Well I mean... if you want to read a short novel about the most toxic marriage ever, you will definitely enjoy this. The most unlikeable people, but what makes this work is how much they really go for it -- the husband and wife are both over the top, violent, insane. It was enjoyable for what it was.

I really liked this novella. I was first drawn to this book because of the cover, I thought it was really interesting. The story itself was wild, violent and chaotic.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and John Redman for the arc copy of this book!

This was a wild, bloody ride! And definitely not for the faint-hearted. I really enjoyed the gruesome kill scenes, they were over-the-top in the best way. I also liked how you’re never quite sure if what’s happening is real or just another twisted dream in the main character’s head. That unreliable perspective kept things interesting.

What didn’t work so well for me were the detailed sexual scenes!! While it is just personal preference, it felt unnecessary and took away from the horror vibe. I also found the relationship between the two main characters confusing. One moment they’re fighting and talking divorce, the next they’re all over each other, and it just didn’t feel very believable.

Overall, it wasn’t perfect, but I did enjoy parts of it, especially the chaos and gore. If you like your horror messy and surreal, this might be worth a read.

Please always check TW and do your research before going into this book. This is an EXTREME horror and will not be for everyone!

This one was straight up chaos in the best way. Murder, mayhem, and just enough madness to shake me out of my reading slump. Quick, wild, and entertaining from start to finish. I had a blast with it!

This was a quick, easy and fun read that I had a good time with while I was reading. There were some confusing parts but I took that into the fun of the book.

"Walls of Torture" by John Redman has a very interesting premise, and I really tried to enjoy the novel. However, the execution fell flat and was sort of a jumbled mess. For the sake of this review, I will be sectioning off the novel into four parts. The beginning, although starting off with a grotesque murder scene in order to shock and hook the reader, was weak. The reader has no reason to get attached to the main character, Priscilla, and is just filled with thoughts of murder and sex. The second part of the novel is really the strongest part of it. The reader got to know more about Priscilla and understand her motivations for wanting to be a killer. It was interesting to be in the mind of a murderer and see how she manipulated her husband into joining her. The writing felt detached, which is perfect for this particular character. Seeing Priscilla fall into madness while murdering her sister-in-law and seeing Gabe join her in madness while killing his mother-in-law was written perfectly. I was hopeful that the writing would be good for the rest of the book. The hope viciously died when the narrative suddenly turned into murder porn. I'm definitely not against smut, but it seemed that the narrative was sacrificed just to include a multitude of sterilely written sex scenes to shock the reader. The third act was pretty bad, but nothing could have prepared me for the fourth and final part of the novel. Suddenly, a horny detective is introduced to the reader, and she somehow knows everything about Priscilla and Gabe's relationship and motivations just by looking at their murder victims. A suicide note conveniently explains the plot twist to the reader, and the novel ends with the detective characters being completely irrelevant to the plot.

First I would like to thank the Author and NetGalley for the opportunity to experience this book. I truly appreciate. Honestly, this book was confusing to me. I don’t know what was real or not. But not in a good way. This book just wasn’t for me..

Well I had a good time reading it. It was a fun, easy quick read. I mean, who doesn't love a little staycation action and it's important to do things together as a couple...😂. I also enjoyed the little twist at the end. Thank you so much for this Arc, and thank you for a fun read!

A tug of war between partners, a race for control and a hatred that can't be changed.
As novellas go I really enjoyed this one, I always have a fear that a short story has a lot to pack into a short space, but really, this one didn't need anything more added. For a second I found it hard to decipher between reality and nightmare but I quickly got back on track and further down the line the pieces really clicked into place.
This was an easy read which I finished in a couple of hours between work and I enjoyed it alot.

I received an ARC copy through NetGalley. The cover and description caught my attention. I really don’t know what to say about the book after reading it. It wasn’t necessarily bad but wasn’t great either. The potential is there.


I wasn’t expecting the graphic sexual scenes. I don’t like reading that stuff , so a trigger warning for that would have been nice.

I really wanted this to be a fun read but it just ended up with me confused and uncomfortable the entire time I was reading it. I'm sure someone is going to like this one but it's definitely not for me.

I was not prepared for how much I liked this! I love horror, but most new popular horror has been extremely hit or miss for me!

This was like a throwback to simpler times. Late 80s, 90s horror.. the good old days haha!

In this novella, we follow married couple as they are navigating their semi perfect life.

I don’t want to get too far into the plot because I will mouth vomit everything -!; give away plot points and it’s only a novella.

If you like gore and craziness, this will be for you.

I enjoyed following the unhinged spiral, it reminded me of the movie Natural Born Killers in a weird way. I just imagined the two main characters as Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis 🤣 I’m probably showing my age mentioning that movie but oh well.

There’s also a play on the title in the male main character’s dialogue in the book that was just PERFECT and I want to point that out because I LOVE when authors smartly incorporate the title into the story and it hits JUST RIGHT.

If you love horror and gore and are a desensitized little weirdo you will eat this up. The gore was great. This won’t be for everyone, but the people who like it will really like it.

I just wish it was longer haha. I need a full length!

Walls Of Torture - John Redman

Never trust your dreams or a pampered princess ay? Strange to say the least, but still a wickedly, good read. Fast paced and well executed.

I don’t even know wtf this was. None of it made sense and I thought about DNFing multiple times but wanted to see if through since it was an ARC.

💕😵‍💫🔪💀

Divorce could've been an answer, or at least therapy. But this couple was "cooked" from the start 🤭

If intrusive thoughts were a person it would be Priscilla and Gabe. They went into a blood bath of a madness descent! While hacking, wacking and slashing, they made surw to make time to bump uglies, in a very explicit way, all while being at each other's throats and covered in blood.

John wasted no time into throwing us into a manic episode of sex and gore, that I devour willingly in one sitting! A short read but one with a lot of spunk!

I want to thank NetGalley and John Redman for allowing me to read this e-book ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Walls of Torture had potential, but it desperately needed another round (or several) of proofreading before publication. The timeline was inconsistent in places, grammar errors were frequent, and the writing overall felt unpolished. It was hard to stay immersed in the story when the basic mechanics of writing were overlooked.

That was a lot in such a short book. I thought it was very enticing and kept my attention. Was not expecting all the twists n turns especially pracillas letter. Wrapped up pretty well. Enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and John Redman for the advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I've gone down the middle with 3 stars because was this the best book I've ever read? No. But was it an entertaining read? Yes.

There were points I found the dialogue a little hard to follow and I didn't quite *get* the whole thing, but I enjoyed reading it and thought it was a quick read.

⤷ 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖

𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦
✍︎ 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘯

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝘼𝙍𝘾.

This interesting one follows a married couple wherein the wife decides she wants to start murdering people, catches the husband up in it, and things just spiral out of control from there. Toxicity is the name of this game. Content warning for graphic sexual depiction and gore/violence.

⭐️ ⭐️ / 5

Full disclosure, had to cut my reading short around 55% and changed my original generous 3 stars to 2. I hate it because the author was a delight to converse with and I know how hard it is to put your work out there. The writing style wasn’t for me as it felt a bit empty and the structure was off. The gore content and smut (?) was also beyond what I typically enjoy in my books. I’m not a splatterpunk kind of gal and this isn’t that, but I’m not even sure what a safe label would be to call this one so that’s the closest genre my brain can come up with. The premise was interesting and the idea was good. It kept me engaged for a time but just not something I felt inclined to continue. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stomach the content or get past the disjointed dialogue. But just because this wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it won’t be for you!

I encourage anyone who finds the premise interesting to give it a whirl as it’s available on NetGalley. This wasn’t for me but there are multiple reviews to the contrary so clearly there is an audience for this!

I believe it is best if I just say that I was the wrong audience for this book and leave it at that. My mistake entirely.

Regardless, I am always grateful for the opportunity. So thank you RDS Publishing | Uncomfortably Dark Horror.