends on such a cliffhanger! Now this is just book 1, so there will be a second book at some point. Hopefully all the questions I was left with will be answered in that book. The narration was a little bit bothersome at times, sometimes the scenes were read over dramatically and you could hear audible switches between times being recorded or maybe space being recorded and it made it a little choppy at points.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free audiobook for review.

Ash is the guitarist in a rock band that is looking forward to a big upcoming show. And then she is attacked by an unknown assailant and is her left hand is mangled beyond repair. She is told she will probably never play guitar again. Ash can't accept this since her main aspiration in life is to be a rock star. So, she returns to her small hometown of Hollow Hills, PA. Hollow Hills has a mysterious, supernatural secret. For years, the towns folk have been making trades with a demon named Snare that lives in a local creek. They trade in their bad or damaged body parts for a new one. The only catch, they have to stay within a certain radius of the creek. If they try to leave town, their traded parts, disappear. Ash wants to trade for a new hand BUT she doesn't want to have to stay in Hollow Hills, so she makes a deal with Snare.

This book lies somewhere between supernatural thriller and horror for me. The story was an interesting concept but fell slightly flat for me. I liked the aspect of Ash being an aspiring rock star and how she found her way back to her estranged family. The concept of Snare was interesting and I haven't read anything like that before. I would've loved more development of the Snare "character" but perhaps that will happen in a follow-up book. This book was definitely an entertaining wild ride.

The summary of this book intrigued me. I have read so many thrlllers over the past while I was looking for something a bit different and this book delivered. I was absolutely enthralled and entertained by 20% in and then it was hard to put down. Granted there are a few pieces I would have liked to have been explored a little more e.g. the fog and drinking the water and there were a few sentences that left me thinking - WHAT? but overall I really enjoyed this book as a change to the other thrillers on the book shelf.


The audio is at times a little tinny and theres some reverb which was annoying to listen to but I was able to block it out and enjoyed the narrators voice telling this story.

Many Thanks to #netgalley for gifting me #badparts audiobook in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Midnight Point Press and the author Brandon McNulty for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a recent convert to audiobooks and I don't know why it took me so long since I love podcasts! The narrator of Bad Parts - Ellie Gossage - had an enjoyable voice to listen to. I however wish they had allowed her to either just speak in one voice the entire time or had multiple readers. I was thrown off in the beginning when she was speaking in different voices for different characters.

Into the book, this was listed as a horror but it's fairly cheesy - maybe the extra voices the narrator was using added to this effect. This is also listed as book #1 but I don't see how there would be a follow up as I felt everything was wrapped by the end.

The story begins with Ash Hudson who is a 30 year old guitarist in a rock band called... you guessed it - Bad Parts. They're at a show and her hand gets mangled which would end her career. She needs to find a way to fix her hand and quickly before their next show. Which leads her to returning to her hometown of Hollow Hills, Pennsylvania. There's a demon called Snare that lives in the creek that will exchange "bad parts" for good ones. This involves a secret group of people referred to as Traders. Ash talks to Snare and gets offered a deal that sounds too good to be true but she wants to trust the demon. She has to convince estranged family members to help her if the deal with Snare is going to work.

I found parts of this like a murderous fog completely comical and not really a horror but overall it was an enjoyable listen.

I received a copy of the audiobook of Bad Parts by Brandon Mcnulty from netgalley. The narration was ok, the narrator made the characters distinguishable enough from each other that it was easy to keep them straight but she didn't really add anything to the book through her narration. The premise is really interesting and the story carried that premise out in pretty much exactly the way you'd expect it to go. The best description I have for this story is that it's a cluster f*ck but not in a bad way. If you're looking for a happily ever after fairy tale ending this ain't it but it was enough of a thrill ride to keep me hanging on to the end. The narration gets a 3.5 stars and the story gets 4 stars.

This was a quirky little supernatural tale. People are willing to give up leaving this tiny town EVER in order to renew a body part that just isn't working anymore. There an be only one! Only one person can get each part. So what happens when two people want the same part? What happens when someone wants to leave? What's in it for the donor? So many questions that are mostly satisfactorily answered by the end. I was pulled out of the story by the narrator. It seemed that the voices were not consistent or realistic for most of the characters. Overall, a fun read.

*received audiobook for free from netgalley for honest review* ah yea. wow. so that was ablest af. and also racist..... like that was really kinda the last straw (even more so that it kept being brought up) for really not liking this book.

this book had some good parts but the details are what really just made it crap. a black dude trying to trade "bad/ruined" skin is uh like wtf? "oh gotta cut myself then bc being black isn't 'bad' enough!" that's like legit what he did/thought? that's just like. wtf. this book actually might take the cake on worst book bc the details are consistently problematic.

like I didn't read about this book before starting it due to how hard it is to do that on the app I listened to it on but I probably wouldn't, shouldn't have read it but that doesn't change how messed up this book is.

I really get where this book is going, with the healing and whatnot but, my father-in-law is parlayed, my brother is legally blind, so there was just certain things in this book that really annoyed me. and it kept happening over and over.

then there was the ending where it reveled what/who "the evil" one was and I swear to Satan once I heard her backstory, who she is, why shes doing that and just all of that I was just like wow. more racism. nice.

will not be reading any more of this series and wont recommend it that's for sure.

I love the premise behind this book-a demon that will trade your broken body parts for healthy ones, just one catch-you can’t leave town. I love the idea of a strong female lead. That being said, something fell short for me. The main character, Ash, wasn’t like able in the least. I was not rooting for her. The dialogue was a struggle as well. I feel like this book had so much promise but just missed the mark.

Bad Parts was a different kind of book. It was a very different story than I would not typically read. If someone is looking for a different Sci-Fi book, this will make a great read.

This book is a wonderful surprise. It is an original story that kept me intrigued throughout. I had no idea where this was going, and when I thought I had something figured out, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was not even close. Great and realistic characters. Looking forward to more.

Thank you NetGalley for an enjoyable book.

After playing a gig with her band, thirty-year old Ash is attacked by an unknown assailant that leaves her left hand mangled. A normal person would be thankful that her life was spared, but not her, she MUST figure out a way to replace her hand in time for her band’s big make-it-or-break-it show that is only days away. It is a good thing that she lives in Hollow Hills, Pennsylvania because it is there that body parts are traded.

How does one seek out a new body part to replace one that has gone “bad?” The “Traders” go to Snare Creek and submerge most of their body ( especially the part they are trading) and request that an exchange be made. There are 66 people in the town who have made significant, life-impacting swaps successfully until now. One of these people, a man named Mack, is kidnapped and taken out of the area so that someone else can steal the new parts that he possessed. It seems that with something good, there’s always a catch.

Snare only has one of each body part to give, and if someone has already claimed it then you are out of luck. Unless, you take those parts, inside of the human, beyond the boundaries. “Traded parts only disappeared for two reasons: either the trader died or they left the 10 mile radius of local limits.” But, what body part(s) did Mack trade Snare for? The person who needed them most was likely the murderer. And then there were 65 traders.

Trade a part, then you agree to stay within those same 10 miles for the rest of your life. If not, you die and your part goes back to market. It’s that simple.

Unlucky for Ash, it just so happens that someone already swapped their left hand. But who? Ash will stop at nothing to find the traded part that she so badly needs. She desperately starts to break laws to search for the information that she needs— the files on who has what — but she’s running out of time.

But what if the devil makes her an offer that she can’t refuse— that she can produce another hand for her if she meets a series of demands by sunset.

“I want to trade.”

“So do I.”

“My people are human beings not poker chips!”

A supernatural; strange story that only started to lose me towards the end. I wanted way more of the creep factor because this story was definitely unique.

Publication date : June 23, 2020.

3 stars. For me it was the equivalent of a B-rated Horror movie. Average, but certainly not forgettable.

Thank you to Netgalley, IDPA, Midnight Point Press and Brandon McNulty for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Spoilers below!! BEWARE!!

The reasons why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I would’ve liked to:

- There wasn’t enough information about the band or the band mates, they were just thrown in randomly when they needed people to die or to question Ash’s health. I wish the author would’ve elaborated more.

- “Tattoos keep her warm”, What does that even mean? I have 5 tattoos and I’m always freezing. HELPPPPPP!

- I wish there was WAY more of the “fog disease” that was wiping people out. That’s when things started to get fun!

- Using her dreads as a rope to save Jake that was drowning in the water is not feasible and made me laugh out loud.

- It was randomly figured out at the end that drinking the lake’s water would make people immune to Snare, again, what?

An engaging start that lost my interest in a mire of nonsensical action towards the end. I loved the concept with the main character desperate to reclaim the use of her damaged hand making a deal with her hometown's mystical body part recovering creek.

The set up of trading bad parts was interesting but it's no shock when it all has a price and then it just descends into a non too engaging action sequence in which I cared about few people and many actions didn't make sense to me.

The writing style wasn't for me with a lot of the descriptions been over the top and jarring to the flow. The narrator of the audiobook, Ellie Gossagewas was OK.

Overall come for the great set up but leave before the end....

I basically decided to try this audiobook on a whim as I was browsing the 'Listen Now' catalog on Netgalley for something to listen to while painting. I know that I don't often read supernatural thrillers, but I can really enjoy the genre if I know what I signed up for from the beginning (I only dislike the supernatural element when it comes as a surprise)... The blurb of Bad Parts also sounded particularly enticing with the music element and the creek demon. I was hoping for something entertaining to distract me from the daunting painting task, and I can now say that this audiobook definitely delivered just that.

As you might already know, I’m still pretty new with the whole audiobook experience... But I'm quickly becoming a fan. This audiobook is narrated by Ellie Gossage, and I think she did an excellent job giving both main character Ash Hudson and the other characters in play a voice. The fact that she changed her voice slightly whenever other characters are speaking made it a lot easier to keep them apart. The pace and flow of the story seemed solid, and I had no struggles keeping track of the story and plot developments. All in all the audio version makes for an enjoyable way to experience Bad Parts.

As for the story itself... There is no doubt that the premise of Bad Parts is fascinating, and if you like supernatural thrillers you will be in for a treat with the creek demon Snare. I liked how this element was developed into the story, with the 'bad part' trading and developments in the plot. The title doesn't just reference to the trading though, as main character Ash Hudson is in a band with the same name. Music definitely plays a role in this story, and I liked the music references and overall vibe.

I do have to say that I found this story to be a tad too dragged out. I felt that the story could have been told in less pages and as a result the pace did slow down. I had that feeling about halfway down the audiobook that the story was about to finish, and I found myself to be quite surprised there was so much more story left... Overall it was still entertaining, but I think I would have liked less 'clutter' and more focus on the plot developments and supernatural vibe. I also wasn't able to connect all that well to the cast of characters; they are not exactly likeable and I found some of their actions and decisions to be rather unbelievable. I'm not sure what to make of that ending either...

In short, if you are looking for an entertaining supernatural thriller and don't mind unlikeable characters, a tad overlong plot and certain aspects not being credible, Bad Parts could be a great match.

This was a difficult one to follow but follow I did. I'm still unsure as to what genre this audio book would be classed as for it appeared to me at least to be a mixture of supernatural, thriller, a little horror and humanity. There were parts where i couldn't stop thinking of Stephen King's Pet Semetary but that was only fleeting. A decent storyline, I liked some characters and despised others but the book definitely shows how far people are willing to go to get what they truly believe they deserve.

I wasn't totally sold on the narrator, I found her to be "in your face" and quite angry, I preferred her softer side so I wasn't always a fan!!